Obama: A New Era? / IPS Inter Press Service

IPS Correspondent Gareth Porter talks to Democracy Now!

Despite Obama’s pledge, new evidence has emerged that combat brigades will remain in Iraq under a different name.

IPS Correspondent Gareth Porter talks to Real News.

The U.S. military establishment believed they could easily pressure President Obama to back down on his pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq within 16 months. Having found Obama unconvinced by their argument, they have now launched a campaign in Washington to blame Obama’s withdrawal policy for any future instability in Iraq.

Obama Sits Down With IPS

OBAMA: "Subsidising Big Oil Makes No Sense"

Q&A: "I Appreciate This Unique Moment"

POLITICS: U.S. Seeks to Limit Warlords in Karzai Cabinet

By Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON - The Barack Obama administration is talking tough to Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the need for decisive action on corruption and governance reform, but its main objective is to prevent particularly corrupt and incompetent warlords from getting plum ministries as rewards for helping clinch his fraudulent reelection, IPS has learned.
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US-SYRIA: Diplomatic Thaw Just Penetrating the Surface

Analysis by Ellen Massey
WASHINGTON - Four months ago, the Barack Obama administration announced that it would appoint an ambassador to Syria, ending a four-year freeze on diplomatic relations between the two countries.
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POLITICS-US: No Sunset for Sweeping Patriot Act Powers?
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - The USA Patriot Act, rushed into law by a panicky U.S. Congress in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, gave the government broad surveillance powers to spy on innocent citizens. But it also stipulated that three of its more controversial provisions should expire next month unless reapproved by lawmakers.
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RIGHTS-US: Another Legal Setback for Arar Torture Case
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - A federal appeals court on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought against a former U.S. attorney general by a Canadian citizen who sought damages for being unlawfully detained by U.S. authorities in New York and then secretly shipped to Syria, where he was imprisoned for a year and claims he was tortured.
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U.S.: Obama's Outreach to Muslim World Teetering
Analysis by Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - U.S. President Barack Obama's extraordinary efforts since his first days in office to reassure Muslims in the Greater Middle East about U.S. intentions in the region have suffered a series of setbacks that threaten to reverse whatever gains he has made over the past 10 months in restoring Washington's badly battered image and influence there.
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RIGHTS-US: Govt Lawyers Seek to Quash Rendition Lawsuit
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - The long road to the proverbial day in court just got longer for five men who claim they were "disappeared" and tortured by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
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US-EUROPE: An Ocean Apart in More Ways Than One
By Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON - As a delegation of European Union leaders descends on Washington Tuesday, a new report argues that "European governments prefer to fetishise transatlantic relations, valuing closeness and harmony as ends in themselves, and seeking influence with Washington through various strategies of seduction or ingratiation".
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POLITICS: On Nuke Disarmament, It's Still "You First"
Analysis by Haider Rizvi
UNITED NATIONS - Is the ongoing controversy over Iran's nuclear programme helping to advance the United Nations' agenda on nuclear disarmament? To a number of diplomats and experts who have participated in past U.N. discussions on the spread of nuclear weapons, the answer is, yes – although not necessarily for the expected reasons.
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RIGHTS-US: NGOs Praise End to HIV Travel Ban
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Global health and U.S. AIDS activists are hailing President Barack Obama's announcement Friday that the government will end a 22-year-old ban on the entry into the United States of HIV-positive visitors.
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POLITICS: Obama Scores Regional Points with Zelaya's Return
By Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON - Following months of dithering on the part of the U.S., a delegation from the U.S. State Department brokered a deal Thursday between the ousted and interim governments of Honduras.
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U.S.: Secret Bailouts for Giant Failing Banks of the Future?
By Adrianne Appel
BOSTON - Big banks will not be forced to downsize and the public will be the last to know when they fail, a controversial bill unveiled by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Congressman Barney Frank proposes.
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AFGHANISTAN: NATO Supporting Insurgents? Not Exactly
Commentary by Killid Correspondents*
KABUL - The U.S. and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) have spent billions of dollars, sacrificed hundreds of lives and worked for years to fight insurgents and foster democracy in Afghanistan.
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HEALTH: U.S. Urged to Double Aid to Global Projects
By Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON - As the effort to achieve universal health coverage within the U.S. crawls forward in Washington, a new report by a coalition of global health organisations details how the U.S. can "help lead the world to universal access to comprehensive health care in developing countries".
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US-MIDEAST: J Street Meet Draws Foreign Policy Heavyweights
By Eli Clifton*
WASHINGTON - J Street, the relatively new "pro-Israel, pro-Peace" advocacy group, exceeded expectations for its inaugural conference here in Washington with over 1,500 participants attending the four-day event.
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POLITICS: U.S. Blasted for Sustaining Embargo on Cuba
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - The administration of President Barack Obama, which has vowed to improve relations with sanctions-hit Cuba, refused to break away from the traditional stand taken by successive U.S. governments and voted against a U.N. resolution calling for an end to the 47-year-old U.S. economic, commercial and financial embargo against the Caribbean island nation.
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US-AFGHANISTAN: Kerry Argues for Counterinsurgency Lite
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - Amid growing speculation and partisan bickering over what President Barack Obama will do about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, an influential Democratic senator Monday warned against deploying tens of thousands more U.S. troops there.
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RIGHTS: Obama Urged to Fully Comply with Anti-Torture Treaty
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - The fifteenth anniversary of the U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture passed last week with little fanfare and virtually no press attention from the mainstream media here.
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Barack Obama's presidency is resonating with people around the world who hope for a new era of international cooperation and engagement with the tarnished superpower. But Obama has inherited wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a tanking economy, and global crises like climate change. IPS reports on the implications of the Obama administration not just for U.S. citizens, but for the world.