May 29 2014
Obama Articulates a New Vision for Foreign Policy, But Is It New?
President Obama gave his commencement speech to graduates of the West Point Military Academy yesterday, using it as an opportunity to unveil an apparently new direction for US foreign policy.
Downplaying military action as the main component of the nation’s response to conflict, he stressed instead the importance of alliances. The editorial boards of three major newspapers, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post, criticized the speech.
The President’s foreign policy address came one day after he officially announced the draw down of US troops in Afghanistan to 9,800 troops by the end of the year, and to a potentially complete withdrawal by 2016. The White House has cast the announcement as “Bringing the War in Afghanistan to a Responsible End.”
GUEST: Ajamu Baraka, fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and a columnist for Black Agenda Report.
One Response to “Obama Articulates a New Vision for Foreign Policy, But Is It New?”
Why would Afghanis tolerate a US training mission in Afghanistan any more than we in the US would tolerate an Afghani training mission in the US? We have no business there. We’re not going to achieve peace by waging war.