Barack obama

A staff member reportedly explained that the headphones to go with the translation sets were not yet being handed out because this would have allowed journalists to listen in on the private conversation still going on. Half a dozen journalists immediately plugged in their own headphones and caught three minutes of the private exchange. … [Read more...] about Sarkozy and Obama’s Netanyahu gaffe broadcast via microphones

One of the low points in US-Israeli relations under Obama came last year when vice-president Joe Biden visited Israel to try to get some momentum behind a peace process. Israel announced during his visit 1,600 new homes for settlers in East Jerusalem and Biden saw this as deliberate and disrespectful. He retaliated with a diplomatic rebuke, arriving 90 minutes late for a dinner with Netanyahu. Israel apologised the next day for 'the distress" caused to Biden by the homes announcement. … [Read more...] about Obama’s Netanyahu mic slip draws ire from Republicans

In an interview with Sheryl Attkisson on Sunday, he hit out at some of the officials he has accused of being part of such an effort, particularly Comey, who Trump again called a 'dirty cop'; and former FBI agents Lisa Page and Peter Strzok, whose exchanged anti-Trump texts during the 2016 election. … [Read more...] about Donald Trump launches furious new barrage of claims that his campaign was ‘spied on’ by the Obama administration – ignoring death toll approaching 100,000

“We saw the pain caused, of course, by economic globalisation and saw the degree to which many in our own communities were being left behind. But the idea that that would be laid squarely on political globalisation or on alliances or on the United Nations, it was not accurate, it seemed like too big a leap to get the fuel and the momentum that Trump has given it, so we were wrong to underestimate that,” she said. … [Read more...] about ‘Gross incompentence at highest levels’: ex-Obama adviser blasts Trump’s Covid response

Obama learned that George W Bush's foreign policy was a disaster, and translates each new crisis back into the language of his political childhood. If Bush was against dictatorships, Obama would "reset" relations with Russia and Iran and treat them as partners. The failure of his initiatives never deters him. Despite his efforts, Russia remains a mafia state and Iran remains a foul theocracy determined to acquire the bomb. Their peoples, naturally, are restive. Russians demonstrate against Putin's rigged elections. The Iranian green movement tries to overthrow the mullahs. But Obama and the wider tribe of western liberals have little to say to them. The example of Iraq taught them that it is dangerous to worry too much about oppression, so they treat popular revolts that are liberal in the broad sense with indifference and embarrassment. … [Read more...] about Ten years on, the case for invading Iraq is still valid