About this blog
Welcome to my blog - I'm Charles Reed and I advise the Church of England on foreign policy issues.
This blog covers a variety of topics from US foreign policy to European politics and the Middle East - and whatever else happens to be in the news or catch my attention.
This is a conversational blog so please join in as your comments are an essential part of making the whole thing work.
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Tag Archives: President Obama
Lines in the sand in Syria
Just when you thought that things couldn’t get worse in Syria, credible evidence surfaces indicating that the Assad regime has used chemical weapons against its own citizens. With President Obama having previously stated that their use would be a game … Continue reading
Posted in Middle East
Tagged President Assad, President Obama, Red Lines, Sarin, Syria, Syrian National Council, WMD
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Staying the Distance in Afghanistan
Which ever way you look at it it’s been a perilously bad few months for NATO operations in Afghanistan. The Quran burning incident allied to video footage of US soldiers urinating on the dead bodies of Taliban fighters followed by … Continue reading
Posted in Afghanistan
Tagged Afghanistan, David Cameron, ISAF, NATO, President Karzai, President Obama, Taliban
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Avoiding a Diplomatic Train Wreck in New York.
Earlier this year, June 26th, President Abbas announced his decision to seek recognition of Palestinian statehood at the United Nations along the 1967 borders with a right of return for refugees. There is intense diplomatic uncertainty, not to say anxiety, as to … Continue reading
Winning the Republican nomination for 2012
As Britain votes today on whether to change its electoral system, we should spare a few thoughts for our friends across the pond as they gear up for the 2012 Presidential election. Barely six months on from the US Mid Term … Continue reading
UNSC Resolution 1973: Too Little, Too Late?
Last night the United Nations Security Council passed a robust and far reaching Resolution in response to the situation in Libya. Whatever happens from here this is an important moment in the life of the United Nations. There is no … Continue reading
Photo Essay: Winning the Future Obama Style
This week’s photo essay captures President Obama’s State of the Union address. I listened to the speech after having just read an article in the Chatham House journal, International Affairs, from Stefan Halper a resident scholar at Cambridge University and … Continue reading
Posted in Photo Eassy
Tagged Chatham House, President Obama, Sarah Palin, Sputnik, State of the Union, Stefan Halper
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US/Sino Relations – Invoking the Legacy of Martin Luther King
Today’s meeting in Washington between US President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao will no doubt be a heavily scripted and staged managed state affair with nothing left to chance, not even the choice in and exchange of gifts. So … Continue reading
Richard Holbrooke – The Death of a Raging Bull
I was really saddened to hear that Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, died yesterday at the age of 69. I was a great fan of this raging bull of a US diplomat – hence this brief obituary. … Continue reading
Obama – The Emperor without any Clothes?
With Christmas fast approaching, here is a political riddle that you probably won’t find in your Christmas day cracker. Question: What do the Middle East Peace Process and the attempts to resolve the escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula have … Continue reading
The US MidTerm Elections – What does it mean for the rest of us?
The international media reaction to these MidTerm elections is strikingly different in tone to the coverage that followed the last MidTerm elections in 2006. In November 2006 The Guardian called the Democratic assumption of control over the House and Senate … Continue reading
