Foreign relations

International Monetary Corruption

Budget reform, Foreign relations No Responses »

May 202011

Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek asks whether, instead of finding another Strauss-Kahn to run the IMF, we shouldn’t just end the organization. Or at least end our contributions to it. I agree. Giving money and power to these people certainly did no favors for anyone involved.

Ever since the rapist-in-chief got into the news, I’ve been wondering what the folks who posted these signs in Dublin have been thinking about that topic. (The photo was taken March 30.) Do they take it as a sign of the hopelessness of reform that he’s out on bail?

I have no idea how many people went to that demonstration on April 6.

Why do they hate us?

Foreign relations, Monetary policy No Responses »

Nov 102010

Remember all of those articles from the early-mid Bush administration days asking, “Why do they hate us?” Now we’re beginning to understand:

(Reuters) – Germany’s undiplomatic outbursts against U.S. policy, calling it “clueless” before a G20 summit, show growing estrangement on economics as America’s focus shifts away from transatlantic ties to domestic challenges and Asia.

“The Atlantic is getting wider,” said Anton Boerner, head of Germany’s Foreign Trade Association, who spoke of a “creeping alienation” between America and Europe, which has been exacerbated by the global financial crisis. [URL]

And there’s a related headline on the same page:

Obama returns fire after China slams Fed’s move

Is Tim Geithner really George W. Bush?

Foreign relations No Responses »

Nov 062010

A comment I posted in response to the WSJ article, “Geithner’s Push Opposed by APEC.“

This can’t be right. I thought George W. Bush was the one who engaged in a go-it-alone foreign policy, cowboy style, without concern for what our allies thought.

Has anyone ever seen Timmy Geithner and GWB in the same room together?

Graduated escalation

Foreign relations No Responses »

Nov 252009

Someone finally points out that Barak Obama’s decision-making re Afghanistan is coming to resemble Lyndon Johnson’s in Vietnam. Ben Shapiro mentions it in passing. Good. Saves me the trouble of saying the words “gradual escalation.”

(I’m not saying nobody else has pointed it out. I’d think it would be obvious to anyone who lived through the 1960s. But Shapiro’s is the first mention that I’ve seen.)

Unilateralism

Foreign relations No Responses »

Sep 302009

Question: When Barak Obama goes to Copenhagen to use political clout (as opposed to the merits of the case) to get the Olympics for Chicago, would that be an example of unilateralism in foreign policy? Isn’t this something that should instead be left up to the United Nations? (Or united nations without uppercase capital letters?)

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The Reticulator