Foreign Policy

U.S. Sanctions on Myanmar to Stay Until Military’s Influence Is Reduced

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday said Myanmar would have to change its constitution to guarantee civilian power if it is to see the remaining American economic sanctions on the country lifted. Speaking in the country’s capital Naypyitaw after meeting with the country’s foreign minister, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mr. Kerry said the key to lifting the remaining […]

ISIS’ backup plan is falling apart

Libya has become ISIS’ new frontier as it faces territorial loses in its stronghold in Iraq and Syria, but it faces major roadblocks to establishing a true back-up capital there, according to a new report. The Combating Terrorism Center report, published Thursday, said the terrorist group ISIS suffered “setbacks” in Libya and is struggling to […]

Former defense chief Gates blasts White House for ‘semantic backflips’ on ISIS mission

President Obama’s former defense secretary Robert Gates accused the White House on Thursday of “semantic backflips” for refusing to use the word “combat” to describe U.S. troops’ fight against the Islamic State, in the wake of another casualty. “I think that is incredibly unfortunate not to speak openly about what is going on,” Gates said […]

After Years of Distrust, U.S. Military Reconciles With Nigeria to Fight Boko Haram

Less than two years after it blocked a sale of American-made attack helicopters to Nigeria from Israel because of human rights concerns, the Obama administration says it is poised to sell up to 12 light attack aircraft to Nigeria as part of an effort to support the country’s fight against the Boko Haram militant group. But the […]

US, other powers want to arm Libyan government

In a move fraught with risk, the United States and other world powers said Monday they would supply Libya’s internationally recognized government with weapons to counter the Islamic State and other militant groups gaining footholds in the chaos-wracked country’s lawless regions. Aiming at once to shore up the fragile government, and prevent Islamic State fighters […]

Ben Rhodes Told Activists He’s ‘Not Proud of Our Syria Policy’

Senior White House official Ben Rhodes told Syrian-American activists at a gathering on Wednesday that he was “not proud” of the Obama administration’s Syria policy, according to three people who participated in the interchange. But Rhodes waved off any suggestion that the United States should be responsible for a conflict that has left millions displaced and hundreds […]

With Hiroshima, Obama Goes Where Predecessors Stayed Away

When President Barack Obama tours Hiroshima’s haunting relics of nuclear warfare, he will be making a trip that past administrations weighed and avoided. For good reason: The hollowed core of the city’s A-Bomb Dome and old photos of charred children are sure to rekindle questions of guilt and penitence for World War II‘s gruesome brutality. Obama’s […]

Libya premier urges lifting of arms embargo, asset freeze

Libya’s new prime minister is calling on the international community to help the country bolster its fight against terrorism by lifting an arms embargo and unfreezing funds that remain under U.N. sanctions. Speaking at the Arab league in Cairo, Fayez al-Serraj, prime minister of the U.N.-backed Government of National Accord, says that “it doesn’t make […]