International letdown

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Obama not smooth on Gdansk

German attack that started World War II marked without him

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009

What is the good will of a loyal allied country worth to the Obama administration? We are talking about a European nation that has stood by the United States in solidarity as few have since Sept. 11, 2001 -- one with 2,000 troops in Afghanistan and a possible willingness to step up to commit more troops at a time when others want to pull out.

DALE: Her Majesty dubs thee . . .

Does Ted Kennedy deserve a knighthood?

Friday, March 6, 2009

"It's like giving Osama bin Laden a knighthood for services to Afghanistan." That was the reaction of one shocked British citizen to the news that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, with the blessing of the Queen, had conferred an honorary knighthood on Sen. Edward Kennedy for "services to Northern Ireland," along with other unspecified contributions to U.S.-U.K. relations.

DALE: Chavez on despots' term-cutting edge

But sinking oil revenues may provide a slippery power base

Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009

Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez must be the envy of aspiring despots the world over today. On Sunday, he received the endorsement of the Venezuelan people for potential life tenure as president of his country by a vote of 54 percent to 45 percent. Mr. Chavez has already been a blight on the map of Latin America for the last 13 years, and he now promises to run for office again and again and again - like a malignant Energizer bunny.

DALE: Another Munich surrender

Biden encourages Europe's worst impulse -appeasement

Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009

The annual Munich Security Conference, which took place last weekend, usually yields one or two memorable speeches, which help set the international stage for the year or years to come. In 2007, Russian President Putin set a tone of confrontation by belligerently attacking the United States for its overbearing foreign policy, primarily in Iraq. And in the early days of the George W. Bush presidency, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made history - and many enemies in Europe - by referring to Germany and France as "old Europe." (By implication, that made the East and Central Europeans "new Europe," a role they have much relished.) What is said at Munich is often a good indicator of things to come.

DALE: Obama's Arab-TV interview

Mea culpa was the message

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009

The Arab world remains in a tizzy of excitement over the interview given last week by President Obama with the Arabic news service Al-Arabiya. "Overwhelmingly positive" is how the State Department's Web site describes the reaction in the Middle East. Was it anything Mr. Obama said that made them so elated? More likely it was the simple act of speaking to the Arab world through one of its own media and the facts of Mr. Obama's identity and family background. One thing is for sure, Mr. Obama will never be able to live up to the expectations he has now generated unless he has a magic wand hidden in the Oval Office.

DALE: Obama's Gitmo lesson

U.S. does dirty work, Europe claims moral high ground

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009

Do actions really speak louder than words? Not always. Sometimes words speak louder than actions. In politics that is actually often the case. President Obama's announcement last week that he will be closing Guantanamo Bay has been greeted here and abroad with jubilation, every bit as much as if the gates of the detention center had been permanently shut, chained and padlocked.

DALE: The first full day

Foreign policy coming into focus

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009

This is it, the first full day of a new administration in the United States. The country today wakes up to the leadership of the 44th president, for the first time an African- American, and for the first time in eight years a Democrat. We will finally find out what President Barack Obama's many eloquent calls to national service, to sacrifice and to national unity will mean in practice here at home and in his foreign policy.

DALE: While U.S. expands government ...

... the trend in Europe is toward free markets

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009

The irony of it all. The United States is currently faced with the prospect of the biggest government expansion in American history in the shape of the giant stimulus package proposed by president-elect Barack Obama. The expenditures contained therein are so humongous that even Rep. Barney Frank has stated that he will need to take a Reagan-like "trust and verify" approach before signing on the dotted line and taking this major step towards socialism. Hearing Mr. Frank quote Ronald Reagan just boggles the mind.

DALE: The best and worst ...

Political quotes for 2008

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008

The end of capitalism and the demise of the United States as a superpower:”The world will not be the same as before the crisis ... One thing seems probable to me: The United States will lose its status as the superpower of the global financial system. The global financial system will become multipolar,” German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck on Sept. 25