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For a president adored abroad, who won a Nobel Peace Prize and is embroiled in two foreign wars, last night Barack Obama delivered a State of the Union that made remarkably scant mention of the world beyond the lower 48.
Though his remarks on his domestic agenda were incisive, his first words on national security came after a section on bipartisanship — arguably not as hot a topic as Iran — and it came late in the speech. The media has been abuzz over the international initiatives he left out or skimmed over (foreign policy took up only 15% of the speech, according to Democracy Arsenal) but what he did say on foreign policy has been almost as parsed by pundits as what he didn’t. Click after the jump for a summation of the foreign policy points from last night’s SOTU.
Robert Lacey, noted historian and award-winning author, spoke with members of Network 20/20 last week about the history and politics of Saudi Arabia, the subject of his new book, “Inside the Kingdom.” Mr. Lacey, who has been living in Jeddah and Riyadh for the last three years, wrote a best-seller on Saudi Arabia a quarter century ago and has been lauded as one of the few foreigners able to crack the country’s closely guarded secrets.
Since he returned to Saudi Arabia after the completion of his last book, the Middle East and the world have been remade. With the region now playing a pivotal role on the world stage, “Inside the Kingdom” focuses on the country’s move toward modernization, and the potential for violent backlash.
For years America has found itself preoccupied with Iraq, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, leaving Saudi Arabia largely out of the news cycle. But though the country’s west coast lacks the telegenic indoor ski slopes of Dubai or the vast fields of oil found further east, it may be of more geopolitical import than almost any other region on the globe, Mr. Lacey contended.
A religious center of the Muslim world, the western region of Saudi Arabia and much of its religious leadership exists in stark opposition to the country’s progressive elements. Understanding the resulting standoff goes a long way toward understanding modern international religious and political conflict.
Award-winning journalist George Packer addressed Network 20/20 at a recent event, speaking on a few themes from his new book “Interesting Times,” a chronicle of the global tumult of the Bush years. The book is a collection of Packer’s writing, much of it culled from the New Yorker, including on-the-ground investigative reporting from such inhospitable regions as Iraq, Lagos and Yangon among others.
Mr. Packer, an authoritative voice on the Iraq War and foreign affairs, spoke about the perspectives of those people not usually from heard during war time, how the globalization of media has altered the expectations of the underprivileged, and the importance of cultural understanding to effective international diplomacy.
Find a passage from the book after the jump.
The night after the earthquake, Haitians who had lost their homes, or who feared that their houses might collapse, slept outdoors, in the streets and parks of Port-au-Prince.
Read the rest of George Packer’s New Yorker article here
Read about the problems in Yemen’s future here.
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