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| Obama to map out new chapter in US foreign policy in West Point address | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Barack Obama will outline his vision for a new chapter in American foreign policy on Wednesday with a speech aimed at quelling growing criticism of US isolationism following troop withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan and recent decisions against military intervention elsewhere. | |
| In an address to graduating officers at West Point that White House officials say will map out America's new role in the world, the president is expected to argue there is a middle way between interventionism and isolationism that will not drag the US into unnecessary conflicts in future. | In an address to graduating officers at West Point that White House officials say will map out America's new role in the world, the president is expected to argue there is a middle way between interventionism and isolationism that will not drag the US into unnecessary conflicts in future. |
| “This new chapter in American foreign policy will allow us to redirect some of the resources saved by ending these wars to respond more nimbly to the changing threat of terrorism, while addressing a broader set of priorities around the globe,” Obama told reporters on Tuesday after announcing his troop withdrawal timetable for Afghanistan. | “This new chapter in American foreign policy will allow us to redirect some of the resources saved by ending these wars to respond more nimbly to the changing threat of terrorism, while addressing a broader set of priorities around the globe,” Obama told reporters on Tuesday after announcing his troop withdrawal timetable for Afghanistan. |
| Secretary of State John Kerry said on ABC's Good Morning America that Obama would use the speech at the United States Military Academy in New York to announce the US is setting up a $5bn "terrorism partnership fund" for countries to fight extremists. | Secretary of State John Kerry said on ABC's Good Morning America that Obama would use the speech at the United States Military Academy in New York to announce the US is setting up a $5bn "terrorism partnership fund" for countries to fight extremists. |
| The administration was anxious to get the Afghanistan announcement out of the way first so Obama could attempt to address wider criticism that his foreign policy has lost its way following recent events in Syria and Ukraine. | The administration was anxious to get the Afghanistan announcement out of the way first so Obama could attempt to address wider criticism that his foreign policy has lost its way following recent events in Syria and Ukraine. |
| “He will speak to the much broader question both of how we’re dealing with the counter-terrorism challenge across this entire region, and also how are we using US leadership to advance our interests around the world,” said a senior administration official in a background briefing to reporters. | “He will speak to the much broader question both of how we’re dealing with the counter-terrorism challenge across this entire region, and also how are we using US leadership to advance our interests around the world,” said a senior administration official in a background briefing to reporters. |
| Opinion polls suggest Obama's campaign promise to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan remains popular among the US public, but his last-minute decision to eschew military intervention in Syria and apparent impotence in the face of Russian aggression in Crimea are giving growing ammunition to conservative critics who say US deterrence has lost credibility and will herald a new era of instability in the world. | Opinion polls suggest Obama's campaign promise to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan remains popular among the US public, but his last-minute decision to eschew military intervention in Syria and apparent impotence in the face of Russian aggression in Crimea are giving growing ammunition to conservative critics who say US deterrence has lost credibility and will herald a new era of instability in the world. |
| “What we are facing is not war weariness, but world weariness,” historian Robert Kagan told a Brookings Institution policy debate held on the eve of Obama's speech. “I have begun to wonder whether we may be heading into a period that is not just a shallow and temporary retrenchment that we saw during the cold war [immediately after Vietnam and Korea] but is actually a much deeper and much longer retrenchment of the kind we saw after World War I.” | “What we are facing is not war weariness, but world weariness,” historian Robert Kagan told a Brookings Institution policy debate held on the eve of Obama's speech. “I have begun to wonder whether we may be heading into a period that is not just a shallow and temporary retrenchment that we saw during the cold war [immediately after Vietnam and Korea] but is actually a much deeper and much longer retrenchment of the kind we saw after World War I.” |
| Some prominent Republicans, such as libertarian-leaning senator Rand Paul, have welcomed such developments, but recently more moderate party leaders, including Bob Corker, ranking member of the Senate foreign affairs committee, have begun to advance a critique of US “weakness” that Democrats fear could be used against them in the midterm elections. | Some prominent Republicans, such as libertarian-leaning senator Rand Paul, have welcomed such developments, but recently more moderate party leaders, including Bob Corker, ranking member of the Senate foreign affairs committee, have begun to advance a critique of US “weakness” that Democrats fear could be used against them in the midterm elections. |
| Corker issued a cautious statement in response to the Afghan troop announcement on Tuesday, urging a rethink before full US departure. | Corker issued a cautious statement in response to the Afghan troop announcement on Tuesday, urging a rethink before full US departure. |
| “It is my strong desire that the administration revisit conditions on the ground in 2015 and 2016 to determine if a full withdrawal is warranted,” he said. | “It is my strong desire that the administration revisit conditions on the ground in 2015 and 2016 to determine if a full withdrawal is warranted,” he said. |
| Others, such as senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham, are more hawkish still, but largely at odds with the party in their desire to see robust intervention in Syria and an aggressive response to Russian president Vladimir Putin. | Others, such as senators John McCain and Lindsay Graham, are more hawkish still, but largely at odds with the party in their desire to see robust intervention in Syria and an aggressive response to Russian president Vladimir Putin. |
| “President Obama is not ending wars, he’s losing them,” Graham said on Tuesday. | “President Obama is not ending wars, he’s losing them,” Graham said on Tuesday. |
| President Obama is not ending wars, he’s losing them. #Afghanistan | President Obama is not ending wars, he’s losing them. #Afghanistan |
| “Doing the same thing he did in Iraq and expecting different results is the definition of insanity,” he added. | “Doing the same thing he did in Iraq and expecting different results is the definition of insanity,” he added. |
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