Israeli and Palestinian leaders begin direct talks, as Netanyahu describes Abbas as ‘partner for peace’ despite recent attacks

For only the second time since he took office, President Obama will speak to the nation from the Oval Office on Tuesday night, in an address meant to convey that he has kept one of the central promises of his campaign: withdrawing American combat troops from Iraq.

President Barack Obama will speak from the Oval Office Tuesday night.

Notes from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict in the post-9/11 era.

Mr. Obama will steer clear of the “mission accomplished” tone that President George W. Bush struck so famously seven years ago — and that subsequently came back to haunt him as Iraq fell into further chaos. “You won’t hear those words coming from us,” said the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs.

But Mr. Obama will still strike a promises-kept theme, aides said, even as he seeks to reconcile his opposition to the Iraq war — and his opposition to the so-called troop surge, which Republicans and many military officials credit for the decrease in violence in Iraq — with his role as a wartime commander in chief seeking to credit his troops with carrying out a difficult mission. The president, his aides said, will seek to honor the American soldiers who served in Iraq.

Read the full story of Obama’s address.

Photo: D. Robinson - VOA

Source: VOA

U.S. President Barack Obama greeted 115 young leaders from 46 sub-Saharan African nations on Tuesday, in the first Young African Leaders Forum at the White House. The president addressed the questions and concerns of young people from across the continent.

President Obama spent an hour talking with some of the young leaders of African civil society, in an unprecedented forum in the East Room of the White House.

He called Africa “the youngest continent,” and said that because a large percentage of Africans are under 30-years-old, his administration especially needs to reach the continent’s young people.

Read the full story on VOA.

David Cameron will tomorrow fly to Washington for two days of talks focusing on Afghanistan, BP and the health of the faltering world economy, which will include his first full-length bilateral meeting with Barack Obama.

In keeping with the climate of austerity, the prime minister will fly on a commercial, not a chartered, plane and travel from Washington to New York by train.

Cameron has already spent time with the US president following the discussions they had in the margins of the G8 and G20 summits in Canada. Afghanistan is likely to dominate the formal talks in the White House, partly because their meeting will coincide with the Kabul conference, but there is as yet no big division between the two leaders on strategy, as they are equally eager to get out of the country within the next few years. There is mutual despair at the performance of President Karzai, but no clear alternative save boosting the funding of non-corrupt regional governors and improving education, especially girls’ education, as a way of creating an internal counterweight to the Taliban.

Read the full article.

The reforms are intended to avert a repeat of the 2008 crisis that brought the world economy to the brink of collapse.

The Senate vote is a major victory for President Barack Obama and comes after months of political wrangling.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Obama said the new regulation would give the strongest consumer protection in history.

He said the American people would never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes.

Read the full BBC article on financial reform in the US.

Today, the President and I will welcome more than 1,200 troops and their family members from all over the country to the White House to celebrate with us. We’re hosting a special USO concert, featuring Brandi Carlile, Cedric “The Entertainer,” The Killers and “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band, and wrapping up the evening with a view of the fireworks on the National Mall.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron is to hold face-to-face talks with US President Barack Obama, with the BP oil spill, Afghanistan and the global economy set to dominate.

The talks will take place in Canada on the fringes of the G8 and G20 summits.

Mr Cameron has told journalists there that he wants to see UK troops out of Afghanistan within five years.

The men may also discuss UK spending, amid Mr Obama’s concerns that cuts in Europe may delay the global recovery.

President Obama has warned G20 leaders not to withdraw economic stimulus packages too early.

But on Friday Mr Cameron said there was “no difference” between the US and UK on plans for quick government spending cuts.

Mr Cameron said the US accepted that those with the biggest deficits had to “accelerate the process of dealing with them”.

Read the full BBC story.

Germany’s chancellor has insisted that Europe’s leaders are making good progress in talks with the US about how to bolster fragile economic growth.

Angela Merkel told journalists at the G8 summit in Canada there was “mutual understanding” with President Barack Obama over deficit reduction plans.

The G8 leaders will be joined later by China and other rising economic powers for the G20 summit.

Dominating the agenda are the global economic situation and banking reform.

The twin summits, being held in and near Toronto, have come at a time when the world’s largest economies are divided over whether to pursue austerity measures to cut deficits, or continue public spending to stimulate economic growth.

Mr Obama is worried that a series of deep budget cuts announced by European countries may delay global recovery.

Read the full story on BBC.

Washington — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, after visiting Beijing for economic talks with the Chinese, will head to Europe to confer with finance and banking officials in Britain and Germany on efforts to restore confidence in the interconnected global financial system.

Geithner will “meet with European officials to discuss the economic situation in the region and the measures being taken to restore global confidence and financial stability and to promote global recovery,” the Treasury Department said May 20. Geithner meets with Chinese officials May 24–25 at the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and a U.S. delegation of some 200 officials that includes Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin Bernanke also are part of the Dialogue.

The announcement comes after the U.S. Senate completed work on a sweeping financial reform bill aimed at preventing risky behavior by those involved in the banking system and financial markets, and also preventing the regulatory missteps that contributed to the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The Senate voted 59–39 May 20 for legislation designed to reshape U.S. financial regulation and create a new consumer-protection agency to prevent abuses in mortgage, automobile and credit card lending.

Full text

Mr Obama made two phone calls to German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the last three days and also spoke to French President Nicolas Sarkozy as EU leaders and then their finance ministers were struggling to pin down the deal, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday.

“The president and his economic team have been following and engaged in this situation for quite some time,” he said, noting Mr Obama had spoken about the need for “strong action” to give confidence to the markets. “We are pleased thus far with that result,” he added.

Read the full story on the EU Observer.

“President Obama and Spanish President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero … discussed the importance of Spain taking resolute action as part of Europe’s effort to strengthen its economy and build market confidence,” the White House said in a statement.

Read the full story on EU Observer.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of nominating one of the most brilliant legal minds in America — and a friend of mine — for the Supreme Court.

Elena Kagan’s trailblazing career speaks for itself. An acclaimed legal scholar, she was the first woman to serve as Dean of Harvard Law School. A dedicated public servant, she was the first woman to serve as Solicitor General. In that position she has represented the American people before the Supreme Court in cases such as Citizens United, where she advocated forcefully for the right of Americans to be heard in our democracy over the well-funded clamor of corporate special interests.

Hear from Elena directly in a video that was recorded moments after I announced my decision:

Take it from a former constitutional law professor: deciding on the person to nominate to the Supreme Court is no easy task. But I know Elena will be an incredibly effective justice, thanks to her ability to build consensus across ideological lines and her profound grasp of how the law impacts real people’s lives. It’s made me proud to know and admire her for decades, and even prouder to nominate her to our Nation’s highest court.

Thank you,
President Barack Obama

The United States has no doubt about the need for a vibrant European Union because it is essential to American prosperity and long-term security, Vice President Biden said in a May 6 speech before the European Union Parliament in Brussels.

Full story

The U.S. president was weeping openly as he watched the service for Dorothy Height in Washington today.

He delivered the eulogy for Dr Height, whose activism stretched from the New Deal right up until Mr Obama's election as the first African American president of the United States.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1269836/Obamas-tears-Dorothy-Heights-funeral-Washington.html#ixzz0mmwqouEr

Well, it is wonderful to be back in Tallinn. This is my third trip and it is one of my favorite cities in Europe. And I’m delighted to be here with both Ambassador and Mrs. Polt. Mike and Hallie are well-known to the State Department family and I’m very grateful to both of them for their service. And with Ambassador Polt, you have an experienced diplomat who is very committed to you and to this mission. It may be a small post, but it’s absolutely essential to our foreign policy priorities and helping to strengthen NATO and expand our partnership in Afghanistan, where Estonia is punching way above its weight with its commitment there and in dealing with some of the challenges of the 21st century, like cyber security.

And I thank each and every one of you for what you are doing to make this relationship, which is such a positive one, even more so. It is one of the great success stories of the last 20 years, and the engagement between the United States and Estonia is at the core of that. The Visa Waiver Program is an important vote of confidence and it is exciting for me, having met with the president, the prime minister, and the foreign minister, to review the accomplishments, even since the last time I was here back in 2004, when Estonia had just joined NATO. And now, over the last two days, Estonia has hosted NATO.

And I am thrilled because it’s such a success story. This was the largest international event that Estonia has ever hosted, and I know that many of you had to do extra work because of that, because we descended upon you, all of our NATO mission and my delegation as well.

I know that it sometimes can be difficult with the long, cold, dark winters that are part of waiting for spring, which, when it comes, is glorious here. I know you’re also hoping for a new embassy compound, and Mike and I talked about that. I was very pleased that we were able to raise the salaries of our locally employed staff last year by 18 percent. I can’t promise to do it again soon, but I’m going to make a commitment I’ll keep working for the resources that we need. Because whether you’re Foreign Service or Civil Service or locally employed, as well as from other agencies of our government like the Department of Defense or the Department of Justice, you’re all representatives of the United States, and you’re all part of the team that is here in Estonia.

And I especially want to welcome all the family members – husbands, wives, and especially children. And I’m committed to exploring more ways to offer employment to our eligible family members as well.

Now, before I go, I’d like to recognize two of your own for their outstanding service. First off, David Haydter for his impressive technical support during the transition to the smart messaging system. (Applause.) As head of information resource management, he and his team installed our new system on both the classified and unclassified systems by themselves – the only one of our embassies to do so. So congratulations, David, for a job well done and a job that is truly an example to the rest of the State Department. (Applause.)

And secondly, Karen Decker, the DCM here in Tallinn who did a great job expanding – (applause) – the U.S.-Estonia partnership last year as the chargé. And I know that she managed the Embassy staff with an eye to individual development, which I particularly appreciate, and then was instrumental in Ambassador Polt’s transition. I’ve been told people here would walk through fire if Karen asked them to. I’m not asking you to, Karen. (Laughter.) But I am here to thank you. Thank you for your leadership, your character, and your example. And I want to say that for their exceptional work, both Karen and David are receiving the State Department’s Superior Honor Award. (Applause.)

So thank you so much for all of your hard work and your commitment. I hope that I’ll have a chance to come back not too soon so you have a chance to rest up. But I think you earned a wheels-up party as soon as I’m finally no longer in your airspace – (laughter) – and no longer your responsibility. But thank you for what you do every single day and thanks for the extra efforts when people like me come to town. And let me now come down and say hello to everybody.

Okay, since there’s so little time, I’ll be very brief. I’m very pleased to welcome Madam Secretary, Mrs. Clinton, back to Kadriorg, where I had the honor and the privilege to bring her here to see my predecessor. So this is not the first time Mrs. Clinton is here, but the first time Madam Secretary is here. We had a very good meeting, as we have had always over the past 15 years, and we discussed all of the obvious things: NATO, Estonia and Afghanistan, the future of NATO, the strategic concept, relations with our neighbors, transatlantic relations and how we can work more in that direction, Iran, I think I’ve mentioned most of those things, but we’re very glad to have you here and I’m glad that our relations are very close.

SECRETARY CLINTON:

Well I’m delighted to be back and especially to have this time to discuss such important issues with the President. I’ve always appreciated the opportunity to exchange views and ideas and to hear his perspective on important matters. In addition to the issues, which already seems like a long list, that he mentioned we discussed, we also exchanged ideas on cyber security, an area that Estonia has taken a real leadership role in, on energy security, something that from our perspective in the United States we think is very important for Europe. But generally it was an extremely useful exchange between friends. As the president said, we have no complaints, we have no concerns about our relationship. We want it to become even better and better in the future. And I’m delighted to have this chance during the NATO Ministerial to pay a call on you, Mr. President. And I’m glad you’re here, having made it home. Thank you again.

Thank you all.

When I visited Estonia in 1994, this nation was emerging from Soviet occupation and just beginning to build the economic institutions and the civil society needed for a functioning, vibrant democracy. When I came back in 2004, only 10 years later, Estonia was a proud new member of NATO and of the EU. And today, Estonia is not only a trusted and valued ally to the United States, but it is a model for countries, particularly new democracies, the world over.

Read the full remarks.

A lot has happened this week, both locally (a great Democrats Abroad health care celebration!) and back home (Justice Stevens is retiring!) but I wanted to take a moment now to write about the economy. Specifically, the improvement in the economy.

Businessweek magazine, hardly a bastion of economic populism, has just published an interesting article about how not only are the markets recovering, but they are doing so because there appears to be a solid grounding of underlying economic improvement. And they attribute this to directly to Obama’s efforts:

Little more than a year ago, financial markets were in turmoil, major auto companies were on the verge of collapse and economists such as Paul Krugman were worried about the U.S. slumbering through a Japan-like Lost Decade. While no one would claim that all the pain is past or the danger gone, the economy is growing again, jumping to a 5.6% annualized growth rate in the fourth quarter of 2009 as businesses finally restocked their inventories. The consensus view now calls for 3% growth this year, significantly higher than the 2.1 % estimate for 2010 that economists surveyed by Bloomberg News saw coming when Obama first moved into the Oval Office. The U.S. manufacturing sector has expanded for eight straight months, the Business Roundtable’s measure of CEO optimism reached its highest level since early 2006, and in March the economy added 162,000 jobs—more than it had during any month in the past three years. “There is more business confidence out there,” says Boeing (BA) CEO Jim McNerney. “This Administration deserves significant credit.”

It is worth stepping back to consider, in cool-headed policy terms, how all of this came to be—and whether the Obama team’s approach amounts to a set of successful emergency measures or a new economic philosophy: Obamanomics.

But this doesn’t need to be a question of interpretation. The facts on the ground are very clear – on almost every measure, bar unembployment – which is only just starting to recover, with our first month of positive jobs news just reported – the economic situation has grown better under Obama’s presidency.

Read on at the London Obama blog.

Prague, Czech Republic (CNN) — President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday signed a major nuclear arms control agreement that reduces the nuclear stockpiles of both nations.
The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty — known by its acronym, START– builds on a previous agreement that expired in December.

The agreement cuts the number of nuclear weapons held by the United States and Russia by about a third.

“This day demonstrates the determination of the United States and Russia — the two nations that hold over 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons — to pursue responsible global leadership,”

Obama said after the signing.

“Together, we are keeping our commitments under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which must be the foundation for global nonproliferation.”

Medvedev called START a “win-win situation” for the two countries.

“This agreement enhances strategic ability and, at the same time, allows us to rise to a higher level of cooperation between Russia and the United States,” he said.

“The EU is our equal partner and we have an ongoing working relationship. I simply reject the idea that we need summits to get things done, as it may be the case with other countries,” Anne-Marie Slaughter, policy director within the US state department said during the Brussels Forum, a transatlantic conference organised by the German Marshall Fund, an American think-tank.

Barack Obama met EU leaders in Prague last year (Photo: eu2009.cz)

Ms Slaughter said she was baffled to read the news about the attempts earlier this year to “put something on the agenda” of a planned EU-US summit in Madrid, which was cancelled after US President Barack Obama declined to participate. She stressed that the ties with Europe were so strong that the EU should not have to feel the need to “attract” the US to come to its events.

Full story.

MOSCOW — Russia and the United States have reached agreement on a deal to cut their nuclear arsenals and replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, a Kremlin spokesman said Wednesday, and President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev are expected to sign the pact in Prague.

“All documents related to the new treaty have been agreed upon,” the spokesman, Alexei Pavlov, said by telephone, adding that the two presidents are planning to discuss the arrangements “in the nearest future.”

Read the full story.

Good afternoon,

Since the House of Representatives voted to pass health reform legislation on Sunday night, the legislative process and its political impact have been the focus of all the newspapers and cable TV pundits.

Outside of DC, however, many Americans are trying to cut through the chatter and get to the substance of reform with a simple question: “What does health insurance reform actually mean for me?” To help, we’ve put together a list of some key benefits every American should know.

Let’s start with how health insurance reform will expand and strengthen coverage:

* This year, children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage. Once the new health insurance exchanges begin in the coming years, pre-existing condition discrimination will become a thing of the past for everyone.
* This year, health care plans will allow young people to remain on their parents’ insurance policy up until their 26th birthday.
* This year, insurance companies will be banned from dropping people from coverage when they get sick, and they will be banned from implementing lifetime caps on coverage. This year, restrictive annual limits on coverage will be banned for certain plans. Under health insurance reform, Americans will be ensured access to the care they need.
* This year, adults who are uninsured because of pre-existing conditions will have access to affordable insurance through a temporary subsidized high-risk pool.
* In the next fiscal year, the bill increases funding for community health centers, so they can treat nearly double the number of patients over the next five years.
* This year, we’ll also establish an independent commission to advise on how best to build the health care workforce and increase the number of nurses, doctors and other professionals to meet our country’s needs. Going forward, we will provide $1.5 billion in funding to support the next generation of doctors, nurses and other primary care practitioners — on top of a $500 million investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Health insurance reform will also curb some of the worst insurance industry practices and strengthen consumer protections:

* This year, this bill creates a new, independent appeals process that ensures consumers in new private plans have access to an effective process to appeal decisions made by their insurer.
* This year, discrimination based on salary will be outlawed. New group health plans will be prohibited from establishing any eligibility rules for health care coverage that discriminate in favor of higher-wage employees.
* Beginning this fiscal year, this bill provides funding to states to help establish offices of health insurance consumer assistance in order to help individuals in the process of filing complaints or appeals against insurance companies.
* Starting January 1, 2011, insurers in the individual and small group market will be required to spend 80 percent of their premium dollars on medical services. Insurers in the large group market will be required to spend 85 percent of their premium dollars on medical services. Any insurers who don’t meet those thresholds will be required to provide rebates to their policyholders.
* Starting in 2011, this bill helps states require insurance companies to submit justification for requested premium increases. Any company with excessive or unjustified premium increases may not be able to participate in the new health insurance exchanges.

Reform immediately begins to lower health care costs for American families and small businesses:

* This year, small businesses that choose to offer coverage will begin to receive tax credits of up to 35 percent of premiums to help make employee coverage more affordable.
* This year, new private plans will be required to provide free preventive care: no co-payments and no deductibles for preventive services. And beginning January 1, 2011, Medicare will do the same.
* This year, this bill will provide help for early retirees by creating a temporary re-insurance program to help offset the costs of expensive premiums for employers and retirees age 55-64.
* This year, this bill starts to close the Medicare Part D ‘donut hole’ by providing a $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who hit the gap in prescription drug coverage. And beginning in 2011, the bill institutes a 50% discount on prescription drugs in the ‘donut hole.’

Thank you,

Nancy-Ann DeParle
Director, White House Office of Health Reform

For the first time in our nation’s history, Congress has passed comprehensive health care reform. America waited a hundred years and fought for decades to reach this moment. Tonight, thanks to you, we are finally here.

Consider the staggering scope of what you have just accomplished:

Because of you, every American will finally be guaranteed high quality, affordable health care coverage.

Every American will be covered under the toughest patient protections in history. Arbitrary premium hikes, insurance cancellations, and discrimination against pre-existing conditions will now be gone forever.

And we’ll finally start reducing the cost of care — creating millions of jobs, preventing families and businesses from plunging into bankruptcy, and removing over a trillion dollars of debt from the backs of our children.

But the victory that matters most tonight goes beyond the laws and far past the numbers.

It is the peace of mind enjoyed by every American, no longer one injury or illness away from catastrophe.

It is the workers and entrepreneurs who are now freed to pursue their slice of the American dream without fear of losing coverage or facing a crippling bill.

And it is the immeasurable joy of families in every part of this great nation, living happier, healthier lives together because they can finally receive the vital care they need.

This is what change looks like.

My gratitude tonight is profound. I am thankful for those in past generations whose heroic efforts brought this great goal within reach for our times. I am thankful for the members of Congress whose months of effort and brave votes made it possible to take this final step. But most of all, I am thankful for you.

This day is not the end of this journey. Much hard work remains, and we have a solemn responsibility to do it right. But we can face that work together with the confidence of those who have moved mountains.

Our journey began three years ago, driven by a shared belief that fundamental change is indeed still possible. We have worked hard together every day since to deliver on that belief.

We have shared moments of tremendous hope, and we’ve faced setbacks and doubt. We have all been forced to ask if our politics had simply become too polarized and too short-sighted to meet the pressing challenges of our time. This struggle became a test of whether the American people could still rally together when the cause was right — and actually create the change we believe in.

Tonight, thanks to your mighty efforts, the answer is indisputable: Yes we can.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Friday that American and Russian negotiators are “on the brink” of agreement on a nuclear arms reduction treaty.

After meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Clinton said she expects a treaty-signing soon, although she mentioned no date or place.

“Our negotiating teams have reported that they have resolved all of the major issues and there are some technical issues that remain,” she said at a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“But we are on the brink of seeing a new agreement between the United States and Russia,” Clinton added.

Read the full story.

“I believe the United States Congress owes the American people a final vote on healthcare reform,” Mr Obama said in a speech at the White House.

He said the proposed reforms had incorporated the best ideas from the Democrats and the Republicans.

“I ask Congress to finish its work, and I look forward to signing this reform into law,” Mr Obama said.

“At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem,” he added.

We’re closer than ever to making reform a reality, and the next step in the process is an open bipartisan meeting to discuss additional Republican and Democratic ideas for making our health care system work better for the American people.

“I want to speak specifically about NATO. I want to outline some of the basic goals that I hope will define the new Strategic Concept.”–Secretary Clinton (Feb. 22):

________________________________________

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, Mr. Charillon. And it is a great pleasure to be here at this historic setting, and I appreciate the opportunity to discuss a matter of great consequence to the United States, France, and every country on this continent and far beyond the borders: the future of European security.

Now, this is not only here at L’Ecole Militaire an architectural and historical treasure, one that when I was much younger I would walk by and looked at as I wandered the neighborhoods. But this is also a place that speaks to the long and proud partnership between the French and American militaries on behalf of our mutual defense and freedom. Two hundred and fifty years ago, young men from across France began arriving here to be trained as soldiers and officers of the French military. And only a few years later, you stood with us during our war of independence. Soldiers from both nations fought together to liberate Paris 65 years ago. Today, they fight together in Afghanistan to defeat al-Qaida and the syndicate of terrorists and offer the Afghan people the hope of a stable future.

As founding members of the NATO Alliance, our countries have worked side by side for decades to build a strong and secure Europe and to defend and promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. And I am delighted that we are working even more closely now that France is fully participating in NATO’s integrated command structure. I thank President Sarkozy for his leadership and look forward to benefiting from the counsel of our French colleagues as together we chart NATO’s future.

Read Secretary Clinton’s full remarks:
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/01/136273.htm

The event organizer MOVE GmbH promises a double world premiere: at the premiere of “HOPE – the Obama Musical Story” on Sunday, 17 January at 8:00 pm, the audience will rhythmically participate on specially developed percussion chairs – for the first time ever worldwide.

The production is realized in German and English. Visit the official website for ticket information.

Important note from the HOPE production team:
The “HOPE musical production” does not pursue any political interests with their production. Being artists, we merely stage a piece of attitude to life of the “historic year 2008″ with topics still prevailing today as well as good entertainment and music!

Source: CNN

Click on the first photo or here to view this episode.

President Barack Obama greets the U.S. Embassy staff in Oslo, Norway, Dec. 11, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza )

The President and the First Lady visited the staff at the US Embassy in Oslo after the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and before returning to Washington, DC.

From the very first moment of his presidency, President Obama has been trying to create a more cooperative climate which can help reverse the present trend. He has already “lowered the temperature in the world”, in the words of former Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu.

–Thorbjørn Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Oslo, 10 December 2009

The full text of Mr. Jagland’s speech is available here.

Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 2009-Artist: Per Fronth-Calligrapher: Inger Magnus-Photo reproduction: Thomas Widerberg

So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace. And yet this truth must coexist with another — that no matter how justified, war promises human tragedy. The soldier’s courage and sacrifice is full of glory, expressing devotion to country, to cause, to comrades in arms. But war itself is never glorious, and we must never trumpet it as such.

So part of our challenge is reconciling these two seemingly inreconcilable truths — that war is sometimes necessary, and war at some level is an expression of human folly. Concretely, we must direct our effort to the task that President Kennedy called for long ago. “Let us focus,” he said, “on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions.” A gradual evolution of human institutions.

US President Barack Obama, Accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, Oslo, 10 December 2009

President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize Lecture

Being a Black Woman in Europe

Listen to the full speech via the audio player above or read the full text of his speech here.

Musical performers included Esperanza Spalding

and

Watch the entire 88 minute ceremony.

Brussels, always a hub of foreign affairs activity with two of the world’s leading international organizations, NATO and the EU, headquartered here, was abuzz this week with change and international consultation.

On the very hot front burner of issues was President Obama’s strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan and the question of how the U.S.’s partners would respond. Senior U.S. officials started arriving in Brussels a scant six hours after the President’s speech at West Point on Tuesday night for in-depth consultations with U.S. European allies, as well as with other nations contributing troops and civilian aid to the effort in Afghanistan. Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke engaged over the course of three-days, with various government officials, members of the media, and with think tanks about the new plan. Secretary Clinton and Deputy Secretary Steinberg arrived in Brussels just a day or so later for NATO meetings centered on the ways we can work together in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

On the EU front, the Lisbon Treaty came into force December 1, bringing reorganization within EU institutions and new faces to U.S.-EU relations. The Lisbon Treaty created two new positions – President of the EU Council and High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security, the “Foreign Minister” of the EU. On Friday, Secretary Clinton was the first U.S. official to meet with the new High Representative, Catherine Ashton, in her new position, ushering in even more active transatlantic engagement on our very full agenda of global affairs.

The NATO Foreign Ministerial that just ended turned out to be just the success we hoped it would be.

Allies strongly endorsed President Obama’s approach toward Afghanistan, with countries pledging to do more in terms of troops, trainers, and trust fund monies. Allies and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) partners pledged to contribute about 7,000 troops, and several thousand more will likely be forthcoming in the near future. ISAF countries also began a discussion on improving civilian coordination, with an eye to agreeing on new mechanisms by the time of the London Conference.

Allies embraced the President’s Phased, Adaptive Approach to Missile Defense, which will in the not too distant future help protect allied populations, territory and forces from growing missile threats.

Allies agreed to provide Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Montenegro and reached a compromise on Bosnia that enables Sarajevo to get MAP once it achieves the necessary progress in its reform efforts. Reaching this consensus was difficult, but in the end, all allies agreed to support the compromise.

NATO countries and Russia formally restarted the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) by convening the first formal ministerial meeting since December 2007. The NRC Ministers agreed to restructure the NRC, launch a joint review of 21st Security Challenges, and a Work Program for 2010.

Because of these successes, the road to the Lisbon Summit next November looks brighter than it did only a few days ago.

…as Commander-in-Chief, I have determined that it is in our vital national interest to send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan. After 18 months, our troops will begin to come home. These are the resources that we need to seize the initiative, while building the Afghan capacity that can allow for a responsible transition of our forces out of Afghanistan.

The case for Obama’s successful freshman year rests above all on the health care legislation now awaiting action in the Senate. Democrats have been trying to pass national health insurance for 60 years. Past presidents who tried to make it happen and failed include Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton. Through the summer, Obama caught flak for letting Congress lead the process, as opposed to setting out his own proposal. Now his political strategy is being vindicated. The bill he signs may be flawed in any number of ways—weak on cost control, too tied to the employer-based system, and inadequate in terms of consumer choice. But given the vastness of the enterprise and the political obstacles, passing an imperfect behemoth and improving it later is probably the only way to succeed where his predecessors failed.

Read Weisberg’s article on Slate.com.

With warmest wishes for a happy holiday season from my family to yours,

President Barack Obama

BEIJING — President Obama directly acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that the prison facility at Guantanamo Bay will not close by the January deadline he set, but he said he hoped to still achieve that goal sometime next year.

Obama refused, however, to set a new deadline.

In an interview in the Chinese capital with Major Garrett of Fox News , Obama claimed he was “not disappointed” that the Guantanamo deadline had slipped, saying he “knew this was going to be hard.”

Read the full story:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/18/AR2009111800571.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR