The Obama administration gave another indication on Monday of its indifference toward Europe by advising the Spanish government — as the current holders of the European Union’s rotating presidency — that President Barack Obama will be a no-show at the next E.U.-U.S. summit in Madrid this spring. Obama’s decision was “a setback for the Spanish government,” observed the newspaper El Pais, “a reversal for the European Union, and a clear message of the [Obama] administration’s international priorities.” Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was counting on the ever-popular Obama’s visit to Spain to bolster his own sagging poll numbers [...]
In the “Trust but CYA” game that is Asia these days, a lot of the CYA component is taking place on the water, as well as under it. That makes sense, given the importance of shipping lanes to regional economies, the heap of maritime boundary disputes yet to be resolved, and the fact that the U.S. security guarantee to friends in the region depends to a great extent on its naval capacity. But as Nick Floyd highlights in a post on Australia’s naval posture over at the Interpreter, amphibious operations are central to strategic planning as well, given that five [...]
A Vietnamese court sentenced Pham Thanh Nghien to four-and-a-half years in prison on charges of spreading propaganda on Jan. 29, the latest in a string of convictions against pro-democracy activists in the country. Human rights groups have criticized Vietnamese authorities repeatedly over the last few years for an increasingly intense crackdown on free speech — one that has seen writers, bloggers, lawyers and journalists put behind bars. “It is deeply concerning that prosecutors used Nghien’s articles as a pretext to imprison her for anti-government views. This conviction leaves Vietnamese journalists and activists vulnerable to imprisonment on the basis of published [...]
