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Nile Gardiner is a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst and political Celebrities

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Do tyrants fear America anymore? President Obama’s Health and lifestyle

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timid foreign policy is an embarrassment for a global
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By Nile Gardiner World Last updated: February 28th, 2011
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Do tyrants fear
America anymore?
President Obama’s
timid foreign policy is
an embarrassment for a
global superpower
February 28th, 2011 18:14
Comment on this

The EU tries to hijack

The King’s Speech
February 28th, 2011 16:04
Comment on this

Muammar Gaddafi with Barack Obama in 2009 (Photo: AFP/Getty)

The King’s Speech scores
an Oscar triumph for ARCHIVES
The débacle of Washington’s handling of the Libya issue is symbolic of a the Special Relationship

wider problem at the heart of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. February 28th, 2011 5:38 Select Month 6
Comment on this
The fact that it took ten days and at least a thousand dead on the streets
of Libya’s cities before President Obama finally mustered the courage to The Obama NEWS TAGS
Administration's
call for Muammar “mad dog” Gaddafi to step down is highly embarrassing
spineless response to afghanistan Alistair Darling a n i m a l w e l f a r e
for the world’s only superpower, and emblematic of a deer-in-the- Colonel Gaddafi's reign
of terror
Barack Obama BBC BNP Boris Johnson china
headlights approach to world leadership. Washington seems incapable climate change C l i m a t e g a t e coalition
February 23rd, 2011 23:10
of decisive decision-making on foreign policy at the moment, a far cry
from the days when it swept entire regimes from power, and defeated
Comment on this Conservatives David Cameron
The EU is weak and david miliband Ed Balls Ed Miliband eu General
America’s enemies with deep-seated conviction and an unshakeable
clueless on Libya Election 2010 George Osborne g l o b a l w a r m i n g
drive for victory.
February 23rd, 2011 17:56 gordon brown H a r r i e t H a r m a n H i l l a r y
Just a few years ago the United States was genuinely feared on the world Comment on this C l i n t o n India I r a n I s l a m Israel Ken Livingstone
labour Liberal Democrats Lisbon Treaty M a r g a r e t
stage, and dictatorial regimes, strategic adversaries and state sponsors T h a t c h e r Michael Gove M o r n i n g m u s t-r e a d s N H S
of terror trod carefully in the face of the world’s most powerful nation. Nick Clegg Pope Benedict XVI r e f e r e n d u m S a r a h
Now Washington appears weak, rudderless and frequently confused in P a l i n tony blair Tories t w i t t e r US politics v i n c e
cable William Hague
its approach. From Tehran to Tripoli, the Obama administration has
been pathetically slow to lead, and afraid to condemn acts of state-
NEWS BLOGGERS
sponsored repression and violence. When protesters took to the streets
to demonstrate against the Islamist dictatorship in Iran in 2009, the brutal Adrian Michaels
repression that greeted them was hardly a blip on Barack Obama’s Alex Singleton
teleprompter screen, barely meriting a response from a largely silent Alex Spillius
presidency.
Andrew M Brown
In contrast to Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, President Obama Andrew Gilligan
fails to see the United States as an exceptional nation, with a unique role Andrew Osborn
in leading the free world and standing up to tyranny. In his speeches Benedict Brogan
abroad he has frequently found fault with his own country, rather than
Bryony Gordon
projecting confidence in American greatness. From Cairo to Strasbourg
Christopher Hope
he has adopted an apologetic tone rather than demonstrating faith in
America as a shining city upon a hill, a beacon of freedom and liberty. A Con Coughlin

leader who lacks pride in his own nation’s historic role as a great Cristina Odone

liberator simply cannot project strength abroad. Damian Thompson

Daniel Hannan
It has also become abundantly clear that the Obama team attaches little
importance to human rights issues, and in contrast to the previous Daniel Knowles

administration has not pursued a freedom agenda in the Middle East and David Hughes
elsewhere. It places far greater value upon engagement with hostile Dean Nelson
regimes, even if they are carrying out gross human rights abuses, in the Ed West
mistaken belief that appeasement enhances security. This has been the
Geoffrey Lean
case with Iran, Russia and North Korea for example. This administration
George Pitcher
has also been all too willing to sacrifice US leadership in deference to
Guy Walters
supranational institutions such as the United Nations, whose track record
in standing up to dictatorships has been virtually non-existent. India Lenon

James Corum
The White House’s painful navel-gazing on Libya last week, with even the
James Delingpole
French adopting a far tougher stance, is cause for grave concern. The
Obama administration’s timid approach to foreign policy is the last thing  James Kirkup

the world needs at a time of mounting turmoil in the Middle East, Janet Daley
including the growing threat of a nuclear-armed Iran, and Islamist John McTernan
militancy on the rise from Egypt to Yemen. US leadership is now needed Jon Swaine
more than ever, but has embarrassingly gone AWOL on the world stage. Jonathan Wynne-Jones
Tags: Barack Obama, George W Bush, Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, Ronald Judith Potts
Reagan Julian Kossoff
Katharine Birbalsingh

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