TPMDC Yemen
Barack Obama
Obama Appeals To 'Hope' Not 'Hate' In Unveiling Shift In Middle East Policy
President Barack Obama
President Obama attempted to reset relations with the Arab world Thursday in a comprehensive speech that positioned the United States and its values squarely behind the democratic uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa and promised aid to help promote economic growth and stability across the region.
"Across the region, those rights that we take for granted are being claimed with joy by those who are prying loose the grip of an iron fist," Obama said during a 45-minute speech at the State Department.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bahrain, Barack Obama, Egypt, Libya, Middle East, Osama Bin Laden, State Department, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen
Middle East
Obama To Lay Out Economic Recovery Plan For Middle East In Major Speech
President Obama plans to outline an ambitious economic recovery plan for the Middle East and Northern Africa designed to spur economic growth and build on democratic reforms that began in Egypt and Tunisia and have swept to countries across the region this Spring.
In major speech at the State Department Thursday, Obama will announce U.S. steps to cancel nearly a billion dollars worth of Egyptian and Tunisian debt, establish a Egyptian-American private enterprise fund and guarantee up to a billion dollars in borrowing through the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a U.S. agency that mobilizes private-sector investment in new and emerging markets, according to senior administration officials.
PERMALINK | COMMENTS | RECOMMEND RECOMMEND (0)Topics: Bahrain, Barack Obama, Egypt, George Mitchell, Libya, Middle East, Middle East peace, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, democratic reforms
Dianne Feinstein
Feinstein Slams Middle East Intelligence, Urges Caution On No-Fly Zone
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, harshly criticized the CIA and the rest of the intelligence community for failing to forecast the uprising in the Middle East and warned the White House not to intervene in Libya without international support.
"Our intelligence, and I see it all ... was woefully inadequate. [The unrest in] Tunisia was the only intelligence we got right," Feinstein told TPM Tuesday, adding that U.S. intelligence completely missed the instability in Egypt, Yemen and Bahrain.
Topics: Bahrain, CIA, CIA/DNI/Intelligence, Dianne Feinstein, John Kerry, John McCain, Leon Panetta, Libya, Lindsey Graham, Middle East, Mike Mullen, Muammar Qaddafi, Robert Gates, Senate intelligence committee, Tunisia, Yemen, no-fly zone
Roundup
TPMDC Morning Roundup
Obama: 'No Intention' To Send Troops To Yemen
In an interview with People, President Obama said that he is focusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan in the fight against Al Qaida, and has no plans to send U.S. troops to Yemen. "I never rule out any possibility in a world that is this complex," said Obama, also adding: "in countries like Yemen, in countries like Somalia, I think working with international partners is most effective at this point."
Obama's Day Ahead
President Obama will receive the presidential daily briefing at 10 a.m. ET, and meet at 10:30 a.m. ET with senior advisers. He will meet at 4:30 p.m. ET with labor leaders. He will at 5:30 p.m. ET with U.S. Combatant Commanders. At 7 p.m. ET, the President and First Lady will host a dinner with the Combatant Commanders and their spouses.
Topics: Barack Obama, Barbara Lee, Congressional Black Caucus, Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Rod Blagojevich, Roundup, Yemen
Roundup
TPMDC Sunday Roundup
Brennan: 'Clearly The System Didn't Work On That Day'
Appearing on Meet The Press, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan bluntly admitted that there were intelligence failures in the Flight 253 attempted bombing. "Clearly the system didn't work on that day, because Abdulmutallab should never have gotten onto that plane with those explosives," said Brennan, who also said that President Obama "needs to hold everybody accountable, including me."
Brennan: Either Cheney Is 'Willfully Mischaracterizing' Obama's Position, 'Or He's Ignorant Of The Facts'
Also during his Meet The Press appearance, Brennan rebutted former Vice President Dick Cheney's latest attacks on the Obama administration, over the handling of the Flight 253 case: "Either the vice president is willfully mischaracterizing this president's position ... Or he's ignorant of the facts. And in either case, it doesn't speak well of what the vice president's doing."
Topics: Dick Cheney, Flight 253, Jim DeMint, Joe Lieberman, John Boehner, Kit Bond, MI-GOV, Pete Hoekstra, Roundup, Yemen
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