New York Times (September 2)
“More than anyone, President Vladimir Putin of Russia has set the agenda for NATO’s 65th summit meeting this week, which could well be the most consequential since the Cold War ended.” Ironically, his antics may serve to strengthen NATO. He “has forced on it a new and urgent purpose by effectively invading Ukraine and demonstrating his utter disregard for the international system.”
New York Times (September 23)
The U.S. “has made commendable progress in reducing its emissions, and is halfway toward meeting Mr. Obama’s pledge at the Copenhagen climate summit meeting in 2009 to reduce its emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.” Globally, however, progress is not being made. “Steadily increasing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, rising sea levels, more violent weather events, persistent droughts…. The burden on the United States to set a positive example is as heavy as ever.”
USA Today (June 7)
Hopefully the top leaders of the U.S. and China can move beyond the recent cyberattacks. “China is fast becoming a dominant world power. The U.S.-China relationship and rivalry will shape the rest of this century. If, as Obama and Xi hold their first summit, both understand this, perhaps they can work out ways to manage and reset the relationship. As with ordinary mortals, there is no better key to success than communication. The more frequent, the more open, the better.”
Tags: China, Cyberattacks, Obama, Summit, U.S., World power, Xi
Financial Times (October 27)
The news from the European summit was encouraging, yet “comprehensive solutions” have been announced before only to fall flat. European leaders still have to get “the scaffolding needed to hold their crisis management strategy together.” They must completely vanquish the financial crisis if they hope to shape Europe’s future by binding “the eurozone’s economies and governance systems much tighter together.”
Tags: Comprehensive solution, eurozone, Summit
