US Elections Analysis: A Foreign Policy Debate Which Will Not Mean That Much

See also EA Video Special: How to Win Presidential Debate Buzzword Bingo....
US Elections Analysis: The "Fiscal Cliff" and the Races for the New Congress

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There is little that either candidate can say tonight which will sway the opinion of the wavering voters who will decide this election. Neither Obama or Romney has a foreign policy of details and concrete proposals that is distinctive. If there is the perception that each would act differently in the event of a major crisis, but that impression is already factored into the calculations of the "undecided".

The debate is not irrelevant, especially if Romney loses some of the “Presidential” aura he won in Denver. But the reality is that, if the Republican simply gives the appearance of a resolute leader, this election returns on Tuesday morning to a two-week battle to persuade the cluster of undecided voters, in a few key states, to make up their minds based on the economic and social agenda of the "better" candidate.

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EA Video Special: How to Win Presidential Debate Buzzword Bingo....

See also US Elections Analysis: A Foreign Policy Debate Which Will Not Mean That Much
US Elections Video: Obama or Romney? And Does It Make Any Difference? --- "Seminar" at the University of Birmingham

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As Barack Obama and Mitt Romney square off in the third and final Presidential debate tonight, devoted to questions on foreign policy, EA gives you the words that will ensure you're a winner in Buzzword Bingo.

God, leadership, terrorism, Libya, and Al Qa'eda --- they're all here in six minutes and your cut-out and keep playing card:

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US Elections Video: Obama or Romney? And Does It Make Any Difference? --- "Seminar" at the University of Birmingham

On Wednesday, I joined Dr Adam Quinn and Ph.D. candidate Jonna Nyman to discuss the state of the US Presidential election and what lay ahead for domestic and foreign policy over the next four years.

While all of us agreed that an Obama victory was likely, the discussion of the issues at home and abroad led to some notable expressions of concern, from the threat to health care in the US to conflicts over social issues to a possible war with Iran:

EA Video Analysis: How to Use American Deaths to Win a Presidential Election

See also US Politics Video: The 2nd Obama-Romney Debate

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As details emerge of the death of four Americans, including US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens, in an attack on 11 September on the American Consulate in Benghazi, six minutes on why Mitt Romney's focus on the issue is political manipulation rather than a contribution to "security" and US foreign policy....

US Politics Audio: Cuban Missile Crisis 1962, Presidential Campaign 2012 --- Scott Lucas with the BBC

I spoke with BBC Radio West Midlands this afternoon, on the 50th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Missile Crisis, about the episode and what lessons it might offer for the Presidential candidates as they debate foreign policy in 2012.

The discussion begins at the 1:19:30 mark.

EA Video Analysis: US Elections --- How You Can Become Commander-in-Chief Like Mitt Romney

Using Mitt Romney's speech last week at Virginia Military Institute on US foreign and military policy, we explain how you too can become Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America (one hint --- say "Al Qa'eda" a lot):

U.S. Politics Analysis: Is the World Less Safe under Obama, and Could Mitt Romney do Any Better?

National Public Radio recaps the key points from Mitt Romney's foreign policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute

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A real criticism of Barack Obama might be that he did not change enough. He has continued and escalated the drone war, has surged in Afghanistan, has not reset the diplomatic situation with Iran or North Korea, and has not closed Guantanamo Bay.

But Romney is not challenging any of this, because he is likely to support these measures, albeit in private rather in public statements. Instead, he is pursuing the verbal trickery of turning a "hawkish" Obama into a dove.

Whether that is effective politics, time will tell. But no one should mistake it for a realistic view of US politics.

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The Latest from Israel-Palestine (9 October): Watching Syria, Downing a Drone, and Skirmishing with Gaza

1935 GMT: With no reference to his earlier demand on a halt to settlement freeze as a condition of returning to peace talks, Palestinian Authority's leader Mahmoud Abbas said that he could resume talks following the UN vote on a Palestinian request for "nonmember state" status.

1900 GMT: PM Netanyahu announces early elections.

1730 GMT: Israel's daily YNET claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will announce his early elections decision tonight.

1720 GMT: A Kassam rocket fired from Gaza exploded in an open area in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council. No injuries reported.

1530 GMT: In a letter sent to the U.S. Congress by the leaders of the Lutheran, Methodist, UCC churches, and the National Council of Churches; the military aid to Israel was asked to be reevaluated.

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US War on Terror Feature: The Death of a Guantanamo Bay Detainee (Hussain)

Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif

I am happy to express from this darkness and draw a true picture of the condition in which I exist. I am moving towards a dark cave and a dark life in the shadow of a dark prison. This is a prison that does not know humanity, and does not know anything except the language of power, oppression and humiliation for whoever enters it. It does not differentiate between a criminal and the innocent.

--- Guantanamo inmate Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif to his lawyer, 26 December 2010

Two weeks ago, the Pentagon quietly released a statement that another Guantanamo detainee had died in custody, the ninth since the prison was opened in 2001. Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a 32-year-old man from Yemen who had spent eleven years incarcerated, was found dead in his cell on September 8.

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Video and Transcript: President Obama's Speech to the UN

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The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam. Yet to be credible, those who condemn that slander must also condemn the hate we see when the image of Jesus Christ is desecrated, churches are destroyed, or the Holocaust is denied. Let us condemn incitement against Sufi Muslims, and Shiite pilgrims. It is time to heed the words of Gandhi: “Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.” Together, we must work towards a world where we are strengthened by our differences, and not defined by them. That is what America embodies, and that is the vision we will support.

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