Related: Obama Off to Asia
To expand the empire:
"Obama links US recovery to Asia-Pacific trade; Calls new bloc key to boosting commerce ties" November 14, 2011|By Ben Feller, Associated Press
KAPOLEI, Hawaii - In the midst of a hard reelection bid, Obama kept his message on jobs, even as he privately lobbied for help on containing the Iranian nuclear threat....
Always serving Israel first.
Obama announced the broad outlines of an agreement to create a trans-Pacific trade zone encompassing the United States and eight other nations. The president said the details must still be worked out, but said the goal was to complete the agreement by next year.
The countries joining the United States in the Trans-Pacific Partnership would be Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. US officials said Canada and Mexico have both expressed interest in joining.
Obama also spoke with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda about Japan’s interest in joining the trade bloc.
For the United States, the trade initiative is seen as a way to break through bottlenecks and open new business opportunities.
And check China.
Thomas Donohue, president of the US Chamber of Commerce, an influential business lobbying group, praised the Trans-Pacific Partnership....
Before a meeting with President Hu Jintao on Saturday, Obama exhorted Beijing to “play by the rules,’’ citing controls that keep China’s currency undervalued as an example. He also cited lax enforcement of protection of intellectual property rights, favoritism toward state-run enterprises, and other issues that have long dogged trade relations between the world’s two leading economies.
I'm so sick of hearing hypocritical criticism coming from the AmeriKan empire.
Obama is on a nine-day trip to the Pacific, during which he also will visit Australia and Indonesia. He returns to the White House on Nov. 20.
In sideline meetings here, Obama prodded the leaders of Russia and China for support in curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But neither Hu nor President Dmitry Medvedev of Russia publicly echoed Obama’s push for solidarity over Iran.
Obama raised a new report from the UN atomic agency, which asserted in the strongest terms to date that Iran is conducting secret work to develop nuclear arms.
It was NOTHING NEW, folks. It was JUST TROTTED OUT to back the WAR DRUM PROPAGANDA.
Russia and China remain a roadblock to the United States in its push to tighten international sanctions on Iran. Both are veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council and have shown no sign the new report will change their stand.
Alongside Medvedev, Obama said the two “reaffirmed our intention to work to shape a common response’’ on Iran.
Meanwhile, Republicans vying to compete against Obama for the presidency unleashed withering criticisms of Obama in a debate in South Carolina on Saturday. It was a rare moment in which foreign policy garnered attention in a campaign dominated by the flagging US economy. “If we reelect Barack Obama, Iran will have a nuclear weapon. And if you elect Mitt Romney, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,’’ said Romney, a former Massachusetts governor.
I'm sure that appeals to Israel.
Related: Nominating Romney Means Return of Bush
It's like he never left.
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"Obama announces military partnership with Australia; US troops will rotate at bases across country" November 17, 2011|By David Nakamura, Washington Post
CANBERRA, Australia - The United States, in a move that is widely perceived as a counter- balance to China’s growing power, said yesterday it will establish its first permanent military presence in Australia.
Starting next summer, the United States will send 250 Marines to bases for six-month tours, eventually rotating 2,500 troops through the country. President Obama announced the partnership at a press conference with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, describing it as a key step in his administration’s evolving emphasis on the Asia Pacific region as the United States winds down wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“We are here to stay,’’ Obama said....
What more is there to say, really?
The Australian pact extends US influence into Southeast Asia at a time of growing assertiveness in China. Obama is scheduled to deliver a speech to Australia’s Parliament to lay out the renewed US commitment, which is stirring anxiety in Beijing....
Obama had drawn rebukes from Chinese media after criticizing China’s economic policies at a summit over the weekend in Hawaii. There, the president called on China to make its currency policy more flexible, to help balance trade, and to respect intellectual property rights.
The United States has grown alarmed by China’s increasingly confrontational stance in the South China Sea, a critical commercial shipping channel that is thought to contain valuable oil and minerals.
Related: Chinese Calm South China Sea
Are you sick of the war-mongering newspaper and its distortions yet?
Even so, Obama said that the US relationship with China is not a zero-sum game and that he imagines a “win-win’’ scenario in which both nations prosper.
“The notion that we fear China is mistaken,’’ Obama said. Rather, the United States wants “a clear set of principles that all of us can abide by so all of us can succeed.’’
But he added that China must understand that with its rise on the international stage comes increased responsibility.
If China does not respect international rules, Obama said, “we will send a clear message to them that we think that they need to be on track in terms of accepting the rules and responsibilities that come with being a world power.’’
So when is your mass-murdering government going to start abiding by them, asshole?
The repositioning of the troops comes as a bipartisan congressional committee examines ways to slash at least $1.2 trillion from the ballooning US budget deficit. If that committee, whose deliberations have so far been fruitless, fails to find a solution, defense spending would automatically be significantly cut.
Related: Worship War Day: Pentagon Cries Poverty
Yeah, the defense cuts are going to be restored.
Obama pledged that he would not support cutting the defense budget in the Asia Pacific region....
Change? What change?
Also yesterday, the United States made a similar display of commitment in the Philippines. Onboard the USS Fitzgerald in Manila Bay, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton underscored America’s military and diplomatic backing for the Philippines as it engages in an increasingly tense territorial dispute with China in the South China Sea....
Clinton told a forum with young students that Washington is “very strongly against any nation using coercion or intimidation instead of using the law to try to resolve these issues.’’
Unless it's us.
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Nothing about the protest, WaPo?!
"US, China talk on economic issues" November 20, 2011
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE - President Obama and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China held an unscheduled meeting yesterday at the end of an Asian forum to discuss economic issues and China’s festering disputes with neighbors over islands in the South China Sea, US officials said.
The encounter at the larger meeting in Bali, Indonesia, capped a week in which the administration startled Chinese leaders with what appeared to be a campaign to make clear that the United States was reengaging in the region and not willing to cede influence in Asia to a rising China.
Besides announcing that the United States would station 2,500 Marines in Australia, the administration said it would enhance military ties with the Philippines and send Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to Myanmar after years of mostly shunning its leadership....
The South China Sea dispute the two men spoke of has become a focal point of discontent among China’s neighbors and provided a way for the United States to show its commitment to the region.
In other words, the U.S. is pushing this dispute so it can stay.
The United States has waded into the conflict in recent months saying it was willing to mediate disputes between smaller countries and China. That was met by bitterness in China, where leaders saw it as interference.
As we would here if China tried to intervene in US territorial disputes with Mexico or Canada.
As China’s wealth has grown, the country has made increasingly assertive claims about what parts of the sea it controls, challenging claims staked by countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
A senior administration official who briefed reporters on Air Force One said Obama had spoken about the dispute during the one-on-one meeting, but that China had also been forced to confront the issue during a final summit meeting with Asian leaders.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that of the nearly 20 leaders at the meeting, 16 voiced concerns about the South China Sea.
He said Wen at first seemed “maybe a little bit grouchy’’ about the confrontation, but then made statements that appeared to be less confrontational than in the past. What was interesting, the official said, was not what Wen said, but what he did not....
Same with AmeriKa's newspapers.
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