Friday, May 30, 2014

Has President Obama Given Up On America's Asia-Pacific ‘Pivot’?



Where Was The Rebalance To Asia in Obama’s West Point Speech? -- Shannon Tiezzi, The Diplomat

Obama’s foreign policy address offered little clarity (or emphasis) on America’s role in the Asia-Pacific.

On Wednesday, U.S. President Barack Obama gave the commencement address at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. The speech was billed in advance as a major foreign policy address, a chance for Obama to both defend his past foreign policy moves and to lay out his vision for the future. The speech is just the beginning of what is expected to be a major administration push to shape messaging on its foreign policy decisions, past and future. Given that Obama’s signature foreign policy slogan is the “rebalance to Asia,” a general foreign policy address has direct implications on the Asia-Pacific. What role does the U.S. seek to play there and around the world? What are its priorities and goals?

Read more ....

Update: Obama drops Asia-Pacific ‘pivot’ from U.S. security vision -- Japan Times/AP

My Comment: I do expect the U.S. "pivot" to Asia to continue in the foreseeable future .... but recent events have also clearly changed the President's focus from Asian security issues to that of pursuing an anti-terrorism policy in the Middle East and North Africa .... and we are now seeing this in recent U.S. military deployments.

Update #2: The complete U.S. President Obama foreign policy address at West Point can be seen at the above video.

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