barack obama

Medical diplomacy is the kind of foreign policy tool that the world’s most powerful nation should embrace. [...] Nations such as the United States that have the financial and logistical ability to respond to these epidemics should accept their moral responsibility to do so. In the case of the United States, “America first” does not mean “America only.” Spending a tiny fraction of this country’s wealth to save lives should be done without a second thought.

World AIDS Day Mural

PEPFAR is key to U.S. medical diplomacy and should be protected, writes Philip Seib. 

Havana, Cuba
March 6, 2017

Markos Kounalakis argues that Cuba played an important and overlooked role in the 2016 presidential election.

There are three possible Cuba scenarios in a Trump administration. The first is the uninterrupted continuation of Obama’s policy that has increased the scope of U.S.-Cuban commerce, allowed for expanded travel of U.S. citizens to the island, and normalized diplomatic relations. The second is rolling back all of the Obama changes, returning policy to the time of President George W. Bush, which would not only halt all U.S. 

Despite current tensions between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin—and opposition to the bill from groups like the Holocaust Art Restitution Project—the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act could mean the renewing of cultural exchange between the US and Russia.

Past presidents have tried to use "soft power" strategies to bolster the United States' cultural appeal abroad and lend moral weight to the country's standing as the free world's leading alternative to communist or authoritarian systems. Such tactics are not a substitute for military and economic "hard power," foreign affairs analysts said, but can help shape global perceptions of the United States and its motives.

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