The New Republic

PARIS -- Europeans are coming to terms with the fact that President Obama is not a miracle worker, and with the reality that everything he does is not magic. Oh, yes, most Europeans are still happy Obama is president. They remain fascinated by him and grateful for the direction of his policies. READ MORE >>

In a New York Times op-ed today largely in support of Obama's Afghanistan plan, Nate Fick of the Center for a New American Security writes: Progress depends on two political developments: inducing the administration of President Hamid Karzai to govern effectively, and persuading Pakistan that militant groups within its borders pose as great a threat to Islamabad as they do to Kabul. READ MORE >>

Richard Holbrooke, while drumming up support for the war in Germany, offers a bleak assessment. READ MORE >>

The Jerusalem Post says Obama is scaling back his diplomacy: With the Palestinians refusing to return to the negotiations, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu not calling for a complete settlement freeze and the Arab world declining to make any gestures to Israel, the current sense in Jerusalem is that the US is scaling back its intensive involvement in the diplomatic process. READ MORE >>

READ MORE >>

Update: Added missing link to the original item I was responding to. READ MORE >>

Sounds like someone might've "fallen down a well" in Saudi Arabia. Not everything we do to thwart an Iranian bomb can be found in presidential speeches. READ MORE >>

I agree with Chait and, to offer him some fancy synonyms, think this may have been the deepest and most elegaic speech of Obama's presidency. But what a strange one it was. Obama is a man trapped amongst the contradictions created by America's awkward place in the post-Bush world. READ MORE >>

The latest installment in a disturbing trend of U.S. citizens found to have connections to radicals in the tribal areas of Pakistan. Five young men who vanished from the Washington area last month are believed to be held in Pakistan while authorities investigate possible links to extremists there. READ MORE >>

This was in Baghdad. I am sure that it does not please Allah. Yet it goes on without hesitation. Of course, it pleases his servants. Also yesterday, but in one of the busiest markets in Lahore, Pakistan, two bombs, 54 murdered, at least 150 maimed. And don't think these are just occasional skirmishes. READ MORE >>