First travel, then cigars

The Obama administration has previously stated that they wished to improve relations with Cuba. Cuba is a communist island in the Caribbean that the US has a trade embargo with and has restricted US travel to. These policies have been in place for around 47 years and are just another remnant of the cold war that has become obsolete in its usefulness. The Obama administration has revealed that they wish to ease the travel restrictions that are currently in place and allow American citizens to travel to Cuba. As a first step a envoy of US congressman went to Cuba and met with both Raul Castro, who is the official president, and Fidel Castro, who isn’t dead yet. Fidel Castro was seen as healthy and active in his talks with the US congressman, he also spoke optimistically about the future state of the relations between our two countries. It would appear that Fidel wishes for improved relations within his lifetime and hopefully the American government will be able to fulfill his wish. However as of now there are only talks about lifting travel restrictions, the Obama administration has not said anything in regards to the trade embargo that is still going on. Like most changes in relation status between two nations it will be a slow process but at least there is talking going on between the two nations and hopefully before we know it all will be well because I believe that the trade embargo and travel restriction are just useless now because with the fall of the soviet union there really is no actual threat posed by being friends with an communist nation, not to mention the fact that we are already friends with China which is also operates a form of communism.

US/Iran talks

From the start of his presidency Obama has been talking about reestablishing relations, and good ones at that, which Iran, which is a power house in the Middle East. Improved relations with Iran could lead to a limiting of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, possible peace between Arabs and Israelis and most importantly help with the war on terror and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Since Obama has started talking about improving relations the government of Iran has pretty much said that they would believe that when only when Obama stopped talking and started to act. Well it appears that that day may be near at hand as president Obama has stated that the US is ready to participate with other global powers, which is a first for the US, in negotiations which Iran and its government over their nuclear capabilities and the limiting of them. The leader of Iran seems to see this as a positive step forward too because he made some unusually conciliatory comment to the Obama administration. This is a giant leap forward in the relations between our two nations since they were ended in the 1979. The Bush administration usually stayed away from direct talks with the Iranian government. Hopefully this preliminary action will lead to improved relations with the Iranian because the world needs governments that are willing to talk and compromise, not ones that only care about one belief.

Suprise, its Obama

Over the past week president Obama has been traveling the world, attending economic summits and giving speech to world leaders about the goals that he wishes to pursue during his time in office. During the trip Obama decide to make and unannounced stop in Iraq, on April 7. Obama landed in Baghdad at around 4 Pm and left early the next morning. During the extent of his stay Obama did not leave the military compound that is located right next to the airport. Obama’s visit came at a time when it seemed like there might be a resurgence of violence in Iraq. One of the more noticeable parts of Obama’s visit was that he arrived to applause, cheers and overall good feelings from the Iraqi civilians, which is in stark contrast to the last time a US president visit Iraq, who got a shoe thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist. On his visit Obama reiterated his administration’s plan to withdrawal all US combat troops from Iraq by the end of 2011. Obama also told the leaders of Iraq that they need quickly start reconciling with and united the different factions within Iraq, in order to help curve the violence and stabilize Iraq before the US troops are removed. Presidents visit also served to give a boost to the morale of the US service men and women who are currently serving in Iraq, quite of few of which have had to deal with many redeployments.

Russia/US relatiosn

Relations between the US and Russia have been declining over the past few years due to several issues. These issues include the planned US missile defense system, NATO encroachment and disputes over Russia’s invasion of the Georgia. The Russians are fearful of US missiles being in the former soviet satellites and there closeness to the Russian borders. Russia also is opposed to the entrance of several former satellites into NATO. The thing that strained relations between Russia and the west the most is Russia’s invasion of Georgia a few years back, which most western powers condemned. The relations between Russia and the United States need to improve because Russia is a valuable ally in our war going on in Afghanistan and other areas. President Obama understands this and that is way he met face to face with Russian president Medvedev at the G20 economic summit in London. He also met with Queen Elizabeth II and Chinese president Hu Jintao. The Presidents of Russia and US talked about the US’s European missile defense plan, Afghanistan, Iran and human rights, which Russia has had problems with in recent years. After the meeting Presidents Obama and Medvedev presented and joint statement as a sign of their commitment to improved relations. The statement said

“We, the leaders of Russia and the United States, are ready to move beyond cold war mentalities,” the two men said in the statement. “In just a few months we have worked hard to establish a new tone in our relations. Now it is time to get down to business and translate our warm words into actual achievements of benefit to Russia, the United States and all those around the world interested in peace and prosperity.”

The two leaders also stated that they were going to continue work on a new nuclear arms treaty to replace the old one that will expire in December. The current treaty limits the number of ready to launch missiles to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads but says nothing about the warheads that aren’t ready to be launched, which means that neither side actually needs to destroy any of their warheads. The new treaty will try and limit the number of warheads to less than 1,700 with 1,500 between and most realistic number out there, also they will try for making it where they have to destroy the warheads and not just mothball them. This new treaty is supposed be the next step on their way to improving relations between the two countries. This relationship received a minor setback when accusations that the Russians were still operating spies in the west. This situation started when a senior Russian military attaché in Ottawa was asked to leave the country because of wrongdoings that were not made entirely clear. The Russians then tried to make that same man and attaché in Washington, but was denied because of the accusations in Canada. After that incident the senior military attaché in Moscow was asked to leave the country too. Now American has moved that person to a different post and both Russia and the US have decided to each nominate new attaché to each other’s embassies. The US is stilled irritated by the situations but is willing to move on in the name of good relations.