US Opinion and Commentary

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Trump’s Choice for Secretary of State

Posted December 13th, 2016 at 5:27 pm (UTC-4)
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Donald Trump is drawing praise and criticism for his out-of-the-box choice for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson.

As the CEO of oil giant ExxonMobil, Tillerson has had to make deals with some of the world’s most notorious leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Some of Tillerson’s fiercest critics are Senate Republicans, such as Marco Rubio, who will question Tillerson during his confirmation hearing before the Foreign Relations Committee.

Tillerson has his supporters, too. Former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Robert Gates called him a man of “great integrity” with “vast knowledge, experience and success in dealing with dozens of governments and leaders.”

An Eagle Scout who is still involved in the leadership of the Boy Scouts of America, Tillerson worked his way from bottom to top at ExxonMobile. He’s known no other employer and will be the first to jump from corporate America to top U.S. diplomat with no prior political or government experience.

If he’s confirmed by the Senate

America’s Mr. Diplomacy

Posted September 15th, 2016 at 10:49 am (UTC-4)
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Such criticism is not uncommon among outside experts (and) administration officials who believe that Mr. Kerry too often pursues unwinnable goals and settles for imperfect outcomes. But there has been something honorable, even heroic, about the persistence, hard work and faith in diplomacy that this decorated Vietnam veteran…has brought to his search for peaceful solutions.

Hillary Clinton’s Emails

Posted May 26th, 2016 at 5:05 pm (UTC-4)
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Hillary Clinton is the target of criticism after Wednesday’s release of an internal report that says she failed to follow rules about the handling if her email while Secretary of State.
The report by the Office of the Inspector General for the State Department cited Clinton’s use of a private email account to conduct State Department addresses as inappropriate for record keeping; she failed to provide emails for the first few months of her tenure; and her use of a private server for her email was neither approved nor secure.
Clinton has previously acknowledged that using a private email server was a mistake and she would do it differently if she had to do it again. In an interview with Univision’s Los Angeles affiliate, she said “nothing has changed” regarding the email story and she used personal email “just like previous secretaries of state.”
The report has given Clinton critics new ammunition to question her judgment and veracity. And there still is an FBI investigation of whether she mishandled classified information because of the email setup.
And the issues of character and national security are at the center of this presidential election

Speed Up Investigation Into Clinton’s Email Server

Posted April 8th, 2016 at 9:50 am (UTC-4)
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Democrats have a special interest in reaching closure before picking their nominee. Even the most loyal Clinton supporters wonder if an indictment is more than right-wing wishful thinking.

AS US Raises Flag Over Embassy in Cuba, New Challenges Emerge

Posted August 14th, 2015 at 12:07 pm (UTC-4)
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The fruits of the Obama’s administration’s new policy towards Cuba paid off Friday, when Secretary of State John Kerry traveled to Havana to reopen the new US embassy there. Of his Cuba policy, President Obama has said he is not interested in refighting battles that started “before I was born.” Today, the United States and Cuba now friends. But much of the real work of undoing more than 50 years of hostility remains.