The Foreign Policy Hook

By: Christopher Badeaux (Diary)  |  June 7th at 09:01 PM  | 

As the 2012 primary jockeying starts up — we should count our blessings that so many waited for June 2011 instead of the now-traditional June 2009 — most of the energy on the right is aimed at finding the best contender who won’t continue the spending binge on which our country has embarked. Given the numerous crises facing us, this makes a great deal of | Read More »

Anwar Ibrahim’s Western Public Relations Effort Failing?

By: Christopher Badeaux (Diary)  |  May 30th at 06:38 PM  | 

In the West, we tend to ignore the Muslim countries of Southeast Asia too often in favor of the more rambunctious Middle East; whether this is because we are concentrating our limited energies on the larger problem spot, or ignoring places where things are going well, is probably a function of one’s particular outlook on life. Regardless of the source of this disregard, it is | Read More »

Moderate Islam Off Our Doorstep: Malaysia’s Prime Minister Looks to Calm the Winds of Radicalism

By: Christopher Badeaux (Diary)  |  May 16th at 07:22 PM  | 

The Prime Minister of a majority-Muslim country, a strong U.S. ally, and one of the foremost voices for moderate Islam on Earth — real, serious Islam, the kind to which President Bush referred when he spoke of a “religion of peace” — gave a speech at Oxford today. It was a serious speech, a speech that grappled with real problems, and a speech that did | Read More »

Anwar Ibrahim’s Wife and Anwar’s Latest Alleged Sex Scandal

By: Christopher Badeaux (Diary)  |  March 28th at 11:42 AM  | 

It is a staple of American politics, when American politicians can be bothered to notice Malaysia, to sing the praises of Anwar Ibrahim, the more-or-less permanent opposition leader of that state. It is to the Obama Administration’s rare credit that it has started to distance itself from Anwar, recognizing that Malaysia’s government has made serious strides in the last several years, and that Ibrahim’s unsavory | Read More »