" WASHINGTON — The United States ambassador to Afghanistan, who once served as the top American military commander there, has expressed in writing his reservations about deploying additional troops to the country, three senior American officials said Wednesday."

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SHARED INTERESTS DEFINE OBAMA'S WORLD
In engaging adversaries, the President sometimes unsettles allies
By Scott Wilson
The Washington Post
Monday, November 2, 2009

"... President Obama is applying the same tools to international diplomacy that he once used as a community organizer on Chicago's South Side, constructing appeals to shared interests and attempting to bring the government's conduct in line with its ideals.

Obama's approach to the world as a community of nations, more alike than different in outlook and interest, has elevated America's standing abroad and won him the Nobel Peace Prize. But on the farthest-reaching U.S. foreign policy challenges, he is struggling to translate his own popularity into American influence, even with allies that have celebrated his break from the Bush administration's emphasis on military strength, unilateral action and personal chemistry ..."

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REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL SUMMIT ON NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION AND NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
United Nations Headquarters
New York, New York
September 24, 2009

"... Today, the Security Council endorsed a global effort to lock down all vulnerable nuclear materials within four years. The United States will host a summit next April to advance this goal and help all nations achieve it. This resolution will also help strengthen the institutions and initiatives that combat the smuggling, financing, and theft of proliferation-related materials. It calls on all states to freeze any financial assets that are being used for proliferation. And it calls for stronger safeguards to reduce the likelihood that peaceful nuclear weapons programs can be diverted to a weapons program ..."

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OBAMA'S YOUTHFUL IDEALS SHAPED THE LONG ARC OF HIS NUCLEAR-FREE VISION
By William J. Broad and Davide E. Sanger
The New York Times
July 5, 2009

In the depths of the cold war, in 1983, a senior at Columbia University wrote in a campus newsmagazine, Sundial, about the vision of "a nuclear free world." He railed against discussions of "first- versus second-strike capabilities" that "suit the military-industrial interests" with their "billion-dollar erector sets," and agitated for the elimination of global arsenals holding tens of thousands of deadly warheads.

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U.S. AND RUSSIA SEEK MORE EXTENSIVE WEAPONS CUTS
By Jonathan Weisman
Wall Street Journal
July 1, 2009
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. and Russia are expected to launch new talks aimed at reducing the number of and other nuclear weapons on both sides, a senior Obama administration official said Tuesday, in an ambitious effort that could help ease bilateral tensions over other issues as well.
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NORTH KOREA, IRAN, AND THE END OF NUCLEAR DETERRENCE
By Tad Daley
Common Dreams
June 26, 2009
Co-authored by Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action
When South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited Washington for a summit with President Barack Obama on June 16th, the United States reaffirmed its "commitment of extended deterrence" to Seoul, "including the U.S. nuclear umbrella." In response, on June 25th, the 59th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, North Korea vowed to continue to expand its nuclear arsenal, to deliver a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation" in response to U.S. "provocations," and insisted that the nuclear umbrella statement only "provides us with a stronger justification to have a nuclear deterrent."

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TAKING NORTH KOREA AT THEIR WORD
By Tad Daley
Common Dreams
May 27, 2009
Pyongyang has consistently said that its nuclear weapons are intended to deter aggression. And, indeed, they do.
Shortly after North Korea exploded its second nuclear device in three years on Monday morning, it released a statement explaining why. "The republic has conducted another underground nuclear testing successfully in order to strengthen our defensive nuclear deterrence." If the Obama Administration hopes to dissuade Pyongyang from the nuclear course it seems so hell bent on pursuing ...

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HOUSE BACKS OBAMA'S AFGHAN SURGE, AMID CALLS FOR EXIT STRATEGY
By John Nichols
The Nation Blogs / The Beat
May 14, 2009
"Sometimes great presidents make mistakes," declared Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern as he announced his intention to vote against $97 billion in "emergency" supplemental funding for the continued U.S. occupation of Iraq and President Obama's dangerously misguided plan to surge 21,000 more U.S. troops and trainers into Afghanistan ...
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EX-US SEC STATE URGES REPUBLICANS TO BACK TEST BAN
By Charles J. Hanley
AP
April 17, 2009
The latest U.S. nuclear showdown doesn't involve any foreign enemy. Instead, it pits President Barack Obama against his Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, and concerns the question...
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OBAMA'S NUCLEAR CHALLENGE
By Jonathan Schelll
The Nation
April 15, 2009
"So today, I state clearly and with conviction America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," President Obama said at the open-air rally in Prague on April 5. With these words came a change in the global air, as if a window had been opened a crack in a dark room that had been sealed shut for decades. ...
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HOW FEASIBLE IS OBAMA'S NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AGENDA?
By Lawrence Wittner
History News Network
April 20, 2009
Not since Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, decades ago, talked of abolishing nuclear weapons
has an American president pledged to work toward that goal. ...
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283 BASES, 170,000 PIECES OF EQUIPMENT, 140,000 TROOPS, AND AN ARMY OF MERCENARIES: THE LOGISTICAL NIGHTMARE IN IRAQ
By Jeremy Scahill
AlterNet
March 30, 2009
With last week's announced escalation of the war in Afghanistan, including an Iraq-like "surge" replete with 4,000 more U.S. troops and a sizable increase in private contractors...
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OBAMA'S NUCLEAR WAR
By Mark Thompson
Time
January 26, 2009
The latest U.S. nuclear showdown doesn't involve any foreign enemy. Instead, it pits President Barack Obama against his Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, and concerns the question...
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VISION FOR A NEW FOREIGN POLICY
By Cora Weiss
The Nation
January 6, 2009
Peace activist Cora Weiss delivered this speech at the 28th annual Conference for Peace sponsored by the New Jersey Coalition for Peace Action at Princeton University November 16, 2008...
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BUSH: ONLY TIME WILL TELL ABOUT HIS LEGACY
By Carolyn Lochhead
San Francisco Chronicle
January 4, 2009
Love him or hate him, George W. Bush leaves office among the most consequential presidents in modern history. Like his home state of Texas, his presidency was big...
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ISRAEL'S ENDGAME
By John Barry
Newsweek
December 29, 2008
The attack on Gaza shows that the Olmert government feels it may be running out of options. Does the Gaza offensive signal that the Israeli government has decided to embark...
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OBAMA NEEDS A PROTEST MOVEMENT
By Frances Fox Piven
The Nation
November 15, 2008
The astonishing election of 2008 is over. Whatever else the future holds, the unchallenged domination of American national government by big business and the political right has been broken...
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WE HAVE THE MONEY — IF ONLY WE DIDN'T WASTE IT ON THE DEFENSE BUDGET
By Chalmers Johnson
Tom Dispatch
September 29, 2008
There has been much moaning, air-sucking, and outrage about the $700 billion that the U.S. government is thinking of throwing away on rich New York bankers...
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NUCLEAR BAN? START WITH U.S.
By Lawrence S. Wittner
Times Union
August 3, 2008
The world's nine nuclear powers continue to cling to some 27,000 nuclear weapons, almost all of them more deadly than that first atomic bomb...
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