2/11/09

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/04/disappointed-irans-refusal-issue-visas-badminton-team/

In this article, the United States displays a slight annoyance with the Iranian government for not allowing the women's badminton team to come to the country to play. This is an "unfortunate situation" for the Obama administration, says State Department spokesperson, Robert Wood. Secretary of State, Hilary Rodham Clinton, and President Obama had wished to work with Iran over the reason for disallowing the visas. According to world powers, the readiness of the new government to reach out to Iran has been a welcome compared to the old administration. Diplomatic relations with Iran have not occurred since they took diplomats hostage in 1979. 20 of those years had a Republican president in office. During the Bush years, 250 Iranian "artists, athletes and medical professionals have participated in exchange programs in the United States."

This is somewhat of a surprise to me, that the Iranians won't let the U.S. women's badminton team into the country. Barack is more willing to offer a hand of friendship to them than Bush, as long as they return a likewise hand of friendship. Iran, however, is an extremely conservative society. They still make women cover up when going in public, not letting them go to outside pools even. Potentially, they would look down on the U.S. Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, as well. Diplomacy with Iran will be tricky no matter what, due to the fact that their leader is crazy and bent on building nuclear weapons. We need to be extremely careful when dealing with Iran in the future.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,490886,00.html

This article deals with the Russians agreeing to United States requests to move weapons through Russian territory to supply forces in Afghanistan. Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister, says that he hopes that these will be key steps in correcting diplomatic relations with the United States. Previous talks included the United States having Russian cargo planes deliver supplies to the U.S. soldiers, however talks have moved forward to the United States potentially "renting" Russian territory. Since President Obama is planning on putting 30,000 more troops into Afghanistan, this might be necessary for the American government. Tensions between the Russians and American officials had been greater than in a while due to George W. Bush attempting to put missile systems in Poland.

I personally believe that it is a good thing for the United States to better diplomatic relations with Russia. They were our foe for decades and nearly caused us world war, with a potential for nuclear holocaust, several times. It would be beneficial to our troops to have supply trains nearby them. Monetarily, I do not believe we should give the Russians too much due to the fact that we are building up a greater deficit every day.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,490846,00.html

North Korea has been testing missiles more recently in the past few years, and it has been making people more nervous. With Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, coming to Asia for the first time, Kim Jong Il could be trying to make a statement that he does not want to be forgotten. Diplomatic relations with North Korea are not at their finest right now, due to their leader being a crazed megalomaniac. Spying on North Korea could actually be a spark to make Kim mad. We need to watch how we handle our situations with him, as he would have no problem with doing something to us in retaliation, if it came dow to it.