President Obama shook hands with longtime U.S. enemy and Libyan President Muammar Qadaffi at a dinner at the G8 summit on Thursday.
As the leaders of a number of countries prepared to take a group picture, the president shook Qadaffi's hand.
Obama came under fire from Republicans for chatting with and shaking hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the Summit of the Americas earlier this year.
President Obama's trip to Russia has produced little more than a "pile of manure," the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee said Wednesday.
Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) said that Obama had failed to raise a number of important issues with Russian leaders during meetings there in the first half of this week.
"President Obama, as far as I know, hasn't raised any of those questions -- like including cybersecurity, including sanctions on North Korea and Iran," Bond said during a conference with Missouri reporters. "I'm still digging through the manure pile to see if there's a pony in it, but I haven't seen any coming out of the meetings with [Prime Minister] Vladimir Putin and [President Dimitry] Medvedev yet."
Bond also saved some tough words for the Russian government itself, calling it "brutal" and a "despotic kleptocracy." (Kleptocracies are defined by a government that enriches its leaders or ruling class at the expense of the general populous.)
"Sadly, Russia's continued to devolve from what was formerly an evolving, democratic society after the Cold War back into a despotic kleptocracy," Bond said, "A brutal kleptocracy where opponents and journalists are murdered if they speak out against it."
The Missouri lawmaker, who's retiring at the end of this term in Congress, said that Russia needed to diversify and open up its economy, and called on the government to provide more assistance to bolster both the U.S. and Russian governments' cybersecurity efforts.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) backed ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday, urging that country's government to restore Zelaya to trial.
"The Congressional Hispanic Caucus calls on Roberto Micheletti and those responsible for the removal of President Zelaya to respect the rule of law and restore the constitutional order," the group of 23 lawmakers, all but one of which are Democrats, said in a statement.
Zelaya met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington on Tuesday, and the Obama administration has backed the former president, who was ousted in a military coup. Considered a left-leaning ruler, Zelaya was ousted by the military, but with the support of the country's congress and supreme court.
Some Republicans have been supportive of the coup, arguing that Zelaya had pushed antidemocratic initiatives to some anti-American leaders in Central and South America.
"While there may be honest differences of opinion on how to govern, the constitution of Honduras must not be disregarded," the CHC members asserted. "We fully support the efforts made by the Organization of American States, and we encourage our government to take the necessary diplomatic steps to ensure a peaceful restoration of the democratically elected government in Honduras."
The Treasury Department continued to ramp up its work on illicit finance Monday, announcing that a top undersecretary would travel to China to work on limiting North Korea's access to the global financial infrastructure.
The department said Monday it would send Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey to Hong Kong and China to work with officials there to "further the Administration
President Obama is embarking on a trip to Russia tonight, but a new poll suggests he faces a wary public.
In a poll conducted by the Levada Center for WorldPublicOpinion.org, just 23% of Russians said they trust Obama to do the right thing in international affairs, compared to 55% who said they did not.
Russians views of US foreign policy are equally bad. Just 15 percent say that the United States is playing a positive role in the world, while 49 percent say it is having a negative influence.
Russians also say they feel bullied by the US. Only 12 percent say the US treats Russia fairly, while 75 percent of say that the US abuses its power to make Russia do what the US wants.
Strangely, while 75% say the U.S. abuses it's power, a plurality of Russians (47%) say the U.S. is "cooperative," compared to 27% who say it is not.
The United States and Russia must act as equals to address issues that only cooperation can solve, President Obama said today.
"I think that there has been a time over the last several years where Russian-U.S. relations were not as strong as they should be," Obama said in an interview with Rossiya TV, a Russian news channel. "What I said coming in is that I wanted to press the reset button on relations between the United States and Russia."
"We want to deal as equals," Obama added.
Obama, who will embark on a trip to Russia tonight, said he hopes to make progress on nuclear non-proliferation during his discussions with President Medveded and Vladimir Putin,
"My goal is that both countries reduce their nuclear stockpiles in a way that doesn't leave either country with an advantage, but reduces tensions and the expense of maintaining such high nuclear stockpiles when they're not necessary for our defense and our deterrence," Obama said.
Diplomats in both countries are working to negotiate a follow-up to the START treaty, a bilateral arms control agreement. Obama said he hopes to agree on a framework during this week's summit with the goal of negotiating a final treaty by December.
"I think the issue of nuclear proliferation remains very important and we need to create a strong non-proliferation framework in the international community," Obama said. A strong bilateral agreement with Russia to reduce nuclear arms would "give people a sense that we're moving into a new era and we want to get beyond the Cold War."
Although the White House has not yet weighed in, the State Department gave a statement to Agence France-Presse criticizing North Korea for launching seven "Scud-style" missiles into the sea off the nation's east coast.
"North Korea should refrain from actions that aggravate tensions and focus on denuclearization talks," State Department spokesman Karl Duckworth told AFP. "This type of North Korean behavior is not helpful."
South Korea and Japan were more trenchant in their condemnation of North Korea's latest provocation, while Russia and China "called on all parties to show restraint," the New York Times reported. The United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China and Russia are all participants in the so-called Six-Party Talks aimed at persuading North Korea to curb its nuclear weapons program.
The Honduran government, which ousted its democratically elected president in a military coup Sunday, has quit the Organization of American States (OAS) as the international entity set to work to condemn the Central American nation's actions.
According to a report in the New York Times, new Honduran President Robert Micheletti made the announced on state television Friday evening. The OAS is meeting on Saturday to consider sanctions against Honduras, including revoking its membership.
The Times characterizes Honduras maneuver as preemptive and reports that Micheletti notified the OAS in a letter Friday.
Roberto Micheletti, who was sworn in by the Congress to replace Mr. Zelaya, said Honduras would no longer recognize the O.A.S. charter because of the "unilateral and indignant resolutions" coming from the body. In a letter to Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the body, Mr. Micheletti called the group "a political organization, not a court, and it can't judge us."
After the Honduran military seized the elected president, Manuel Zelaya and transported him to Costa Rica, President Obama condemned the coup.
"I am deeply concerned by reports coming out of Honduras regarding the detention and expulsion of President Mel Zelaya," Obama said Sunday. "As the Organization of American States did on Friday, I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed diplomats to U.S. embassies around the world, stressing the need for international partnerships to solve global problems.
"Our fates and our fortunes are intertwined like never before," Clinton said in a pretaped message. "No one nation can meet today's global challenges alone."
"It is fitting that we open our doors and share this day with our friends and neighbors around the world," Clinton said, citing the outreach detailed in President Obama's speech in Cairo last month. Clinton expressed a desire to "renew our commitment to democracy, tolerance, and justice" in the embassy gatherings.
"So I hope that today's celebration will become tomorrow's partnership," she added.
Vice President Biden took a shot at the deceased former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during a trip to Iraq this weekend, saying Hussein would be "rolling over in his grave" at the naturalization ceremony held in one of his palaces on Saturday.
Biden oversaw a ceremony for members of the armed services to be sworn in as American citizens as part of his weekend-long trip to Iraq.
"We did it in Saddam's Palace and I can think of nothing better than," Biden said at a luncheon afterward, according to a pool report. "That S.O.B. is rolling over in his grave right now."
According to an earlier pool report, the ceremony took place in the rotunda of Hussein's Aw Faw Palace, which is located on the premises of what is now Camp Victory in Baghdad.
"As corny as it sounds," Biden said at the ceremony, "Damn I'm proud to be an American."
Hussein was executed by hanging after having been convicted by Iraqis of committing various atrocities during his time in power.
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