President Obama’s Busy Week in Diplomacy
The President will have a busy foreign-policy week as he is scheduled to give an oval office address on Iraq tomorrow night in which he will mark the “official” end of combat operations and the transition to an “advise and assist” mission. Later in the week, the U.S. will host the launch of direct peace negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in Washington. Also, the administration has doubled its diplomatic presence in war-stricken Southern Sudan and dispatched respected former ambassador Princeton Lyman to help with negotiations on an independence referendum for the region, which is scheduled for January. The administration has sent another former ambassador, R. Barrie Walkley, to head the U.S. consulate in Juba, Southern Sudan’s capital. His staff has doubled to 34 people, with 20 more expected to be added in the next few months.
