Barack Obama
Preview Screening – Mission Critical: Afghanistan + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with reporter Abi Austen, director Will West and producer Shoaib Sharifi.
Abi Austen served for over four years in Kandahar, Afghanistan, as both a British army officer and as a senior advisor to the US army. In February 2015, she returned to Kandahar with Unreported World to discover just what is going wrong with President Obama’s plan. In this remarkable and eye-opening film, Austen discovers on the frontline that the war in Afghanistan is now at a tipping-point. Her film poses a question for the world: will the West’s legacy in Afghanistan survive, and is that struggle still worth fighting for?
US Election Year: What is in Store?
It is election year in the US and one man has dominated the headlines. Six months ago, the prospect of Donald Trump as presidential candidate might have been something to joke about but it is now looking increasingly like a reality. With primaries about to begin, we will be looking at the battles going on in both parties and who we might see come out on top.
Drones and the ‘War on Terror’
By Francis Churchill Drone warfare has become the defining policy of Obama’s war on terror. Unmanned aerial vehicles provide a unique solution to the unpopular politics of war, granting the United States the ability to take out targets in the remotest parts of the world without any risk to American life. Drone, directed by Tonje Hessen […]
A Divided Country, A President’s Legacy
After a devastating defeat in the midterm elections, which saw the Democrats lose control of the Senate, what can we expect from President Barack Obama as he enters his final two years in office? With events in Ferguson, Missouri highlighting the deep racial divides that still exist in the US, we will be asking what the legacy will be of the country’s first African-American president.
Hunting for Osama bin Laden
By Robert Van Egghen “How can you have a war on terror when terror is a tactic?” asks one of the American counter-terrorism analysts interviewed in Greg Barker‘s new film, Manhunt, about the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, which was screened at the Frontline Club on Monday 24 November. Director Greg Barker joined the […]
Intervening in Syria: Not Another Iraq or Afghanistan
By Jim Treadway “It’s a town hall style meeting – we quickly come to you,” BBC 4‘s Paddy O’Connell told a sold-out First Wednesday audience at the Frontline Club yesterday evening. The topic was intervention in Syria, and with four experts by his side, O’Connell led a lively back-and-forth with the night’s attendees. “Here we […]
US Foreign Policy – overwhelmed by its own eloquence?
By Caroline Schmitt A president’s second term is usually regarded as the one in which he has the potential to reinvent the world. On 13 June, a panel chaired by author and journalist Michael Goldfarb explored the foreign policy legacy of the Obama administration. Kim Ghattas, BBC State Department correspondent and author of The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton […]
America’s Shifting Foreign Policy
As Barack Obama enters the second year of his second and final term in office, he faces considerable foreign policy challenges. Join us as we dissect Obama’s foreign policy ambitions, exploring the shifts in focus and how they are playing out. Will he achieve his second term goals? Can he successfully pull focus to Asia or will the conflict in Syria direct attention back to the Middle East?
World week ahead: Pope Francis’ inauguration, Obama’s first trip to Israel, ceasefire in Turkey, and Musharraf return to Pakistan
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 18 March On Monday, the UN Human Rights Council will formally consider a highly critical report on Israeli settler activities that was published at the end of January. Meanwhile, in Yemen a national […]
Deepwater Horizon trial, Kerry-Lavrov meeting, and Papal resignation frame busy week in global affairs
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 25 February Voting in Italy’s general election, which began on Sunday, will conclude on Monday. Suggestions that former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi may be staging a last-minute surge have rattled financial markets recently, […]
Talks between Tehran and Moscow, Obama’s State of the Union, and elections in Ecuador make for another busy international week
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 11 February Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi is due in Moscow for two days of talks with Russian counterparts, likely to include civil nuclear cooperation as well as the upcoming talks on […]
Obama’s inauguration, unrest in the Maghreb, and Europe’s future all on the agenda in another busy week
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews.
Obama 2: The reluctant bully
By Nigel Wilson With the speechwriters putting the final touches to Barack Obama’s second inauguration address, a panel of experts assembled at the Frontline Club on Wednesday 16 January to assess the challenges and expectations facing the president.
Delhi rape case, East Asian tensions, and US gun laws all on the agenda in busy international week
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews.
The World Next Year (Part I)
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A special round up of world events from January – June 2013, from journalist resource ForesightNews.
South Korean elections, Mario Monti press conference and Julian Assange statement feature in the penultimate week of 2012
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 17 December Monday marks two years since Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation, an act of protest that that inspired millions to challenge the status quo across the Middle East. Two years on, despite regime change in […]
FULLY BOOKED Obama or Romney – The 57th US Election Night
As Americans go to the polls we invite you to join us to follow the live coverage of the 57th US Presidential election night.
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 27 February – 4 March
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 27 February to Sunday, 4 March from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt This week’s roundup includes no fewer than eight elections at all levels of government, beginning with a leadership ballot for Australia’s Labor Party on Monday. Prime Minister Julia Gillard called the snap ballot on […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 23 – 29 January
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 23 January to Sunday, 29 January from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt New week, New Year – the Chinese Year of the Dragon, that is. But while weeks of celebrations are kicking off in China, the mood will be considerably less celebratory in Brussels, where the […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 16 – 22 January
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 16 to Sunday, 22 January from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt IMF, European Central Bank and EU officials are scheduled to arrive in Athens on Monday to conduct a week-long assessment mission of Greece’s debt-reduction measures. Everyone will be hoping the troika visit goes better this […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 12- 18 December
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 12 December to Sunday, 18 December from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt US President Barack Obama hosts Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki for talks in Washington on Monday, with discussions focusing on strengthening the ‘strategic partnership’ between the two countries. The summit comes ahead of a […]
Blogging backlash against proposal to escalate confrontation with Iran
Earlier this month bloggers rounded on a column written in the Washington Post which suggested that Barack Obama could revive the United States’ flagging economy by ramping up tensions with Iran. In an article in the Washington Post on 31 October, David Broder wrote that the President could "spend much of 2011 and 2012 orchestrating […]
Insight with Tariq Ali: The Obama Syndrome
Two years since the White House changed hands, how has the American empire altered? Very little, argues Tariq Ali, apart from the mood music. Ali will be at the Frontline Club in conversation with Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst, Marwan Bishara, to discuss his new book The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad in which he slices through Obama-mania, demystifying the narrative arc of redemption.
A look into the US midterm election results
By: Anne Elica ño The American Republican party won a majority of Congress seats in the midterm elections. In a discussion at the Frontline Club last night, BBC Radio 4’s Broadasting House Paddy O’Connell asked Bill Barnard (chair of Democrats Abroad UK), Tom Grant (chair of Republicans Abroad UK) and Felicity Spector (American politics expert […]
First Wednesday: US midterms – the reckoning and Yemen, what happens next?
Another opportunity to join in a lively public meeting, hosted by Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House, which brings together experts and commentators and mixes their views with contributions from our audience.
The US midterm elections: What’s at stake?
Join us at the Frontline Club where we will be looking ahead to the midterm elections and the next two years for President Obama’s in the White House with congressional scholar, Professor Thomas Mann, an expert on campaigns, elections and the effectiveness of Congress.
Timothy Garton Ash on Europe, Obama and the ignorance of George W Bush
Download this episode View in iTunes By Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi The rise of China, not Islamist terrorism, is the story of our time, declared Timothy Garton Ash at the Frontline Club last night. If you missed the event, you can watch the whole thing here… “The story of the next 20 years is about China, […]
Evidence vs Dogma in Darfur
After six years of violence, the war in Darfur is over, according to a man who should know. General Martin Luther Agwai was handed mission impossible two years ago – setting up the joint UN and AU peacekeeping job. In an interview with the BBC, as he prepares to step down as force commander, General […]
The ‘Obama effect’ and Hezbollah’s election tactics
Newsflash: It is possible that people can make up their minds without help from Barack Obama. Especially in the Middle East. So it’s particularly odd that after Lebanon went to the polls and reelected the ruling March 14 coalition, analysts in the UK and US are heaping praise on the American president for seeing off […]
44th President or Second Coming?
While the rest of the world was watching the inauguration of the 44th US president, I couldn’t help feeling Kenya was watching the second coming. Down in Kibera (Africa’s biggest slum) the mood was electric. Most of the people I spoke to seemed to have been drinking since very early and everyone had a wishlist […]