December 29, 2014 | Quoted by Susan Crabtree - The Washington Examiner
Obama Faces Narrowing Window to Score Foreign Policy Successes
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Against that backdrop, Obama less than two weeks ago made his surprise power play to change 50 years of history in an attempt to normalize relations with Cuba.
“One gets the sense [with the Cuba move] that Obama’s trying to produce a success in at least one major area,” said Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. “But what we’ve seen all year is a series of unforced errors across the board.”
The year witnessed the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and its threat to topple the government of Iraq, the rebirth of an emboldened and belligerent Russia, chaos in Syria’s civil war, a deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa, and no breakthrough with Iran in talks over its nuclear program.
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