An administration whose currently dominant foreign-policy faction opposed both the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty -- both tame compared to what is needed -- is just not up to the challenge.
The proposal, still being discussed by various foreign policy factions in Washington, is also likely to call for the appointment of a United Nations "special coordinator" to play a role, as yet undetermined, in the creation of an interim Iraqi authority.
There are, to simplify a bit, three foreign-policy factions in the Republican Party: the mainstream realists, the trigger-happy neocons, and – out in the cold at this point – the Ron Paul isolationists.
The Shabab is splintered between a hardline faction (mainly foreign or foreign-funded jihadists) and a nationalist wing (clan-based militia leaders and clerics who want to turn Somalia into an Islamic caliphate).
"By interfering and sponsoring different factions, foreign powers are blocking Somalis from finding their own solutions," said Sally Healy, a Horn of Africa expert.
Obama's rhetorical aim: Tag opposition as choosing prosperity for "only a few," a "fearful and reactive" foreign policy & "factions".
Although most of its rank-and-file come from Libya, the faction includes foreign fighters from Europe, mostly from Belgium and France, and from Tunisia.
Alan Goldstein, Plainfield, N.J.: I think your analysis is entirely wrong because it is predicated on the manipulation by a foreign power of one faction against the other, whether it is within Iraq or between Iraq and Iran.
The Lebanese billionaire and former prime minister had helped revivify his nation after decades of civil war a fratricidal war intensified by foreign backing of each faction.
