Over the weekend, China and Russia vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that would've allowed action to be taken against Bashar al-Assad's regime. The U.S. has closed their embassy in Syria, and has begun discussing imposing sanctions. But more pressingly, unlike the intervention in Libya, there seems to be little that the international community can do to protect civilians.

A number of political analysts have noted that President Obama has been far more successful in the foreign policy arena than domestically. But the President who managed to find Osama Bin Laden still faces a tough re-election battle this year. David Sanger, Chief Washington correspondent for our partner The New York Times, and contributor to WQXR's The Washington Report gives his thoughts on the foreign policy points made during last night's state of the union address.

Kim Jong-il, the North Korean dictator who made his isolated country a nuclear power, died on Saturday of a heart attack at age 69. State media kept the death a secret for nearly two days, suggesting a possible leadership vacuum. North Korea's ruling Workers' Party released a statement suggesting that Kim's youngest son, Kim Jong-un, had succeeded his father. North Korea conducted a short-range missile test on Monday, according to unconfirmed reports from South Korea.

On November 12th, a massive explosion decimated a missile-testing site near Tehran and killed General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, the head of Iran's missile program. While the cause remains unknown, this explosion is a major setback for the development of long-range missiles. It also comes on the heels of an announcement by Iranian officials that they have shot down a U.S. predator drone.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.), an independent organization of weapons inspectors that reports to United Nations, has been preparing a summary of its findings over the past few years which asserts Iran's nuclear program has "possible military dimensions." Despite the continuing non-cooperation of Iran's government during inspections, the I.A.E.A.'s report includes evidence of devices used to trigger nuclear weapons and structures that could be used for testing such weapons. Russia and China are currently pressing the I.A.E.A.'s director, Yukia Amano, not to make the details of their findings public. Amano briefed members of the National Security Council 11 days ago, but the Obama administration has refused to comment at this time.

Two attacks over the weekend in Afghanistan drew into even sharper relief the challenges of relations between Pakistan and the U.S. One reason: officials pointed to the first attack, in which a suicide bombing of an armored convoy killed 17 people, as a likely calling card not of the Taliban but the Haqqani terrorist network. The Haqqani network is based largely in Pakistan, and the U.S. has accused that country of supporting them. Now, American officials are in the difficult position of asking Pakistan for help in peace negotiations with the Haqqanis.   

The State Department has announced that the United States will resume nuclear talks with North Korea next week for the first time since 2005. The talks are welcomed by Kim Jong-il, who even hinted at the possibility of resuming six-party talks to end his country’s nuclear program. Separate negotiations currently taking place in Bangkok will also touch on the remains of American soldiers still missing in action from the Korean War. Almost 8,000 men are still missing from that conflict, and the remains of nearly 5,500 are thought to be in North Korea.

The Justice Department on Tuesday accused Iran of sponsoring a plot to assassinate a Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington. Attorney General Eric Holder said that an "international conspiracy" lead to the potential payment of $1.5 million to murder the ambassador while on United States soil. Two men connected with the plot, Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri, are said to be members of the Quds Force, a division of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

The two Americans who have been kept in Iran's notorious Evin prison for the past two years were freed yesterday. Shane M. Bauer and Joshua F. Fattal, who were arrested by Iranian border guards in 2009 and sentenced to eight years in prison for illegal entry and espionage, were brought to Oman, where they await their return to the United States.

Three American hikers made international headlines in 2009, when they were arrested after illegally crossing the Iranian border. Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal and Sarah Shroud were quickly jailed on charges of espionage. Although Shroud was released 8 months later, both Fattal and Bauer have spent nearly two years in prison. In an exclusive interview with NBC’s Today show yesterday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Ann Curry that his country is prepared to release the pair on "humanitarian grounds." However, this morning, the prisoners' release has been complicated. Iran's judiciary said the hikers will not be released immediately. 

The events of September 11, 2001 amounted to unfathomable costs, in terms of lives and families forever torn apart, not to mention the physical and emotion after effects that continue to haunt the survivors of 9/11. In addition to that, there was an economic cost to 9/11 — one that is almost equally unfathomable.

President Obama's jobs speech is already shrouded in partisan controversy, after the president attempted to schedule his talk for 8 p.m. on Wednesday, September 7 — the same date as the second debate for GOP presidential candidates. House Speaker John Boehner asked Obama to reschedule, and Obama complied, changing the date for the speech to September 8. Could this be a preview of future party wars over the jobs agenda?

As Congress arrives at a budget agreement and avoids sending the U.S into default right before the August 2 deadline, we're examining the broader, long-term political and historical impact of the the debt crisis. How will it affect the credibility of the U.S. government? What does it tell us about President Obama, and how will the crisis shape next year's election?

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner both addressed the nation last night, explaining where each of their parties stand on the current debate over the debt ceiling. What impact did the speeches have?

President Obama will resume talks today with top House and Senate leaders, in an attempt to reach an agreement over deficit reduction. Obama met with leaders from both parties for an hour and fifteen minutes last night, but little progress was made. The president continues to vie for a bold package that would require new taxes and entitlement cuts, while Republicans insist on a more modest plan and oppose tax increases. They're aiming to reach an agreement by August 2.

Tomorrow, the Obama administration will shuffle its top civilian military position when Leon Panetta, 73, replaces Robert Gates as the secretary of defense. For a nation stretched thin by three ongoing military engagements, the new Secretary of Defense is going to have little time for on-the-job training. Instead, he can hope to learn from the example left behind by his out-going colleague.

The troop drawdown in Afghanistan is scheduled to begin in July, but we don't yet know how many will be taken out of the country. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that a slower drawdown is needed when he spoke from Afghanistan on his farewell visit to troops before his retirement. David Sanger, chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times analyzes the situation. He says we haven't yet heard from the new Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta. It is likely, says Sanger, that President Obama do what he did in Iraq, essentially setting a date for the ultimate drawdown and leave the pace of the withdrawal up to the commanders. 

President Obama made a subtle, rhetorical shift in his Libya policy on Wednesday in London. After nearly three months of stating that U.S. priorities were to protect civilians from massacres, The President now says the goal is to make sure that the Libyan people will be "finally free of 40 years of tyranny,” at the hands of Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The President spoke to British Parliament at Westminster Hall, and in a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron. For more on what this means for transatlantic relations, we turn to David Sanger, Chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times.

In his speech on the Arab world on Thursday, President Obama evoked images of the American Revolution, the Civil Rights Movement and the Fall of the Iron Curtain to parallel American values and the Arab uprisings. The speech comes nearly six months after the uprisings began in Tunis, and the state of democracy in Tunisia and Egypt is precarious at best. But what concrete steps is Obama promising — and can he come through?

Since the shooting death of Osama bin Laden, the news has been dominated by stories of the former al-Qaida leader; but, the country’s foreign policy priorities do not end with the discover of his Abbottabad compound. By the time that Leon Panetta takes the stand for his Senate confirmation hearing, politicians on the Left and the Right will be clamoring for their chance have their foreign policy issues back in the limelight. To preview some of the issues we that will make their way back into the news we speak with David Sanger, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times.