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Article: What Reagan understood about diplomacy that
Obama doesnt 7/19/15
In defense of the Iran deal, President Obama and some
of his supporters have suddenly become partisans of
Ronald Reagan. Where I completely admire him, the
president told Thomas L. Friedman, was his
recognition that if you were able to verify an
agreement ... with the evil empire, then it was worth
doing. My Post colleague E.J. Dionne invoked what he
called a combination of Reaganite practicality and
Reaganite hopefulness in support of Obamas bargain.

Annotations

Set aside for the moment the fact that Reagan walked
away from the biggest nuclear deal he negotiated with
Mikhail Gorbachev and that the Obama administration
accused Russia of cheating on the one treaty Reagan did
conclude. Is it fair to say that Obamas handling of Iran
is comparable to Reagans treatment of the Soviet
Union?

Passive aggressive Reagan

reference

A narrow answer is yes, in the sense Obama described:

Reagan might well have concluded that a bargain
postponing Irans emergence as a nuclear threshold state
for 15 years was worthwhile regardless of the nature of
the regime. Beyond that, however, Reagans answer to
the Soviet threat was virtually the opposite of Obamas
for Iran. In that difference lies the strongest critique of
the policy this president has pursued.

Concession

Though he sometimes plays it down, Obama deeply

believes that what he calls engagement with Iran can
lead the regime to embrace a different path during the
decade its nuclear development will be on hold. Thanks
to the deal, he told Friedman, the mullahs have the
ability now to take some decisive steps to move toward
a more constructive relationship with the world
community.
Reagan, in contrast, didnt believe the Soviet
Communist leadership would change. He was a skeptic
of the detente policy pursued by Richard Nixon and
Jimmy Carter, calling it a one-way street that the

Allusion to Reagan/ Cold War Era

Gets straight into the introduction
of the topic

Main question of article

Rebuttal
Lead-in, connection

Obama believes in Iranian change

Contrast
Reagan did not feel the Russians

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Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims. His goal
was to do whatever he could to undermine and
eventually destroy the regime, whether it was shipping
arms to insurgents fighting the Soviet army in
Afghanistan, speaking out in favor of imprisoned
dissidents or theatrically demanding that Gorbachev tear
down the Berlin Wall. Reagans massive increase in
defense spending and embrace of missile defense helped
to provoke the final collapse of the Soviet economy as it
struggled in vain to keep up.

Reagans insight was that it was possible to strike deals

with Moscow on nuclear arms while simultaneously
waging an uncompromising Cold War. Obamas
ideology, which he has applied to Cuba and Burma as
well as Iran, is that the United States should seek not to
defeat its adversaries, but to coax them into more
cooperative behavior.
Consequently, Obama has strongly resisted Reagans
methods. He has starved Syrian rebel forces of the arms
and training they seek to defeat Irans closest ally. He
declined to speak up for Irans domestic opposition even
when it staged a street rebellion against the regime in
2009. He has never attempted to secure Iranian
compliance with human rights norms, as did Cold War
treaties with the Soviet Union. At his news conference
last Wednesday, he coldly described the possibility of a
strengthened Hezbollah, Irans proxy army in Syria and
Lebanon, as an acceptable tradeoff for the nuclear deal.

would change

Congratulates Reagan for

destroying the notorious evil
empire
Allusion to end of Cold war

Reagan fought and negotiated

Insight Author likes Reagan
Obama liked to reach agreements
during peace
Cause

Effect
Starved Negative diction implies
Diehl disapproves of Syria policy

Compare contrast

Concession
Obama pointed out to Friedman that his diplomacy
could have the effect of undermining Irans most hardline factions, those who are most invested in Irans
sponsorship of terrorism ... most virulently antiAmerican and anti-Israel. But he also acknowledged
that the fundamental change Reagan sought is not in the
cards: The so-called moderate in Iran is not going to be
suddenly somebody who we feel reflects universal
issues like human rights. This president is more
interested in tactical geopolitical benefits. There are

Rebuttal

Obama alludes to Reagans ideas

Obama acknowledges Iran is

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better or worse approaches that Iran can take relative to
our interests and the interests of our allies, he said.

unpredictable
True comparison

In that respect, Obamas Iran policy more closely

resembles the realpolitik of Nixon with China, as The
Posts Charles Lane has pointed out. The rewards, if
any, will come in Iranian cooperation in defeating the
Islamic State, or in enabling political solutions and
an American exit in Iraq and Syria. Even that is a
long shot, according to most of the administrations own
experts, who expect Iranian aggression to escalate rather
than diminish.

Credit to the Paper

Passive aggressive speak of
possible positive results of Iran deal
Rebuttal to own comment

Obama is not Reagan

In the end, Obamas policy could produce a very
different legacy than that of Reagan. A generation later,
the Gippers arms negotiations with Moscow look like a
modest success but his contribution to the collapse of
Soviet communism was an epochal achievement.
Obama may be able to point, 15 years from now, to an
Iran that remains non-nuclear. But the most likely effect
of his engagement policy is not the implosion of the
Islamic republic, but its perpetuation.
SOAPSTONE AND DIDLS

Conclusion summarizes the

argument well

Subject
- Obamas Iran Nuclear Deal
Occasion
- Obama compared his deal to Reagans Cold War deals
Audience
- Those wondering the similarities and differences between Reagan and Obamas
policies
Purpose
- Comparing Obama and Reagan foreign policy
Speaker
- Jason Diehl
TONE
- Condescending
Diction
- Positive diction when speaking of Reagan, negative diction when speaking of Obama
Imagery
- Uses imagery mostly when discussing Reagans accomplishments; even that is not

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spectacular
Details
- Speaks much more of Reagans accomplishments and goals than of Obamas
Language
- Formal, technical
Syntax
- Many clauses, like if any, makes the reader feel skeptical of the plan

Article Will we let Ukraine die? 7/5/15

A Ukrainian military unit last week released footage
from a drone showing a large new Russian military base
in eastern Ukraine, equipped with T-72 tanks, barracks,
communications equipment and even a parade ground.
International observers reported increased intensity of
fighting in the region, in violation of a cease-fire.

Annotations
Introduction to the issue at hand

Russia meanwhile suspended gas deliveries to Ukraine,

thwarting its attempt to stockpile supplies for next
winter. In Washington, a committee of Ukrainian bondholders, led by several U.S. hedge funds, resisted an
International Monetary Fund-backed plan to reduce the
governments debt burden so that it can avoid a default.

Ukraine is not able to sustain itself

Ukraines democratically elected and fervently proWestern government faced all these trials essentially
alone. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her
European Union partners are preoccupied with the crisis
in Greece; Barack Obama is intently focused on
completing a nuclear bargain with Iran. Western
governments have taken no new action either to prevent
a new Russian military offensive this summer or to
provide Ukraines government with the funds it needs to
survive through another year.

Ukraine is a free country that

supports the west
- Other free countries should
help it stay free

Will this be remembered as the summer when the West

let Ukraine die? Its beginning to look like it.

Unnecessary question
Ukraine is screwed

The figment of a strategy embraced by the United States

and the European Union calls for the implementation of

Diction Figment
- The US approves a plan but

Russians, Ukrainians not respecting

cease fire

Bond holders wont help with debt

Western countries preoccupied

West has not been helping assist
Ukraine; reiteration

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a peace plan, known as Minsk 2, that Russia accepted in
February but has never respected. U.S. officials
regularly agree with their Russian counterparts that the
fighting should stop and agreements should be reached
on implementing other parts of the deal; meanwhile, the
estimated 9,000 Russian troops in eastern Ukraine
whose existence Moscow denies continue to lay the
groundwork for another major attack.

just ignored it; negative

connotations
Russia ignoring deal
Actual danger in Ukraine while
there is western political gridlock
failing to help them

Analysts Pierre Vaux and Catherine Fitzpatrick of the

Interpreter Web site have identified two new Russian
Russia is preparing to stage another
bases near the front lines in recent months, including the attack
one filmed by a drone. They are positioned so as to
support an offensive against the government-held city of
Mariupol, which is the strategic key to southeastern
Ukraine. The time for such an attack may be drawing
nearer, Vaux reported last week in an article for the
Daily Beast. Similar warnings have been sounded by
other experts, including an Atlantic Council mission led
by former NATO commander Wesley Clark.
They have been ignored. Secretary of State John F.
Kerry is still talking about the moribund Minsk deal.
Obama turned aside the latest request by the Ukrainian
government last month for defensive weapons that
might blunt a Russian attack, including anti-tank
missiles. The European Union recently renewed its
economic sanctions against Russia, but declined to react
to Moscows brazen cease-fire violations and continuing
military buildup.
Obama and Merkel argue that aiding the Ukrainian
army wouldnt prevent a Russian attack and might
provoke one. Their logic is dubious: Russian analysts
say that Vladimir Putin has reason to worry about the
casualties a strengthened Ukrainian army could inflict.
In any case, the military arguments dont explain the
Wests passivity on the economic front. By any
measure, Ukraines situation is dire: Economic output
has fallen by more than 15 percent in each of the past
two quarters. The government has imposed drastic

US has been ignoring Russian

threat

Negative diction turned aside,

moribund, declined to react, brazen
cease-fire violations

Western gridlock is hurting

Ukraine; reiteration
Negative Diction dubious

Ukraine is failing economically

Government is doing its best to fix

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austerity measures, including a huge cut in the subsidy
for gas and a big reduction in pensions. Unlike Greece,
it has taken every painful austerity step required by the
International Monetary Fund, even while fighting a war.
Yet the European Union, which has committed $222
billion to bailing out Greece, has offered Ukraine $5.5
billion. The United States, which provided $20billion to
save Mexico from default and $18 billion for
reconstruction in Iraq, has approved $3 billion in loan
guarantees for Ukraine.
The paltry sums have placed the Kiev government at the
mercy of foreign creditors holding $19 billion of its
private debt including the Russian government,
which holds a $3 billion eurobond. Outside of Moscow,
the biggest bondholders are U.S. firms, including
bottom-feeder Franklin Templeton, an asset
management and mutual fund company. To meet the
IMFs plan, the government must extract $15 billion in
relief from them over four years. But Franklin
Templeton and its partners have refused to accept a
reduction in principal, despite prodding from the IMF
and the U.S. Treasury.
That leaves Ukraine facing the possibility of default as
soon as the end of this month, and no later than
September, when a $500 million bond falls due. Anders
Aslund, an expert on the Ukrainian economy at the
Atlantic Council, thinks Ukraine needs $10 billion in
additional financing to survive the next two years. At
best, it may get half of that.

Ukrainian leaders, who see themselves fighting in

defense of Western democracy against Putins
imperialist autocracy, increasingly express
bewilderment at their inability to attract support. If we
fail, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told The Post
last month, this will be a failure for the entire free
world. But the free world, it seems, is otherwise
occupied.

problem under less-than-perfect

situations

Western countries are not doing

much to help them

Negative diction mercy of foreign

creditors
- They are bad
Franklin Templeton is bad

Ukraine getting no help from bond

holders

Ukraine will default on debt

Ukraine will not survive

Ukraine rationally surprised about

lack of support, the western world
is failing Ukraine

Criticizes western world

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SOAPSTONE AND DIDLS
Subject
- A failing Ukraine
Occasion
- Signals are present indicating an imminent Russian attack
Audience
- Western world
Purpose
- Call Western leaders to do more about Ukraine
Speaker
- Jason Diehl
TONE
- Critical
Diction
- Positive diction about freedom of Ukraine, negative diction about lack of Western aid
Imagery
- Uses imagery only when discussing Ukraine struggles; is paltry and uncommon
Details
- Makes clear the West failing at their part and Russia plans to attack with stats and facts
Language
- Formal, technical
Syntax
- Many clauses stating democratic nature of Ukraine
Article Easing Venezuelas Crash 6/21/15
Annotations
For months, Venezuelans have been reading reports that
one of the most powerful figures in their autocratic and
Casually introduces the issue at
virulently anti-American government, National
hand
Assembly president Diosdado Cabello, is a principal
target of a U.S. criminal investigation into a Caracasbased drug trafficking cartel. So imagine their surprise
when media linked to Cabello began displaying a
photograph of the alleged kingpin meeting with a
Introduces main topic; vague,
smiling senior State Department official in Haiti this
leading to increased capacity for
month.
discussion
Why would Thomas Shannon, a senior counselor to
Secretary of State John F. Kerry, have met and then
posed for photographs on June 13 with Cabello, who
according to numerous news reports has been targeted
by prosecutors in New York and Miami for allegedly

Introduction of other main

character
Casual, unnecessary question
Introduces main idea

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leading a cartel that has shipped hundreds of tons of
cocaine to the United States?
Cabello and his nominal boss, President Nicols
Maduro, were quick to trumpet their versions. The
meeting, Maduro said, was part of a normalization of
relations between his increasingly beleaguered regime
and the Obama administration. Cabello offered it as
proof that the reports that he is a U.S. criminal suspect
are false. U.S. officials, meanwhile, sounded confused.
Both the White House and State Department spokesmen
said they were unaware that Cabello had met with
Shannon.

Nominal In name only

I heard another story: that the meeting was part of what

has become an increasingly urgent attempt by the
administration to broker a soft landing for a collapsing
Latin American state. Already deep in crisis before the
collapse of oil prices last year, Venezuela now lacks the
funds to pay for essential imports of food and medicine
as well as its huge foreign debts. It boasts what are
probably the worlds highest inflation and murder rates.
After a violent crackdown on dissent, the regime is
holding more than 70 political prisoners the most
prominent of whom, Leopoldo Lpez, is four weeks into
a hunger strike.

First person reinforces casualty

Source? Where did he hear this
from? Did he make it up?

It was the threat that Lpez, a moderate leftist and

strong advocate of democracy, could soon die in prison
that prompted the decision to have Shannon meet with
Cabello, sources told me. The former ambassador to
Brazil has been leading the administrations engagement
with Venezuela since April, when he was dispatched to
Caracas to head off a confrontation between Maduro
and Obama at a hemispheric summit meeting. A
subsequent conversation with Maduro at the summit
convinced Obama that it was worth another attempt to
engage a regime that has made anti-Americanism one of
its political foundations.

Symbol of democracy dying in

prison would make him a martyr.
Why the anonymity of the source?

In the short term, the U.S. diplomacy has a modest goal:

Venezuela invented idea, used it to

support themselves

US claims innocence

US trying to save Venezuela

Venezuela not doing well

Obama encouraged by Brazil

Is this source supported by fact?
Or is this simply speculation?

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to prevent Lpezs death. Shannon told Cabello the
continuance of the dialogue between the two
governments depended on Lpez remaining alive and
being convinced to end his hunger strike, sources said.
The former mayor and presidential candidate is
demanding the release of political prisoners and the
setting of a date for elections to the National Assembly,
which are supposed to be held this year.
The longer term U.S. aim is to persuade Maduro and
Cabello to hold a fair legislative election, with
monitoring by international observers. Since the
opposition would be likely to win a fair vote, that could
provide a democratic way out of a crisis that otherwise
could end in revolution or mass bloodshed.
The Venezuela initiative parallels Obamas outreach to
Cuba, which has been the political tutor of the Maduro
regime and that of Hugo Chvez before it. But the
attempt to come to terms with Venezuela is more of a
long shot than a deal to reopen the U.S. embassy in
Havana. Fidel Castro seeded Caracas with his hard-line
cadres, who now oversee the persecution of the
opposition and the catastrophic mismanagement of the
economy. If Ral Castro represents a somewhat more
pragmatic version of Cubas Communist regime, then it
might be said that Fidelismo is making its last stand in
Venezuela.
The Obama administration has little leverage. Maduro
and Cabello want the lifting of U.S. sanctions imposed
on Venezuelan officials for involvement in human rights
abuses as well as drug trafficking. But the
administrations answer is that the visa denials and asset
freezes were mandated by congressional legislation and
wont be revoked without Capitol Hills support. The
only way to win that, Maduro and Cabello were told,
was to release the political prisoners and agree to an
election with international monitoring.
The U.S. criminal investigation of Cabello, too, is
unstoppable and the prospect of being ousted from

US wants to keep Lopez, who

represents the hope of democracy
in Venezuela, alive
This is referring to Shannon?
Again, is this speculation or fact?

US wants Venezuela to become a

democracy
Bloodshed = bad
Democracy = good
Concession?
Obama wants to bring democracy
Rebuttal

Italicized for effect

Venezuela wants sanctions gone

Office of the President says only

way that happens if democracy is
established in Venezuela

Office of the President cannot stop

drug investigation

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his post at the National Assembly while he is subject to
indictment gives him powerful reason to resist a fair
election. Maduro and Cabello are known to lead
different factions within an increasingly splintered
regime, but its not evident that either is willing or able
to meet Washingtons terms.
For now, Cabello and Maduro are reaping the
propaganda benefits of the meeting in Port-au-Prince. If
political prisoners are released in the coming days, and
Lpez ends his hunger strike, that would be evidence
that the U.S. outreach to a suspected drug lord had
produced a positive result.
SOAPSTONE AND DIDLS

Searching for evidence for this

claim?
Bad intended effect for conclusion
Weak

Subject
- Venezuelan Crisis?
Occasion
- White house senior official met with high up Venezuelan official
Audience
- Those who enjoy speculating about foreign policy
Purpose
- Comparing Obama and Reagan foreign policy
Speaker
- Jason Diehl
TONE
- Questioning
Diction
- Simple
Imagery
- Little to none
Details
- Not many; vague, confusing
Language
- Casual, borderline unprofessional
Syntax
- Asks many questions to himself, but not rhetorical questions.
Bad, unprofessional writing
Gets all information from an anonymous source
Seems to be speculating throughout the piece.

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Article For Obama, No Middle Ground in the Mideast
6/7/15
As the Middle East bloodily unravels, Barack Obamas
defenders have been offering a two-part argument. The
worsening mess, they say, is not his fault; and, in any
case, no one is offering an alternative to his strategy.
U.S. policy is not the main source of this change and
the U.S. has no good options for dealing with it, wrote
Philip Gordon, Obamas recently departed National
Security Council chief for the Middle East, in Politico
last week. Argued former NSC and Pentagon official
Derek Chollet in The Post: When one peels away the
rhetoric, what [Republicans] advocate largely resembles
the policies of the president they claim is such a
failure.

Annotations
Direct introduction to the topic
Defenders of Obamas opinion

Leading into a quote with a colon

Concession 1
There is some truth in this. Of course the United States
is not the main cause of chaos in Iraq, Syria and much
of the rest of the Middle East; and while Republican
presidential candidates have unanimously condemned
Obamas weakness, none are proposing a radical
change of policy.
On the right, Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) would
increase the number of U.S. troops training the Iraqi
army from 3,000 to 10,000; at the other extreme, Sen.
Rand Paul (Ky.) rules out U.S. ground forces. But both
support the basic idea that the United States should
defeat the Islamic State by supporting Iraqi and other
forces against it, rather than by launching another major
ground war, or dismiss the threat altogether.

One sided opinion does not

consider face we are indirectly
funding most of these activities

Concession 2
Republicans have the same base
idea that is similar
Rebuttal 2

Rebuttal 1
All of this, however, obscures the point. The problem
with Obamas Mideast defense, as with so much of his
foreign policy, is that it ignores the moderate, pragmatic
options between his minimalism and all-out war. No,
Obama is not exclusively responsible for the Islamic
States capture of Mosul last summer, or Ramadi last
month, but U.S. steps far short of another 2003-style
invasion could have prevented it. Those incremental
measures could still turn the campaign against the

Concession

Rebuttal
Lead in to a possible solution

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Islamic State from a stalemate to a success and
prevent an Iran that soon may be freed from sanctions
from gaining hegemony over the region.
Start with the Iraqi army, which everyone agrees must
take the lead in recapturing the big cities held by the
Islamic State. The U.S. troops retraining the army now
operate only at the top at the level of divisions
rather than pairing up with smaller units and deploying
with them to the front lines. The latter is the technique
that proved to be effective in U.S. operations with the
Iraqi army before 2010 and with the Afghan army more
recently. But Obama has insisted on the more restricted
approach for political reasons: to lower the risk of U.S.
casualties and the appearance that U.S. soldiers are
engaged in combat operations.

Setting the stage

What we can be doing

What we are doing

Its become obvious that the limitation is crippling. U.S. Need a new strategy
advisers are unable to bolster Iraqi units when they
come under attack or to call in airstrikes by U.S. planes. Stats to prove point
Daily airstrikes against the Islamic State are one-sixth of
what they were in the first campaign against the Taliban
in 2001-2002, which resembled the current war against
the Islamic State. According to Sen. John McCain (RAriz.), three-quarters of planes return to base without
using their weapons because of an inability to locate
targets.
A second problem is the failure to provide pro-U.S.
forces with adequate weapons and training. For a year,
while the Islamic State has expanded and Iran has
heaped tanks, artillery and other arms on Iraqi Shiite
militias, Obama has refused requests for U.S. weapons
from Kurdish militia as well as Iraqi Sunni tribes. The
White House insists that the arms must go through the
Iraqi government, but that government, under Irans
sway, has repeatedly failed to pass them along.
Because the Kurds and Sunnis remain weak, the United
States is forced to support operations by Irans proxies,
including militias it has designated as terrorist
organizations. Obama could check Iran and strengthen

No mention of Congressional war

decisions?
Obama is screwing up

Fails to mention the last time we

gave weapons to an ally group, it
turned into a terrorist organization

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the attack on the Islamic State by directly providing the
needed weapons. But he doesnt.

Failure to protect country

Expansion of his failures

The presidents biggest failing remains his nonfulfillment even of his own limited plans for Syria. The
White House announced its intention to arm and train
15,000 Syrian rebels on June 26, 2014; one year later,
just 140 have been recruited. For years, some officials
have pressed for the creation, with Turkeys help, of a
safe zone in Syria where the rebels and an alternative
government could gather, safe from aerial attack by the
regime of Bashar al-Assad. Obama still refuses, while
offering no other strategy for preventing the Islamic
States further expansion or removing the Assad regime.
Repairing these weaknesses would almost certainly
change the balance of forces on the ground, strengthen
U.S. allies and weaken Iran. The Mideast wars may
continue for years, but the United States could do a lot
more to shape their eventual outcome. Insisting on
American powerlessness, and the absence of
alternatives, isnt a remedy.
SOAPSTONE AND DIDLS

Stats showing a failure

Obama has failed to live up to his
pledges

Obama aiding Islamic State

This would finish the war

Conclusion emphasizes American

failures

Subject
- Obamas foreign policy in the Middle East
Occasion
- America is fighting ISIL in the Middle East
Audience
- Policymakers
Purpose
- Coming up with an effective plan for the middle east
Speaker
- Jason Diehl
TONE
- Informative
Diction
- Standard diction
Imagery
- Gives images of terrorist organizations in the middle east
Details

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- Many statistics to give perspective of the failures of Obamas plan
Language
- Standard, not too casual, not too formal
Syntax
- Starts many sentences with dependent clauses