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April 25th, 2024 | 9:31 PM ET

Obama's Legacy on Russia and China: Making the Grade

Posted: November 29th, 2016

When asked recently by The Atlantic about President Barack Obama’s foreign policy legacy with China, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger replied: “I’d say B-plus.” As President Obama wraps up his final days in office, presidential watchers are evaluating how well he performed, wonder what his legacy will be, and how events could have transpired differently. While two revisionist powers—China and Russia— expanded their global influence, the Arab Spring, the Syrian Civil War, and the emergence of ISIS, posed foreign policy challenges that few could anticipate and forced the administration to reconsider its priorities. Despite his efforts to redefine and stabilize U.S. relations with China and Russia, Obama will leave office with these relationships in flux.

China

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