Politico provides a guide to the dance of getting to a deal on the fiscal cliff.

President Obama gave these remarks on the economy in Hatfield, Pennsylvania on November 30, 2012.

House Speaker John Boehner gave these remarks on the fiscal cliff on November 30, 2012, following President Obama's speech in Pennsylvania.

Egypt today is a different country from the one encountered by previous U.S. administrations, and as a result, the Obama administration's foreign policy strategy approach has to change.

Middle East expert Robert Malley discusses how the United States is crafting policy for a Middle East it may no longer be accustomed to.

Secretary of State Clinton gave these remarks at the Foreign Policy Group's "Transformational Trends 2013" forum at the Newseum on November 29, 2012.

A preview of world events in the coming week from CFR.org: Mexico's new president takes office; the UN Climate Change Conference continues in Qatar; and NASA gives a highly anticipated update on the Mars rover mission.

CFR Fellow Shannon O'Neil and former Foreign Minister of Mexico Jorge Castañeda discuss newly elected Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and what this new administration means for U.S.-Mexico relations going forward.

In picking his national security team Obama will have to choose between following conventional wisdom or forgoing it to make his own choices, writes Foreign Policy.

Tom Rogan discusses foreign policy initiatives that should be taken by the Obama administration over the next for years in this Huffington Post blog.

Listen to CFR Senior Fellow Shannon K. O'Neil and former foreign minister of Mexico Jorge G. Castañeda discuss President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto and the future of U.S.-Mexico relations.

In an op-ed that appeared this week in USA Today, O'Neil argued that the main obstacle to better relations between the two countries is Americans' perceptions of Mexico and its people:

"In Americans' psyches, drugs dominate. When advertising firm GSD&M and Vianovo strategic consultants asked Americans to come up with three words that describe Mexico, nearly every other person answered 'drugs,' followed by 'poor' and 'unsafe.' Other questions reveal Americans see Mexico as corrupt, unstable and violent, more problem than partner. Americans had more favorable views of Greece, El Salvador and Russia."

Read O'Neil's USA Today op-ed "Mexico Isn't a Gangland Gunbattle."

In the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs, Castañeda and historian Héctor Aguilar Camín claim that there is a political mandate in Mexico that calls for less corruption, greater rule of law, and improved economic justice:

"Mexicans' clamor for prosperity is no longer negotiable, and today, the country is less than a generation away from becoming the full-fledged middle-class society it aspires to be. But only if it gets to work now."

Read Camín and Castañeda's essay "Mexico's Age of Agreement."

President Obama and Vice-President Biden released this foreign policy plan in November 2012, following President Obama's re-election.

Peter Orszag writes that vague, simplistic strategies to limit tax deductions will lose their appeal as the legislative process exposes their flaws.

Sebastian Mallaby argues that President Obama will be unable to stabilize the U.S. debt over the long term without addressing the problem of ballooning health and pension costs.

Conflict in the Middle East could change the foreign policy course of President Obama's second term in office.

Micah Zenko says, "Like Dick Cheney 21 years ago, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has engaged in an exhaustive effort to avoid both sequestration and any further reductions in the Pentagon's budget. The distinction between Panetta and his predecessors, however, is in the tactics he has employed to protect his bureaucratic turf."

Joseph Lieberman's retirement will impact the clout of the bipartisan trio, which included Senators Lieberman, John McCain, and Lindsey Graham, that once dominated congressional debate on foreign policy, says the New York Times.

Hillary Clinton's statement that she will not stay on as Secretary of State in President Obama's second term has unleashed speculation about her plans for the future.

The sharpening partisan divide within United States politics is routinely affecting foreign policy, far more than in years past.

Shannon K. O'Neil says, "[American] perceptions reflect the Mexican reality that dominates headlines: soaring crime rates and gruesome murders in a war against drug traffickers. But this window into Mexico overlooks an economic transformation and deepening ties with the United States that reflect a dramatically different country."