Europe U.S. Allies in Europe Begin to Pull Back
William Pfaff

Five NATO governments made it known that they want American nuclear weapons removed from their territory. They include the Benelux three, together with Germany and Norway. The five reportedly will ask that all the European NATO governments endorse their position before a meeting in New York in May.

Europe's Chance to Punch Its Weight: New Treaty New Influence
Anthony Luzzatto Gardner and Stuart E. Eizenstat

After nearly a decade of acrimonious debate, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force across the 27 member states of the EU. The treaty reforms EU institutions, making the EU more accountable to voters and enhancing its ability to address European and global challenges. Over the long term, the treaty may make the EU a more coherent international actor

The Progress of Man
Robert C. Koehler

It's time, I think, to resacralize progress. One way to start is to recognize the rights of native peoples around the world not to be displaced, to see in their determination to remain in reverent connection to a piece of the earth not something quaint and primitive and of value to them alone, but the heart and center of humanity's struggle with itself.

Winning the War to Secure the Peace
Jessica Rettig

The actual goal of war shouldn't be the destruction of the hostile world. The reason we're fighting . . . is because another side has decided to attack. The purpose of a war is to reverse that hostile decision. What we were after in Japan in 1945 -- and in Germany, for that matter -- was to end those countries' drives for aggressive military dominance.

India's Rise, America's Interest
Evan A. Feigenbaum

Until the late 1990s, the United States often ignored India. India's weak and protected economy gave it little influence in global markets, and its nonaligned foreign policy caused periodic tension with Washington. When the United States did concentrate on India, it too often fixated on India's military rivalry with Pakistan. Today, however, India is dynamic and transforming.

Enemies Into Friends: How United States Can Court Its Adversaries
Charles A. Kupchan

In his inaugural address, President Obama informed those regimes 'on the wrong side of history' that the United States 'will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.' Obama soon backed up his words with deeds, making engagement with adversaries one of his administration's priorities. Over a year later, the jury is still out on whether his strategy of engagement is bearing fruit

Global Energy After The Economic Crisis
Christof Ruhl

Commercially traded energy is what classical economists used to call a 'basic good': directly or indirectly, it enters the production of every other produced commodity or service. Because these resources are finite and unevenly distributed, they seem to become increasingly hard to come by when global economic activity expands. This is the logic behind the concept of energy security.

From The Sun King to Karzai
Sheri Berman

Calls for strengthening Afghanistan's state institutions have become commonplace, duly repeated in every major speech or report on the war. Yet there has been relatively little serious discussion about just what buttressing these institutions would actually entail. Perhaps this is because the deeper one digs, the more entrenched the obstacles appear.

Israel and Palestine: An Interim Agreement
Ehud Yaari

More than 16 years after the euphoria of the Oslo accords, the Israelis and the Palestinians have still not reached a final-status peace agreement. Indeed, the last decade has been dominated by setbacks -- the second intifada, Hamas' victory in the Palestinian legislative elections and then its military takeover of the Gaza Strip -- all of which have aggravated the conflict.

Obama's Hesitant Embrace of Human Rights
Kenneth Roth

In a series of speeches around the world, carefully tailored for each audience, President Obama has set forth a compelling vision, emphasizing that respect for human rights is not only right but also broadly beneficial for the United States and the world. The challenge facing his administration is translating that rhetoric into policy and practice.

Warnings of Violence Ahead of Iraq's Election
Alex Kingsbury

Voting in Iraq has already started for the disabled and the military. The chief electoral issues are the same ones that have long mired Iraq in violence: dividing the country's immense oil revenues, the sectarian power balance, and the influence of neighboring countries, particularly Iran. Meanwhile, millions of Iraqis are still displaced, both internally and internationally.

Offensive Against Taliban Test of Afghan Strategy
Anna Mulrine

Some 15,000 U.S., British, Afghan National Army forces launched the largest attack on Taliban forces since Obama signed orders to send 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. What happens in the aftermath of this offensive will be a considerable test of the U.S. military's ability to work with Afghan forces and to protect Afghan civilians, a centerpiece of the new American strategy

Europe Needs to Lose Belief in Its Own Inadequacy
William Pfaff

Much has been written and said about making the European Union a 'world player.' The Lisbon Treaty was expected to accomplish this by bestowing a president, foreign-policy representative and diplomatic service. It was another expression of Europe's inability to come to terms with the reality of Europe present and past, and thereby liberate its future potentialities.

Hubris Behind Brazil's Ties With Iran
Andres Oppenheimer

Brazil's key diplomatic support of Iran's increasingly isolated regime is baffling the international community. There are several theories about Brazil's behavior, some of them quite troubling.

Iran's 'Excruciating' Human Rights Record
Bernard Gwertzman

The UN Human Rights Council issued its review of Iran's human rights record, on the heels of what was widely seen as the Iranian government's stifling of protests during the Islamic Revolution celebrations. The protests are an extension of the ongoing unrest in the country since the disputed presidential election results. Iran accepted some of the recommendations, but rejected many others.

Iran's Political 'Gridlock' - Farideh Farhi on Iran
Bernard Gwertzman

Analyst Farideh Farhi says Iran is in a state of stalemate as Iran marks the 31st anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolution. This will remain true, she says, regardless of the type of street demonstrations that unfold or the government response to them. The problems of Iran, highlighted by ongoing protests since flawed presidential elections, remain unsolved

Diplomacy in Afghanistan? Not Until U.S. Identifies Why It's There
William Pfaff

Richard Holbrooke's comments on reconciliation with the Taliban in Afghanistan echoes earlier remarks by UN officials and American military commanders in Kabul that suggest that diplomacy might be coming alive. This could be true despite, or in coordination with, a new NATO offensive in southern Afghanistan. For it to succeed, however, it has three enormous obstacles to overcome.

U.S. Foreign Aid Cutback Plan Sends Wrong Message
Andres Oppenheimer

Perhaps, Obama's 2011 foreign aid budget request reflects priorities in world affairs as it looks like Obama is saying 'adios' to Latin America. Obama's foreign aid request to Congress calls for a 13 percent increase for Africa, 7 percent increase for the Middle East and nearly 60 percent increase for South and Central Asia. By comparison, a nearly 10 percent cut in aid for Latin America.

First Choose Your Future War, Then Choose Your Weapons
Paul Kennedy

What does a nation do when it faces plenty of external challenges and plenty of potential threats -- and has interests and obligations across the world? Well, perhaps it should think harder and more coherently than it might previously have been doing. The United States in today's troubled world needs to re-assess its global position and its global future.

A Less-Confident Iran May Become Even more Dangerous
Ian Bremmer

For those worried over Iran's nuclear ambitions, Iran's defiant and self-confident government created plenty of trouble. A wounded and more isolated Iranian regime will become more dangerous and less predictable. Sanctions won't be tough enough to force Iran to renounce its nuclear ambitions, but they'll be harsh enough to encourage an increasingly anxious Iranian government to lash out

Who Will Be the New Global King of the Hill
William Pfaff

China and India stopped being part of what was called the third world when the Communist world disappeared in a shattering of global illusions in 1989. Since then there has been a search to find a new King of the Global Hill. The United States rejoiced for a few years in being the sole superpower, considering it an opportunity to remake the world according to its own advantage.

America Rides off Into the Sunset
Victor Davis Hanson

National leaders have only long-term self-interests and so seek to expand their influence whenever they can. Obama better understand that. As such, a world without strong U.S. leadership really would become a far more dangerous place where the strong do as they please and the weak obey as they must.

New Palestinian Statehood Push and Nuclear Threat to Israel
Louis R. Beres

The Palestinian Authority still makes its aggressive intentions plain. On its official emblem, Israel is covered with an Arab Keffiyah headdress, next to a Kalashnikov rifle, and a picture of Yasser Arafat.

U.S. Must Remain Active Diplomatic Player in Iraq
Henry A. Kissinger

So far, the Obama administration has recoiled from discussing Iraq's geo-strategic significance and especially America's relation to it. Yet while Iraq is being exorcised from our debate, its reality is bound to obtrude itself on our consciousness. America's withdrawal from Iraq will not diminish the geo-strategic importance of the country even as it alters the context of it.

Pentagon Wrestles With Haiti Relief
Anna Mulrine

In one of the largest humanitarian efforts in its history, the U.S. military has sent nearly 20,000 personnel, 23 ships, and an estimated 100 flights a day in and out of Haiti since it was hit by a horrific earthquake. But as the casualty figures mount and the scale of the destruction becomes more clear, Pentagon officials are now wrestling with what comes next

Haiti: Reforestation Should Be Part of Rebuilding Process
Andres Oppenheimer

Haiti has long been the poorest country in the hemisphere, to a large extent because of deforestation. Early in the 20th century, about 60 percent of Haiti's landscape was covered with forests. But since then, Haitians have cut down nearly 99 percent of the trees in the country to use them as firewood or charcoal for cooking.

Don't Let Haiti's Tragedy Fade Away
Carl Hiaasen

The situation in Haiti is not incomprehensible, and it's not indescribable -- just the opposite. A graphic rendition of hell is what it is, a nightmare of nightmares. Officials still don't know how many people died in the earthquake, and they'll never know. The current estimates range from 50,000 to 200,000, but it's all grim guesswork. Those who survived are in dire peril

Upcoming Iraqi Elections - Political Tremors
Brett H. McGurk

Recent news that Sunni candidates were banned from upcoming Iraqi elections has focused attention on that March 7 vote -- a crucial election for a new government to serve through 2014. Much is at stake, and the United States will have to maneuver carefully, supporting but not overtly interfering with the vote, cabinet formation, and then a new Iraqi government.

U.S. & China Trade Barbs After Google's Ultimatum
Alex Kingsbury

What began as a quiet post on Google's official blog has ballooned into a full fledged international tempest, with the U.S. and China trading barbs about the role of the government in regulating the Internet. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday condemned cyber attacks and called for an Internet where all have equal access to knowledge and ideas

Why Neither Ronald Reagan Nor United States Won the Cold War
Alex Kingsbury

Ronald Reagan never claimed to have bested the Soviet Union and won the Cold War. Indeed, the very idea that a winner of the decades-long rivalry between the superpowers emerged was a political formulation. The notion that the United States forced the collapse of the Soviet Union and vanquished communism is not only a myth but a dangerous canard, Jack Matlock says in his new book ...

Economic Risk in 7 Countries Spooking Investors
Matthew Bandyk

Despite federal spending consuming 27.2 percent of GDP, the United States maintains a Aaa rating. But you can't say the same about many countries in both the developed and developing world where continued fallout from the economic crisis is hurting their credit ratings. As a result, investors have viewed the economic situations in these countries as increasingly risky bets.

 

Devastation in Haiti
(c) Paul Tong

Earthquake Buries Progress in Haiti
Joshua Kucera

Even before Haiti's massive earthquake, the news from Haiti could seem relentlessly grim, from hurricanes to political violence to desperate poverty. But for the last year or so, things had actually started to look up in the hemisphere's poorest country.

Beyond Haitian Relief Effort, How to Fix Haiti
Bonnie Erbe

Rescue and cleanup efforts following the horror of Haiti's incalculable earthquake losses will continue for months and reconstruction will continue for years. But as large parts of the nation are rebuilt, foreign policy experts are asking, how does Haiti rebuild in a way that leads to long-term economic gain and political stability?

Haiti Needs a Version of the Marshall Plan
Andres Oppenheimer

President Barack Obama and other world leaders reacted swiftly to the devastation that hit Haiti in the first days after the earthquake that may have left up to 50,000 dead. But, considering the magnitude of the tragedy, what they have offered so far is peanuts.

Tough Love Only Long-Term Cure for Haiti
Jonah Goldberg

Despite the heroic efforts of aid workers and the battered Haitian government, it looks as if Haiti's problems will persist well into the 21st century, long after the debris is cleared and the houses are rebuilt. While the scope of the tragedy in Haiti is nearly impossible to exaggerate, it's important to remember that last week's earthquake was so deadly because Haiti is Haiti.

Haiti: The Media Spectacle
Robert C. Koehler

Haiti falls apart and America's journalists are on the ground, bringing us the spectacle of devastation. We care, we donate, we shake our heads in horror at the human toll of poverty.

Pat Robertson
(c) Dan Wasserman

Pat Robertson & Rush Limbaugh: Absence of Conscience
Leonard Pitts Jr.

As Haiti reeled and staggered, two icons of conservatism offered their analyses of the earthquake that devastated Haiti. Pat Robertson opined that Haiti's woes stem from the deal with the devil two centuries ago. Rush Limbaugh suggests the relief effort would 'play right into' Obama's hands. It left me wondering whether conservatism has a conscience, whether conservatism has a soul.

 

Pat Robertson Again Blaming the Victims
Carl Hiaasen

It's no secret that the Rev. Pat Robertson is a yammering fool, but last week he hit a new low. During a chatty sit-down segment of his television program, the 700 Club, the prominent Christian preacher offered his viewers a unique explanation of the terrible earthquake in Haiti ...

Haiti - Tragedy and Opportunity for Haiti
Kara C. McDonald

The January 12 earthquake that devastated Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, is the first test of the Obama administration's ability to mount a full-scale international disaster response, and it is no ordinary test. Haiti is the poorest nation in the hemisphere, with abysmal infrastructure, struggling to stabilize

Haiti - Sometimes the Earth is Cruel
Leonard Pitts Jr

That is ultimately the fundamental lesson here, as children wail, families sleep out of doors, and the dead lie unclaimed in the rubble that once was Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Afghanistan: Report Calls Military Intelligence Ignorant and Oblivious
Anna Mulrine

A bracing critique of U.S. military intelligence in Afghanistan came from an unlikely source earlier this month: the head of U.S. military intelligence in Afghanistan. Widely circulated and hotly discussed, the report was remarkable for its blunt candor regarding the intelligence community's mode of operation in Afghanistan.

Politics Behind Hugo Chavez's Currency Devaluation
Andres Oppenheimer

A lot has been written in recent days about the economic impact of drastic devaluation of the Venezuelan currency announced by Venezuela's authoritarian-populist President Hugo Chávez. But the measure's political impact may be just as important, if not more.

Iran Sacrifices Its Future
Paul Greenberg

I have just read about a new high-water mark in the persecution of intellectuals. Or just the intelligent. For setting it, the world can thank Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and his clerical keepers, notable among them the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Global Political-Risk Outlook for 2010
Ian Bremmer and David Gordon

The biggest risk for 2010 comes from the point at which these trends converge: U.S.-China relations, Iran, European Fiscal Divergence, U.S. Financial Regulation, Japan ... Our top 10 geopolitical concerns for 2010 and their impact on the world

Two Ways of Looking at the World
Mary Sanchez

The perspectives of two elderly men crossed my desk recently. Both are men of the World War II era. I will not compare our times to theirs. But the world remains a dangerous place. And our nation remains vulnerable to serious economic setbacks. And what worries me is how we will respond to the challenges ahead ...

Fight Against Terrorism Could Shift to Yemen
Joshua Kucera

In the wake of the airplane bombing attempt over Detroit on Christmas, President Obama vowed to take an aggressive stance against those who were behind the plot. 'The United States will do more than simply strengthen our defenses,' he said. 'We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us.'

Al-Qaida Using United States to Accomplish Goals
William Pfaff

The real reason for attacking Westerners in the West, or in airplanes on the way there, is to provoke the Western governments to send more Western soldiers to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and elsewhere in the Muslim world to attack Muslim jihadists on the Islamists' own ground, where the latter have tactical and human advantages that Western soldiers can never overcome.

2010: Our Year of Decision
Victor Davis Hanson

Sometimes long-festering problems collide -- and explode -- in a single memorable year. We can go as far back as the fifth century B.C. to see this phenomenon -- and we may see it again in 2010. Events may come to a head and overwhelm the existing American-led global order

Integration and Disintegration: The Future of Our Puzzling World
Paul Kennedy

The world really does seem to have changed for the better. There are signs of progress and prosperity. However, there are the many indicators of disruptive tendencies, of environmental catastrophes, financial instabilities, currency turbulences, civil wars, failed states, quarrels over contested historic lands and borders, human-rights abuses, terrorism, and displays of angry, egoistic nationalism.

Overcoming the Obstacles to a Nuclear-Free World
Charles D. Ferguson

Over the past three years, a remarkable bipartisan consensus has emerged in Washington regarding nuclear security. This presents a conundrum, however: In a world where the strongest conventional military power cannot envision giving up its nuclear weapons before all other nations have abandoned theirs, how will humanity ever rid itself of these weapons?

Nuclear Disorder - Surveying Atomic Threats
Graham Allison

The current global nuclear order is extremely fragile, and the three most urgent challenges to it are North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan. In fact, the global nuclear order today could be akin to the global financial order was two years ago, when conventional wisdom declared it to be sound, stable, and resilient

Tension Simmers in Iran
William Pfaff

Continued post-election protests in Iran identify either a pre-revolutionary situation or that condition which the French call 'fin de regime' -- political decadence suggesting that the end may be near, but might also be very bad. Recent events in Iran resemble those that led up to the revolution that compelled the Shah to flee Iran in 1979 and were followed by the creation of the Islamic Republic. The question is what will the outcpome be this time and what impact it will have on stability in the Middle East

2009 Chickens and Their 2010 Roost
Victor Davis Hanson

2009 may seem to have ended relatively quietly for the world. But in foreign relations, in the war against terror, in massive borrowing, and in energy policies, we created chickens that soon will come home to roost in 2010

Helping Women Help the World
Isobel Coleman

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn argue that "the brutality inflicted routinely on women and girls in much of the world" is "one of the paramount human rights problems of this century." Their statistics are numbing: every year, at least two million girls worldwide "disappear" due to gender discrimination. But Kristof and WuDunn go beyond moral outrage.

Why International Aid Does Not Alleviate Poverty
Jagdish Bhagwati

The African silence has been broken by Dambisa Moyo, a young Zambian-born economist with impeccable credentials. Educated at Harvard and Oxford and employed by Goldman Sachs and the World Bank, Moyo has written an impassioned attack on aid that has won praise from leaders as diverse as former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

Preventive Force, Terrorism and International Security
Abraham D. Sofaer

Preventive action endorses using force against states that supported terrorism or failed to prevent it. This was a controversial position, since using (or threatening) preventive force is generally considered a violation of international law. However, preventive action is now an essential element of U.S. national security. And it appears that Obama will continue this aspect of Bush doctrine

The New Energy Order
David G. Victor and Linda Yueh

The last decade has seen an extraordinary shift in expectations for the world energy system. After a long era of excess capacity prices for oil and most energy commodities have risen sharply and become more volatile. As such, a crisis is looming which will be difficult to resolve.

Why Failing to Complete Green Revolution Could Bring Next Famine
Carlisle Ford Runge

Rising food prices have intensified the risks of large-scale hunger. The reasons are complex, but one of them is that demand for food is increasing as populations and incomes grow even as the supply of food is increasingly being diverted to other uses, such as the production of biofuels. As a result famine is again stalking the world's poor

Nuclear Disorder - Surveying Atomic Threats
Graham Allison

The current global nuclear order is extremely fragile, and the three most urgent challenges to it are North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan. In fact, the global nuclear order today could be akin to the global financial order was two years ago, when conventional wisdom declared it to be sound, stable, and resilient

Solving World Health Issues a Few Dollars at a Time
Philippe Douste-Blazy and Daniel Altman

Starting in this quarter, hundreds of millions of people will have an unprecedented opportunity to help the world's most unfortunate inhabitants. When purchasing airline tickets through most major reservation Web sites or through a travel agent, consumers will be asked if they want to make a direct contribution to the fight against the world's three deadliest epidemics

The New Population Bomb
Jack A. Goldstone

Averting this century's potential dangers will require sweeping measures. Policymakers must adapt today's global governance institutions to the new realities of the aging of the industrialized world, the concentration of the world's economic and population growth in developing countries, and the increase in international immigration.

Facing Realities on North Korea
Henry A. Kissinger

It is time to face realities. We are now in the 15th year during which America has sought to end North Korea's nuclear program through negotiations. These have been conducted in both two-party and six-party forums. The result was the same, whatever the framework

Mind of Martyr: How to Deradicalize Islamist Extremists
Jessica Stern

Is it possible to deradicalize terrorists and their potential recruits? Saudi Arabia, a pioneer in terrorism prevention and rehabilitation, claims that it is. And yet so far, the Saudis have shared very little information about their program's successes and failures.

Obama Talking Peace While Making War
Jules Witcover

When President Obama went to Oslo, he knew he was bringing with him a major contradiction. He was there to accept the Nobel Peace Prize at a time he was carrying out his responsibilities as a war president waging armed combat in two foreign countries.

Has War Really Changed
Victor Davis Hanson

Human nature, after all, does not change. And since the beginning of civilization the point of war has always been for one side through the use of force to make the other accept its political will. We should remember that and get back to basics in Afghanistan. Here's why ...

'The Great Global Security Underwriter' Will Pay a High Price
William Pfaff

Most surveys on America's two current wars and on foreign policy generally, find majority support for staying at home and minding America's own business. Especially now, when it has become no longer possible to treat the national deficit as if it doesn't matter, and when the president has just ordered another 'surge' of troops to the Afghanistan war.

China Takes Tiny Steps on Climate Change
Kent Garber

China says that it's getting serious about tackling global warming. After President Obama pledged two weeks ago to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, China came out with its own plan, promising to slow the growth of its fast-rising carbon pollution

A Visit with China's New Moguls
Clarence Page

As a guy who was raised in Cold War America, the dazzling ease with which communist China has accommodated capitalism is hard for me to fathom, but I was there to learn.

Voting Present on Iran
Victor Davis Hanson

Instead of complying with international requests to stand down, Iran has decided to step up efforts to enrich uranium, which, despite the government's denial, is all but certainly intended for a bomb. Here's why ...

Obama Playing Nice With China
Joshua Kucera

When President Obama visited China, he had a good case to make to his hosts that he was trying to see things their way. He'd recently declined a meeting with the Dalai Lama in Washington and said that he wanted a strategic partnership with China. What did he get for his troubles?

Financial Crisis, Enron, Hurricane Katrina Examples of Leadership Gone Wrong
Tamara Lytle

The New Orleans masses who huddled in the Superdome after Hurricane Katrina, the Enron retirees who lost their life savings, and the laid-off workers buried under the economic ruin of financial companies all live with a simple truth. Just as spectacularly as great leadership can spark success, failed leadership can bring down cities, businesses, and economies

New Corruption Ranking Says a Lot
Andres Oppenheimer

A new survey on corruption around the world confirms what many of us have long suspected: Fiery populist leaders who rise to power vowing to eradicate corruption often end up leading sleazier governments than their predecessors

Afghanistan: A Missed Turning Point
Jules Witcover

President Obama offered only a change in approach in his long-awaited plan to press on with the war in Afghanistan. His decision to approve of most of the troop surge requested by General McChrystal, with more finely tuned schemes for troop deployment in Afghanistan, is a thinly veiled agreement to continue Bush's stay-the-course commitment.

Free Markets, Free Muslims
Jon B. Alterman

Vali Nasr's new book, Forces of Fortune, was written largely in the exuberant phase of Dubai's story, but it is being published in a more sober time. It reflects some of the old enthusiasm for the notion that 'the Dubai model' -- a multiethnic, capitalist society insulated from violence and ideology -- could save the Middle East from a downward spiral of intolerance and political extremism.

The Taliban Vs. Global Civil Society
Paul Kennedy

Almost two generations ago, out of the ashes that were the Second World War, our forefathers bequeathed to us the idea and the very institutions of global civil society. Those visionaries pointed us to many rights, and thus to many futures, but key to it all was the rule of law, the right to free speech, and the right to vote

G-2 Talk Aside, United States & China Hardly on Equal Footing
William Pfaff

I have never understood the widely touted idea or assumption of China-U.S. equality or partnership or joint rule of the world or superpower-partnership. In what ways do any of these descriptions really fit the situation?

Palestinians Start to Show Progress
Mortimer B. Zuckerman

There is still a ways to go, but the progress being made by the Palestinians, especially in terms of controlling the terrorists and criminal gangs, is one of the most promising developments to have occurred in decades.

Reagan, Obama and Legacy of the Berlin Wall
Kenneth T. Walsh

The fall of the Berlin Wall was a conclusive sign that the United States and the other Western democracies had finally won the Cold War. In the end, two presidents deserve much of the credit: George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. Twenty years later there are plenty of lessons for President Obama's approach to foreign policy.

Possible New U.S. Option in Afghanistan: Getting Out With Grace
William Pfaff

There are two tried and disproved methods for dealing with insurrection in a non-Western country. The third and reliable method is not to go there in the first place. The fourth is get out with such grace as is possible, as rapidly as possible.

Disillusionment in Afghanistan
Jayshree Bajoria

The international community is increasingly concerned about whether Afghan President Hamid Karzai can be an effective partner. Karzai recently won another term after an election fraught with accusations of fraud; his previous term was beset with allegations of corruption.

A Year With Obama and U.S. Foreign Relations Have Only Worsened
William Pfaff

Who would have thought a year ago that most of the issues of conflict in America's foreign relations would be made worse during the first year following Barack Obama's election as U.S. president?

Circling Sharks Smell American Blood
Victor Davis Hanson

On his recent trip to Asia, President Obama found China, Japan and South Korea -- like many nations these days -- in no mood to hear more American lectures. The United States needs to re-establish itself as financially credible and responsible so that when we lecture -- about everything from global warming to Iranian nukes -- we do so from a position of strength.

The New International Dialogue
William Pfaff

The international conversation among policy makers has since the cold war and the Second World War tended to be Anglophone and something of an American monologue. Today, the United States is widely perceived as a large part of the present world problem. Today the effort is how to cultivate new institutions of international cooperation and governance. Washington used to do it all alone, but a major part of the world is restless.

When Freedom Was at High Tide
Paul Greenberg

The great tide had been building for years, for decades. But it would take daring and determination to release it. Walls do not come tumbling down by themselves, however much it might seem that way looking back. There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to freedom. High tide came November 9, 1989, when the Wall came down

Despite Obama's Concessions, Russia Remains Unhelpful on Iran
Joshua Kucera

The Obama administration's announcement last month that it was scrapping plans to build missile defense sites in Poland and the Czech Republic removed a prime irritant in the U.S.-Russian relationship; Russians felt the missile defense network was targeted as much at them as against the purported threat, Iran. And the move appeared at first to pay dividends. However ...

For Europe, U.S. Is Country That Cries Wolf
William Pfaff

Officials such as Philip Gordon regularly travel to Europe to ask for support for American initiatives. The Europeans reply that they have not been consulted in making these policies. The Americans say we will be happy to discuss them, but we are putting up most of the men and money, so it's too late to change anything. Maybe next time.

Afghan Mythologies
Victor Davis Hanson

As President Obama decides whether to send more troops to Afghanistan, we should remember that most of the conventional pessimism about Afghanistan is only half-truth. Remember the mantra that the region is the 'graveyard of empires,' where Alexander the Great, the British in the 19th century, and the Soviets only three decades ago inevitably met their doom?

With al-Qaida Diminished, There's No Sense in Expanding Afghan War
William Pfaff

Al-Qaida's relations with the Taliban today are troubled. Effective counter-terrorism strategy in Afghanistan is on the brink of completely eliminating al-Qaida. There will be no organization to return. This is the result of effective international and domestic intelligence cooperation as well as good police work. So why, one asks, is the U.S. expanding its war in Afghanistan?

In the Quicksands of Somalia
Bronwyn Bruton

The U.S. government needs to change its Somalia policy -- and fast. For the better part of two decades, international attempts to create a government have failed. And since 9/11, U.S. attempts to prevent Somalia from becoming a safe haven for al Qaeda have visibly backfired, alienating the Somali population, and propelling an indigenous Salafi jihadist group, called al Shabab, to power

Obama's Missile Defense Concession Holds Opportunity for European Security
Paul J. Saunders

It's a concession, but it could present an opportunity as well. While the move highlights the unhappy geography and tough political choices facing Central European leaders, it could also create an important opportunity to strengthen European security. The administration would do well to use this chance to try to encourage new and different relationships between the former Soviet bloc and Russia.

A Simple Plan for Killing al Qaeda
Alex Kingsbury Interviews Howard Clark

Howard Clark's answer is to both amplify the nihilism of its message and promote moderate Islamic voices. Clark, a former marine who served two tours in Iraq, now works as a consultant on counter-terrorism problems for the Department of Defense. He is also president and founder of Seventh Pillar, a nonprofit that seeks to combat al Qaeda's ideology. He recently spoke about his three-part plan for strengthening moderates and defeating extremists

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan and Memories of Indochina
William Pfaff

The United States is in Afghanistan for its own reasons. The Afghan president said what he did to encourage the U.S. to keep him their man in Kabul. If the Afghan people should decide that he's nothing more than an American puppet, they will get rid of him. But Washington will get rid of him, too, since he would have lost his plausibility, and hence his value

Puzzling & Dangerous U.S. Foreign Policy Comes to an End
William Pfaff

President Barack Obama's cancellation of his predecessor's missile-defense scheme for Poland and the Czech Republic presumably brings to a close one of the least explicable and most dangerous American policy initiatives since the cold war officially ended.

Three Dangerous Stooges: Gadhafi, Ahmadinejad & Chavez
Victor Davis Hanson

Recenty, three dictators -- from Iran, Libya and Venezuela -- delivered lunatic hate speeches at the UN General Assembly. Why do these dictators feel so free to damn America from downtown New York? Why do their abettors spurn our requests for help? And why do creepy regimes plot to get nukes, and fund terrorists? Easy. They do not fear, much less listen ...

Afterthoughts from Obama U.N. Address
Jonah Goldberg

The United Nations is an odd venue to say such things. The Security Council is premised on nothing if not a balance of power, and the U.N.'s roots go nowhere if not deep into the chilled soil of the Cold War. It is odder still for the president of the United States of America to say such things

Iran: Words Without Action or Resolved to Be Unresolved
Paul Greenberg

'Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follow, endangering the global nonproliferation regime, denying its own people access to the opportunity they deserve, and threatening the stability and security of the region and the world.' No, that wasn't Israel's tough-talking prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, warning against Iran's aggressive tendencies again. It was Barack Obama addressing the UN Security Council.

Interview with India's Environment Minister
Jayshree Bajoria

India and China have long maintained their economic growth will suffer if they accept binding emission targets under an international agreement on climate change. Instead, they have called for mitigation commitments by the developed world and financial support from rich countries to help developing countries adapt to climate change.

Tutu: Religious Strife due to Faithful, Not to Faith
Archbishop Desmond Tutu Interview

Amina Chaudary of Islamica Magazine recently sat down with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel peace laureate, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Second World War -- Seventy Years Later
Victor Davis Hanson

Seventy years ago World War II broke out with the German invasion of Poland. Thousands of books have been written about the war. And by now revisionist historians of revisionist historians engage in an endless cycle of disagreement over why the war started, how it ended and what it all meant. Here are a few more controversial thoughts on the horrific conflict that killed 60 million people, wrecked Europe and set the stage for an ensuing half-century Cold War.

Iraq War -- What War
Victor Davis Hanson

The war in Iraq is scarcely in the news any longer, despite the fact that 141,000 American soldiers are still protecting the fragile Iraqi democracy, and 114, as of this writing, have been lost this year in that effort. But after the success of the surge, there are far fewer American fatalities each month

An Agenda for NATO: Toward a Global Security Web
Zbigniew Brzezinski

NATO now confronts historically unprecedented risks to global security. The paradox of our time is that the world, increasingly connected and economically interdependent for the first time in its entire history, is experiencing intensifying popular unrest. Yet there is no effective global security mechanism for coping with the growing threat of violent political chaos stemming from humanity's recent political awakening.

The Default Power and American Declinism
Josef Joffe

Every ten years, it is decline time in the United States. Declinism took a break in the 1990s, but by the end of the Bush administration, it had returned with a vengeance. The history of declinism shows that doom arrives in cycles, and what comes and goes, logically, does not a trend make. Today, as after past prophecies of imminent debility, the United States remains first on any scale of power that matters--economic, military, diplomatic, or cultural--despite being embroiled in two wars and beset by the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The Diplomatic Myths and Illusions of the Middle East
by Robert Schlesinger

Incorrect preconceptions and misguided conventional wisdom hamper American policy in the Middle East, Dennis Ross and David Makovsky write in Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East.

Journalists freed from North Korea
(c) M. Ryder

Relief Over Freed U.S. Journalists Tempered by Long-Term Implications
Henry A. Kissinger

Amidst the widespread relief that the two American journalists have avoided the brutal fate meted out to them by a North Korean court, it may seem captious to consider the long-term implications. The impulse to save two young women from 12 years of hard labor in a North Korean gulag is powerful. Yet now that this goal has been achieved, we need to balance the emotions of the moment against the precedent for the future.

'Never Again' in North Korea? Think Again
Jonah Goldberg

For decades now, we've known that what's going on in North Korea is too terrible to contemplate. Even so, what once haunted us as an ill-defined and foreboding suspicion has clarified into the secure knowledge of broad and systemic evil.

The Arrogant and the Ignorant
Cal Thomas

On my last visit to the UK three months ago, Members of Parliament were embroiled in a scandal involving outrageous expense claims for such things as moat cleaning, a baby crib and second homes that were sometimes occupied by friends and relatives, or not at all

Time to Get Out of Iraq
Joe Galloway

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has suggested that he might speed up our withdrawal from Iraq by pulling out an additional brigade combat team by year's end. Good idea! How about pulling out FIVE more brigades by then

One Year to Prove Strategy Is Working in Afghanistan
Robert Gates Interview

The clock in Washington on Afghanistan is going to depend on what happens on the ground. I think we need to show we are making some headway by next spring or early summer. We are not going to win it by next summer. We aren't going to be on the verge of winning it next summer; this is a long-term prospect.

General McChrystal: The New Strategy In Afghanistan
General McChrystal Interview

General Stanley A. McChrystal is commander of international forces in Afghanistan. In his interview with Julian Barnes, General McChrystal discusses the strategy and progress in Afghanistan.

Iran at Crossroads of History
Will this Regime Fall Like Shah's
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr

Within six short weeks since the recent election, the government of the Islamic Republic has been publicly divided, delegitimized, challenged and weak. As a result, we can now draw some analytical parallels between the current regime and the pre-1979 monarchy, and between the two occasions of political unrest.

Israel Fortifies Presence in Latin America
Andres Oppenheimer

Following three years of frantic Iranian activities in Latin America that included three trips by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the region -- a fourth visit is scheduled in August to Brazil -- and the opening or enlargement of a half-dozen Iranian embassies, Israel is beginning to raise its own profile in the region.

Working Together, Brazil, Russia, China and India Increase Leverage
Ian Bremmer

In 2003, a report authored by Goldman Sachs economists popularized the term BRICs -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- to describe a whole new category of emerging-market powerhouse. The report argued that with sound political leadership and relative international stability, the BRIC economies would together outpace the original G6 industrialized nations in dollar terms by 2040 -- a fundamental shift in the global balance of power. Since then, these four countries have assumed ever-greater importance in the international investment community's collective imagination.

Growth With Equity: Brazil's Path to Economic Recovery
by Patrus Ananias

The financial crisis has left few corners of the global economy unscathed, but many of the loudest cries reflecting the deepest pain are largely ignored. These are the cries of the world's poorest citizens whose suffering is not measured in battered portfolios and retirement plans but in their daily survival

'U.S. Bases' in Colombia May Be Less Than Meets the Eye
Andres Oppenheimer

What's most surprising about South America's growing uproar over Colombia's plans to allow 'U.S. military bases' on its territory is that there may be no such thing in the making -- but rather a major Colombian PR blunder.

What's most surprising about South America's growing uproar over Colombia's plans to allow 'U.S. military bases' on its territory is that there may be no such thing in the making -- but rather a major Colombian PR blunder.

Partisan Split on Honduras Can Be Costly
Andres Oppenheimer

The conflict in Honduras is rapidly becoming the focus of a fierce partisan fight in Washington, D.C. -- and that may not bode well for the future of U.S. policy in Latin America. Sources in Washington tell me that 17 senators -- mostly conservative Republicans and not part of the usual crowd of legislators interested in Latin American affairs -- are trying to open a new front against Obama on top of healthcare accusing him of being "soft" on anti-American leaders in Latin America.

China Rising in Latin America, but Won't Overtake United States
Andres Oppenheimer

The latest figures showing that China is emerging from the global crisis sooner than anticipated is triggering speculation that China will soon overtake the United States as Latin America's top business partner. Granted, speculation about China's impending leap to becoming Latin America's top economic partner spread like wildfire recently when Brazil announced that it will trade more with China than with the United States this year for the first time. It sounds very interesting, but don't bet on it.

Britsh prime minister Gordon Brown
(c) Nancy Ohanian

Why Sometimes Pays to Be Like Gordon Brown
by William Pfaff

Flamboyance of the Latin kind gets you into the newspapers, but for bad reasons as well as good.

Nicolas Sarkozy of France is not a man noted for charm but for his unchecked energies and the restless activity. Italy's Silvio Berlusconi is another matter entirely. He is a success in politics apparently because the majority of Italians like him.

Indeed, sometimes pays to be a nondescript politician like Gordon Brown of Britain.

 

Israeli - Palestinian Peace
(c) M. Ryder

Obama, Solana Mean Business About Two-State Solution
by William Pfaff

The Israeli press reports with alarm that the United States has threatened to reduce by $1 billion the guarantee the U.S. Treasury customarily provides for Israel state borrowings, which assure them the best commercial terms.

This is evidence that the Obama government is serious about halting Israel's colonization of the Palestinian territories -- and about imposing, rather than merely inviting, a two-state Middle East solution.

 

From Iraq to Afghanistan, U.S. Foreign Wars Not Going According to Plan
by William Pfaff

In Iraq, tension was reported to be increasing between the Americans and the Iraqi military and security forces, who were supposed to take over the Americans' responsibilities. Move to another front: Pakistan-Afghanistan. Here there was also supposed to be a straightforward job to do: drive the Taliban out of Afghanistan, into the Tribal Areas of the Pakistan border. There, the Pakistan army, with American urging and help, would defeat and disarm them.

How to End the Insurgency and Win the War in Afghanistan
by Anna Mulrine

A longtime Afghanistan expert with the Rand Corp. and an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, Jones talks about how the United States should handle Afghanistan.

War and the Balance of Power
(Nancy Ohanian)

War By Other Means
Robert C. Koehler - International Politics & World Affairs

We live in a world where arrogance and power are concentrated to an unbelievably fine point, while responsibility is diffused into a global mist.

A few fanatics can plot and wage a war, stirring up consequences infinitely beyond what they are capable of imagining, then retire, when things go bad, into a luxury tinged with disgrace.

 

Bearing Witness 2.0: You Can't Spin 10,000 Tweets and Camera Phone Uploads
Arianna Huffington

China just delivered a stunning, real-world demonstration of the changes rocking -- and transforming -- modern journalism. When deadly riots broke out in the western province of Xinjiang earlier this month, the Chinese government sprang into message control mode. It choked off the Internet and mobile phone service, blocked Twitter and Fanfou (its Chinese equivalent), deleted updates and videos from social networking sites, and scrubbed search engines of links to coverage of the unrest. At the same time, it invited foreign journalists to take a tour of the area.

Heart of the Future Between Russia & United States
by Robert C. Koehler

Last week's announcement from Moscow, of a new treaty between the U.S. and Russia to begin cutting their nuclear stockpiles by a quarter to a third, is indeed "modest" and perhaps downright "disappointing" in its tentativeness, as critics have pointed out. Even so, the heart of the future beats here.

Europe: Battle Over the Burqa
by William Pfaff

Since President Barack Obama in his recent Cairo speech made a tut-tutting remark about countries that restricted wearing religious garb in school, the controversy over the Muslim burqa has resumed in Europe

Another Swine-Flu Casualty: Good Journalism
by Andres Oppenheimer

The swine flu outbreak that has wrecked Mexico's economy may become a case study in reckless journalism. Like most of you, I had taken it for granted that the disease had started in Mexico.

Iranian Elections 2009: Iran's Crisis of Legitimacy

Islamic Republic Acronym
(David Horsey)

Iran Election Mess Is Just a Reflection of Global Human Failings
by Louis Ren� Beres

Today's dramatic Iranian instability is more a specific symptom of general civilizational fragility than an isolated disease.

Beneath the surface, all world politics readily reveals a distinctly common disorder. This is the incapacity of human beings to find both meaning and identity as individuals, within themselves.

CONTINUE >>

 

Missing Our Moment in Iran
by Victor Davis Hanson

Last month, hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest a rigged presidential election. Our president was extremely cautious in his initial criticism of the Iranian government's fierce crackdown against the protestors. At first, President Obama said that the United States -- given our history in Iran -- should not be "meddling" in

Violence Spikes as U.S. Troops Withdraw From Iraq's Cities
by Alex Kingsbury

Militants in Iraq staged a series of bomb and machine gun attacks in the past ten days that left more than 250 dead and the country on edge. Increased carnage as the U.S. forces prepare to depart was not unexpected, American and Iraqi officials say.

'W' is For Withdrawal
by Robert C. Koehler

National Sovereignty Day, the day U.S. troops withdrew from Iraqi cities. Sorry, but Iraq is still America's sovereign lackey: broken and smoldering. Some 130,000 U.S. troops remain in the country, withdrawn for the most part to the permanent bases we've built over the last six years. The country's infrastructure is shattered, and shocking bursts of violence remain a common occurrence

The Nation-State is Back & How
International Politics & Foreign Affairs
by Paul Kennedy

About 500 years ago, in parts of Western Europe, a funny thing happened to human society. The national state had arrived, and the world would never be the same.

Addressing China's Fear Of North Korean Collapse
Joseph S. Nye Jr. Interview

It is by now a cliche to say that greater pressure from China can force North Korea to change. The problem is that China has two objectives: They want a de-nuclearized North Korea, but they also want a North Korea that doesn't collapse into chaos on their borders. The consequence of these cross-purposes is that the Chinese have been reluctant to use the leverage they have

Tiananmen's Enduring Challenge
by Wang Dan

Twenty years have passed since our landmark demonstrations in Tiananmen Square for democracy and free speech and against corruption. And during this time, China has changed in important ways. Economic reforms have allowed millions of Chinese people to lift their families out of poverty, and many in China find their lives changed for the better. But the central causes the Tiananmen generation, students and citizens alike, took up remain unresolved: corruption, workers' rights, free speech and the need for government reform to address the needs of China's 1.3 billion people.

Asia Economy: Tamed Asian Tigers, Distressed Chinese Dragon
by Brian P. Klein and Kenneth Neil Cukier

Since the 1960s, Asian economies have focused primarily on exports. It was the key to success in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. Much of Southeast Asia and China soon followed suit. Over the past decade, the region's exports have increased from 37 percent to 47 percent of GDP. By hitching their wagons to exports, however, Asian countries left themselves vulnerable to a drop-off in Western consumption

Elections Give India's Congress Party Clout to Push Agenda
by Ian Bremmer

For nearly a year, an unmanageable coalition government in India has obstructed the ruling Congress Party's policy agenda and brought the country's economic reform process to a grinding halt. Now that an impressive electoral triumph in national parliamentary elections held in April and May has allowed the party to shed unreliable allies, can its leaders move the country in a more market-friendly direction. There are grounds for both caution and optimism

India's Fortune: Prospects of a Country on the Rise
by Edward Luce

Nandan Nilekani's book, Imagining India, charts how India arrived at the potentially transformative moment it has reached today and describes the gargantuan challenges the country will have to overcome if it is to fulfill that potential

Indian Ocean: Center Stage for 21st Century Struggles Between India & China
by Robert D. Kaplan

Competition between India and China suggests that the Indian Ocean is where global struggles will play out in the twenty-first century. The old borders of the Cold War map are crumbling fast, and Asia is becoming a more integrated unit, from the Middle East to the Pacific.

North Korea's Nuclear Weapon Challenge
Henry A. Kissinger

The Obama administration has so far dealt publicly with the North Korean challenge in an understated, almost leisurely, manner. The challenge goes far beyond the regional security issue. For the United States, it involves relations with an emerging superpower (China); relations with a re-emerging Russia; relations with key U.S. allies (Japan and South Korea); and a major escalation in the threat of proliferation to non-state parties.

 

Essence of Islamist Resistance:
Different View of Iran, Hezbollah & Hamas
by Alastair Crooke

Most Western analysts of political Islam make the same mistake. They instinctively assume that conflict with the West has mainly to do with specific foreign policies, particularly of the U.S. with respect to Israel, the Arab world and Iran, and, if those changed, all would be well.

Tehran's Take: Understanding Iran's U.S. Policy
by Mohsen M. Milani

Iran's foreign policy is often portrayed in sensationalistic terms, but in reality it is a rational strategy meant to ensure the survival of the Islamic Republic against what Tehran thinks is an existential threat posed by the United States

Flipping the Taliban: How to Win in Afghanistan
by Fotini Christia and Michael Semple

Although sending more troops is necessary to tip the balance of power against the insurgents, the move will have a lasting impact only if it is accompanied by a political surge, a committed effort to persuade large groups of Taliban fighters to put down their arms and give up the fight.

Afghan Presidential Candidate Takes a Page From Obama's Playbook
by Anna Mulrine

Presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani, the leading challenger to incumbent Hamid Karzai, has embarked on an Internet fundraising campaign modeled on that run by President Obama.

In Afghanistan, It's President Obama's War Now

There is a popular proverb that has been making the rounds in Kabul involving the inadvisability of juggling two watermelons with one hand. It is used to suggest the peril--some say folly--of taking on large tasks with too few resources. Lately, it has been cropping up as Afghans struggle to describe the enormity of the task that confronts President Obama in their country, where conditions have deteriorated dramatically over the past year

A Bright Star on the World Stage: Smiles & handshakes a Start But Obama's real challenge will be to show results
by Thomas Omestad

White House officials say Obama's appeal extends beyond just the leaders of the world. "What has happened is that anti-Americanism isn't cool anymore," says top Obama adviser David Axelrod.

But this initial repositioning of the American leadership brand onto more popular terrain internationally will be the easier part of Obama's task. For all the sense of fresh starts and of goodwill, the seeds of perhaps inevitable disappointments are present as well.

Who's Ready if Swine Flu Pandemic Comes Knocking
Andy Coghlan, Linda Geddes & Rachel Nowak, New Scientist Magazine

Doomsday visions of curfews, sealed borders, travel bans and scuffles over food are a long way from materializing in the current crisis regarding swine flu.

But if the World Health Organization declares a pandemic, countries could bring in draconian measures to isolate and treat infection, prevent further spread and keep societies functioning.

The question, then, is which countries are ready and prepared to handle a Swine Flu Pandemic.

 

 

The West's Reckless Approach to Relations with Russia
by Wiliam Pfaff

The failure last week of Russian talks with the European Union on energy supplies to Europe is one more occasion for Russian-Western tension.

Obama Presses Israel on Settlements
by William Pfaff

The Obama administration's confrontation with Israel over its colonies inside the Palestine territories began as a test of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's willingness to enter serious negotiations on a Middle Eastern settlement.

Waiting For Netanyahu
International Current Events, News & World Affairs

As President Obama prepares to receive Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for their first meeting, the situation is very similar to what it was in 1978.

Now as then, Israel is ruled by a rightwing coalition. Now as then, some of its elements are more hawkish than the prime minister and his Likud Party is. Now as then, talks with the other side are ongoing but leading nowhere.

Obama's Moment in South Asia
International Current Events, News & World Affairs

Afghanistan and Pakistan are at the very top of President Obama's list of foreign and security priorities. The U.S. military has embraced this new emphasis, as indicated by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. Mike Mullen's recent statement that the war in Afghanistan is now more important than the struggle in Iraq.

The increased emphasis on Afghanistan and Pakistan is laudable, because what happens in these two countries is critical in determining the future of extremism and terror -- a defining security challenge of our time.

Fighting Extremism with Democracy in Pakistan
International Current Events, News & World Affairs

Pakistan opposition leader Nawaz Sharif is seen by many -- including, reportedly, officials in the Obama administration -- as the man who can possibly help unite Pakistanis against the scourge of Talebanization threatening the South Asian nuclear-armed nation.

In this interview Sharif says that national consensus on strengthening the rule of law, must be part of a multi-pronged strategy to address the root causes of Taliban extremism.

Cambodia Deja Vu: The Invasion of Pakistan
International Current Events, News & World Affairs

39 years! And here we are again. The United States, despite its plan to deploy nearly 70,000 troops this year in Afghanistan, finds itself and its NATO allies in danger of defeat by the Taliban guerillas. U.S. bombing, with remote-controlled "drones," of the Pakistani Tribal Territories has killed many people but has had no decisive effect on the fighting in Afghanistan.

Brazil Stretching Clout to Central America
Andres Oppenheimer

Brazilian President Luiz In�cio Lula da Silva's largely unnoticed trip to Central America last week underscored an interesting phenomenon: Brazil is making big inroads into a region that was traditionally seen as Mexico's backyard

Will Colombia's President Uribe Run Again?
Latin American Current Events, News & Affairs - Andres Oppenheimer

After Tuesday's vote in the Colombian Senate many well-placed Colombians tell me they are convinced that President �lvaro Uribe is serious about running in 2010.

Many Believe End of Argentina's 'K' Era Nears
International Current Events, News & World Affairs

Seven weeks before Argentina's much-awaited June 28 legislative elections, there is a growing consensus that populist President Cristina Fern�ndez de Kirchner will lose her majority in Congress, and that there will be major political changes in this country.

Free-Market Economy Fundamentally Healthy
Global Economic Viewpoint

Last week at the Milken Global Conference, three Noble Laureates in Economics sat down to discuss the global recession -- Gary Becker (Nobel Prize, 1992), Roger Myerson (Nobel Prize, 2007) and Myron Scholes (Nobel Prize 1997).

All three agreed that this is not going to be a depression and that the free-market economy is fundamentally healthy.

Brazil, China & India Can Mitigate Global Crisis
Global Economic Viewpoint

Brazil, India and even China will not be able, by themselves, to correct the dysfunctions that produced the global crisis. But it is true that the economic power of these three countries can mitigate its negative consequences. ...

Obama's Foreign Policy Challenge - Henry Kissinger

The first overseas trip of a new president always has a significance beyond its itinerary. The president has an opportunity to test the impact of his policies; his interlocutors begin to assess the leader with whom they will have to deal over at least four years.

The Global Economy: Worse & Worser

Today's global economic debacle shares a disturbing number of similarities with the early stages of Japan's "lost decade" of the 1990s.

Without good policy and better luck, the world may well fall into a prolonged period of slow GDP growth, high unemployment, and stagnant living standards like that which unfolded in Japan almost 20 years ago.

Today's Global Economic Debacle: The Japan Fallacy

As the United States sinks deeper into recession, many observers fear the country could reprise Japan's "lost decade," the decade of stagnation that followed its mammoth property bubble in the late 1980s. But this fear is unawarranted.

 

Deng Undone: China Halts Market Reform

Since the present Communist Party leadership took power, fresh market-oriented liberalization has been minor. Such policies have been wound down and supplanted by renewed state intervention. In privatization, prices, even foreign trade and investment, the PRC was heading away from the market well before the financial crisis erupted.

 

Why China & U.S. Not Ready to Upgrade Ties

Calling on the United States and China to do more together has an undeniable logic. Both Washington and Beijing are destined to fail if they attempt to confront the world's problems alone, and the current bilateral relationship is not getting the job done.

But elevating the bilateral relationship is not the solution. It will raise expectations for a level of partnership that cannot be met and exacerbate the very real differences that exist between Washington and Beijing.

 

Clinton rebukes Israel over homes
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers a stinging rebuke to Israel over new settlements in East Jerusalem.

Chile puts quake damage at $30bn
The cost of rebuilding Chile after its monster earthquake will be at least $30bn, the country's new president announces.

Pope's diocese 'rehoused abuser'
The Pope once unwittingly approved housing for a priest accused of child abuse, his former diocese in Germany says.

Same-sex couples marry in Mexico
Five same-sex couples tie the knot in Mexico City under Latin America's first law that explicitly approves gay marriage.

Russia signs India nuclear deal
Russia's state-owned nuclear company says the country will build at least 12 nuclear reactors in India.

Winnie denies maligning Mandela
Winnie Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela, denies giving an interview accusing him of letting down black South Africans.

Bombs kill 45 in Pakistani city
Twin suicide bomb attacks on the Pakistani city of Lahore kill 45 people, before other, smaller blasts cause confusion.

China oil demand is 'astonishing'
Oil demand in China rose by an "astonishing" 28% in January compared with a year ago, the International Energy Agency says.

Lehman bosses severely criticised
A report into the collapse of US bank Lehman Brothers criticises senior executives and auditor Ernst & Young for serious lapses.

Atheists meet in Melbourne to celebrate lack of faith
More than 2,000 atheists from around the world meet in Melbourne, Australia, to celebrate their lack of religious belief.

Sex worker goes to court over 'unfair dismissal' in South Africa
A South African sex worker goes to court, saying she was unfairly sacked from a Cape Town massage parlour.

Schumacher keen to 'raise game'
Returning legend Michael Schumacher vows to improve after Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg leads Friday practice in Bahrain.

Briatore must be punished - Todt
Formula 1 boss Jean Todt is determined former Renault team principal Flavio Briatiore will be punished for his role in the Singapore race fixing scandal.

'Murdered soul'
German campaigner tells of childhood Catholic abuse

On trial
Legal battle in Israel over Franz Kafka manuscripts

State of drinkers
Why Kerala has India's biggest alcohol problem

It's quiz time!
What do humans and bonobos have in common?

Rare opportunity
Door creaks ajar for undocumented Haitians in the US

Polling Darfur
Can an election be held in a land of refugees?

Mogadishu residents told to leave
Mogadishu's mayor tells residents to leave parts of the Somali capital, as fierce fighting against insurgents continues.

Charles Taylor's wife gives birth
The wife of Liberia's ex-President Charles Taylor - on trial in The Hague for war crimes - has a baby girl.

Rove 'proud' of US waterboarding
Former US President George W Bush's advisor, Karl Rove, says he is proud of waterboarding as he believes it prevented attacks.

New York agrees 9/11 dust payout
New York City is to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to rescue workers who say their health was damaged by dust at Ground Zero.

Burma election laws a 'setback'
The US calls Burma's new election laws a setback for dialogue, as a UN envoy condemns 'gross' human rights violations.

Siberian tigers die at China zoo
Eleven rare Siberian tigers die at a zoo in north-eastern China, raising fears over treatment of captive animals in the country.

Sarkozy and Brown attack US deal
Nicolas Sarkozy and Gordon Brown criticise the US for "protectionism" over an aerospace deal.

Trichet backs new bail-out fund
The European Central Bank chief tentatively backs the idea of a bail-out fund to bolster the eurozone's financial stability.

Israel charges over human shield
Israel charges two of soldiers over the use of a Palestinian boy as a human shield during its offensive against Hamas in Gaza.

Protests over Egypt blogger case
A human rights organisation in Egypt accuses the interior ministry of manipulating the legal system to target a blogger.

IPL under way amid security fears
The third season of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament is under way amid heavy security in Mumbai.

Funeral held for Karachi cleric
Security is tight in the Pakistani city of Karachi as funerals are held for a Sunni Muslim cleric and four others killed on Thursday.

Cuba: The smoker's paradise
In Havana, one of the last bastions of the committed smoker, Matt Frei experiences Cubans' love affair with the cigar.

Parched Cyprus 'at war' with nature
Water has been rapidly disappearing in Cyprus since the 1970s, yet despite the warnings, Cypriots don't seem to be taking the shortage as seriously as they should.

Can US broker Middle East peace?
Joe Biden is in the region to encourage talks between the Palestinians and Israel. What can be achieved?

BBC News | World | UK Edition
Get the latest BBC World News: international news, features and analysis from Africa, Americas, South Asia, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

 

2 months after Haiti quake, housing still elusive (AP)

AP - Trash and sewage are piling up at the squalid tent camps that hundreds of thousands have called home since Haiti's devastating earthquake — and with torrential rains expected any day, authorities are not even close to providing the shelters they promised.

Brazilian judge awards $1M in Air France suit (AP)
AP - A Brazilian judge has ordered Air France to pay the equivalent of more than $1 million in damages to the family of one of the victims of last year's crash that killed more than 200 people, officials said Friday.

Iraq PM uses early lead to pursue new govt allies (AP)

AP - Seizing on an early lead in Iraq's election, the prime minister's political coalition began reaching out to rivals Friday as partial results signaled a tight race that was unlikely to produce a clear-cut winner.

Twin suicide bombs kill 43 in Pakistani city (AP)

AP - Two suicide bombers killed 43 people in near-simultaneous blasts Friday, the fourth major attack in Pakistan this week and a clear sign that militants have the power to strike targets despite months of army offensives and U.S. missile strikes.

Women on the pill may live longer, study says (AP)

AP - Women who took the birth control pill beginning in the late 1960s lived longer than those never on the pill, a new study says.

Germany: Tensions at the Top (Time.com)
Time.com - Germany: Tensions at the Top

Pope backed sex abuse priest transfer when archbishop (Reuters)
Reuters - Pope Benedict was involved in a decision to move a priest suspected of child abuse to his diocese for therapy when he was an archbishop in 1980, his former diocese in southern Germany said on Friday.

Al-Qaida: Freed Spanish hostage converted to Islam (AP)
AP - Al-Qaida's offshoot in North Africa said Friday it released a Spanish woman it had held captive for 100 days in Mauritania because she voluntarily converted to Islam.

Haiti judge: New charge for US missionary leader (AP)

AP - The last of 10 American missionaries detained in Haiti on suspicion of kidnapping is facing a new charge.

Police chief visits violence-hit Nigeria state (AFP)

AFP - Nigeria's police chief Ogbonna Onovo visited violence-hit central Plateau State on Friday and vowed to hold divisional police officers responsible for future incidents.

Suicide blasts kill 45 in Pakistan's Lahore (Reuters)

Reuters - Two suicide bombers targeting the Pakistani military killed at least 45 people in Lahore on Friday, officials said, in a challenge to government assertions that crackdowns have weakened Taliban insurgents.

Budget fails to boost Conservatives (Reuters)
Reuters - A federal budget last week did little to boost the fortunes the Conservatives, who still only have a slight lead in public support, according to a poll released on Thursday.

Obama delays Pacific trip for healthcare (Reuters)
Reuters - President Barack Obama is delaying his trip to Indonesia and Australia next week to stay home and focus on his final push for a healthcare overhaul, White House officials said on Friday.

Suicide bombers strike Pakistani market, killing at least 43 (McClatchy Newspapers)
McClatchy Newspapers - ISLAMABAD — In the fifth terrorist attack this week in Pakistan, extremists set off twin suicide bombs Friday in the eastern city of Lahore, killing at least 43 people, a reminder of the continued threat to the country despite an overall fall in violence.

UN envoy: No indication of widespread fraud in Iraq election (The Christian Science Monitor)
The Christian Science Monitor - The United Nations is not seeing widespread fraud that could affect the outcome of the Iraq election, but it is still waiting for details of hundreds of complaints launched by political parties, according to senior UN officials.

Iraq Election: Votes Being Counted Amid Risk of Violence (Time.com)
Time.com - Sunday's poll appears likely to yield an indecisive result, while accusations of ballot fraud by opposition parties could challenge the legitimacy of the new government that eventually emerges

Arab Americans Organize to Get Counted in Census (OneWorld.net)
OneWorld.net - SAN FRANCISCO, Mar 11 (New America Media) - A coalition of Arab-American cultural organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area have launched a grassroots organizing campaign designed to send a clear message to Washington: that they, along with every other Arab in America, are in fact Arab, and not white.

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Clinton rebukes Netanyahu over housing move
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today delivered a stinging rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his government’s announcement of new Jewish housing in east Jerusalem, calling it “a deeply negative signal.”

Al-Qaida suspect worked at US nuclear plants
A US citizen in custody in Yemen as a suspected al-Qaida member had worked at six nuclear plants in the States, officials in New Jersey said.

Missing ETA member found dead in morgue
The body of a suspected member of the armed Basque group ETA has turned up in a morgue in France nearly a year after his mysterious disappearance, his supporters said today.

At least 100 hurt, 43 killed in Lahore blast
Police in Lahore have updated the death toll from todays blast to 43, with at least 100 injured.

Sarkozy laughs off questions about affairs
French president Nicolas Sarkozy today tried to laugh off rumours about his marriage to former model Carla Bruni.

Judge shuts BNP membership list in race-bias row
The British National Party was today barred from taking new members after a judge ruled its constitution could discriminate against non-white people.

Iraqi PM seeking coalition partners
The Iraqi prime minister’s bloc said today it has started laying the groundwork to form a coalition government after preliminary election results showed it winning in at least two southern provinces.

Council chief urged to quit after starvation case
The shocking starvation of a seven-year-old girl at the hands of her own mother in England raised questions about social services and led to calls for a senior council official to quit.

Dozens of bodies found in Nazi mass graves
At least two mass graves have been discovered in Austria containing the bodies of dozens of victims killed by the Nazis, government officials said today.

Court challenge to Ukrainian president's coalition
Ukrainian lawmakers have filed a challenge today to a law that allowed newly elected President Viktor Yanukovych to cement his grip on power.

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