I’m sorry that (for my part at least) posting has been sparse lately; I took a much-needed vacation and have been buried in work since I got back. Here are Stewart Patrick and Kaysie Brown arguing that it is in the Obama administration’s interest to take concrete action against al-Bashir. Money quote: First, he should […]
This week, two experts debated whether China is the new America or the United States is the new China in Foreign Policy. While the authors compare the two powers in different ways, both believe China is rising and the US is falling. Harold James, a professor at Princeton University, says leadership in the international order […]
The State Department has released the blacklist of religious freedom violators established by the Bush administration. It is the same list as in 2006, and it’s questionable whether the new department really analyzed the current situation before releasing the names of eight countries. Burma, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan are […]
This may turn out to be a footnote in the annals of public diplomacy, but it is an instructive one nonetheless. The Amerika Haus in Berlin, a symbol of U.S.-government public diplomacy throughout the Cold War, has been quietly resurrected by a German-American not-for-profit to serve as a venue for America-related events in the German […]
You can’t see her whole face but she is visibly upset as she breaks down. For the past eight months she has fled to five different cities in Turkey*. Both her father and her brother want her dead for not marrying a man much older than herself. At only 18, she now fears the very […]
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s arrival to Mexico this week came amidst a war of accusations between Mexican and U.S. government officials regarding drug trafficking violence at the border. Most contentious was the report by the U.S. Joint Forces Command which recommended the monitoring of Mexico as a “failing” state, one that could ultimately prove […]
The cherry blossoms are in bloom in Washington, D.C., and I am especially cheery because the March/April issue of Moment Magazine is out on newsstands. There is a lot of good stuff in this one, and I hope that you will check it out. First, we tackle the whole Bernand Madoff mess. The former NASDAQ […]
A coalition of 183 social justice and civil society groups, including 76 U.S.-based organizations and 107 international groups from 29 countries, signed a letter appealing to President Obama and the U.S. Congress to re-regulate the commodities market as a means of preventing continued food price speculation – a practice food poliocy experts claim was a […]
President Obama announced his war strategy today, and the White House website has a nice recap as well as a direct link to a PDF file on the new policy. As expected, his strategy calls for more troops in Afghanistan and a coordinated attack on al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I was most interested […]
A Kremlin strategy paper, outlining Russia’s plans to develop a military force capable of protecting its interests in the disputed arctic region, was made public today. By 2020, Moscow expects the arctic to be the country’s main strategic resource base. Rising temperatures are melting polar ice, opening shipping lanes and easing exploration in the area. […]
Carlotta Gall is the Kabul-based veteran war correspondent with The New York Times who reports on both Afghanistan and western Pakistan. Read one of her recent report from the front lines, Pakistan and Afghan Taliban Close Ranks. I caught up with her last week while working on a piece for an upcoming article for Quill, […]
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton travelled south this week to ease relations with Mexico. The US-Mexico relationship is increasingly characterized by trade, drugs and violence. Clinton praised President Felipe Calderón’s efforts to reduce corruption and fight drug cartels, tried to alleviate concerns over a recent decision to scrap a pilot program allowing Mexican […]
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