As the Communist Party of China prepares for a once-in-a-decade change of leadership at the 18th Party Congress in November, the country’s foreign relations are in worse shape than they were 10 years ago, especially in East Asia but also in terms of heightened strategic rivalry with the United States. How the incoming leadership chooses […]
Iraq has no national foreign policy. For the past decade, a lack of unity among its ruling elite has failed to allow for a unified approach towards its international relations — one that could have protected the country from becoming a playground for outside powers, with disastrous consequences for its political and security stability. Read […]
Until just over a week ago, President Obama’s campaign was on the cusp of doing something unprecedented in modern presidential politics: turning the election into a referendum on the challenger, Mitt Romney. Why is that so special? Because every prior example of an incumbent running for reelection in recent times has wound up being a […]
To call yourself a state, a government, you must have people you can deploy to carry out the functions of government. In an earlier column, i shared with readers the abysmal figures in India. The Indian problem is not too many officials; it is, instead, that we have too few to deal with the millions […]
Vice President Joe Biden and rival Republican Paul Ryan battled fiercely over foreign policy and the economy in a lively debate on Thursday, with Biden aggressively defending the administration’s policies and dismissing Ryan’s criticism. Seeking to win back the momentum for the Democrats‘ campaign after a poor debate performance by President Barack Obama last week, […]
Every morning that President Barack Obama chooses to receive the daily intelligence briefing in person, Vice President Joe Biden sits by his side in a matching armchair in the Oval Office. Biden attends — and often speaks volubly at — the “principals meetings” of the president and his top national security officials, as well as at […]
As the 2012 presidential election draws near, it is clear that American voters will face a stark choice on issues ranging from a woman’s right to choose to the future of America’s social safety net. Differences over foreign policy, in particular, have recently taken on renewed significance. In his speech at the Democratic National Convention, […]
Moroccans, it is said, revere the monarchy as an almost divine institution, and they expect the current Alaoui king, Mohammed VI, to be an active, engaged monarch, to lead the country and serve as the arbiter among its diverse interests, classes, tribes, and regions. The king, in turn, wants to rule, but not dominate, I […]
Mitt Romney has delivered a lot of dishonest speeches in recent months, but Monday’s address on foreign policy may be the most mendacious yet. It was expected that he would distort President Obama into a caricature of Jimmy Carter. But it was astonishing to watch Romney spin a daydream of himself as some latter-day George Marshall, bringing […]
looking beyond borders 