For U.S. Voters, Foreign Policy Needs To Reflect Immediate Economic Goals

The defining image from the October 22 debate between President Obama and presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is of the two candidates passionately disputing their prescriptions for the U.S. domestic economy. The moderator, veteran TV journalist Bob Schieffer, caught the spirit of the evening with his final words before inviting the debaters to make their closing […]

Rate this:

The Showdown Between China And The United States Over Telecommunications Technology Is About Much More Than Just Security

On Oct. 8, the House Select Intelligence Committee released a report on the cybersecurity threat posed by China‘s Huawei and ZTE, the world’s second- and fourth-largest telecommunications suppliers. The report, which described the companies as potential espionage risks and asked the U.S. government and U.S. firms to refrain from doing business with them, drew an angry response […]

Rate this:

Evangelists of Democracy

LIKE THE human-rights movement, democracy promotion is a radical project of social and political transformation whose adherents will not or cannot acknowledge either the ideological or the revolutionary character of their enterprise. In this, democracy promotion should be understood as a subset of contemporary liberalism—the only major modern ideology that denies it is an ideology […]

Rate this:

India’s Foreign Minister resigns; Cabinet Reshuffle Likely To Include Young Leaders

The cabinet reshuffle likely this Sunday will include a restructuring of the Congress party as well to prepare for upcoming crucial assembly elections, according to party leaders aware of the developments. The cabinet reshuffle may see a group of young leaders entering government, two Congress leaders said, declining to be named. External affairs minister S.M. Krishna stepped […]

Rate this:

Japan’s Three Options in the East China Sea

  Tensions between Japan and China over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) islands are continuing, as indicated by continued obstacles to Japanese businesses in China, a drastic decline in tourism, and Chinese patrols near the islands.   This is both a Sino-Japanese issue and a part of a broader confrontation between China on one side and the United […]

Rate this:

Don’t Go Baghdad on Tehran

The Iraq War might seem a thing of the past. But nearly ten years after combat began, the United States and its allies are using policies to address the Iranian nuclear challenge that are eerily similar to those it pursued in the run-up to Operation Enduring Freedom. Just as they did with Saddam Hussein, concerned […]

Rate this:

Coming: Lax Americana

Historian Arnold Toynbee likened America to a ”large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over something.” More recent chroniclers have not been as charitable. They ascribe to the United States less innocence, and credit it with a more predatory outlook in its pursuit of global domination […]

Rate this:

Playing God

How serious is the threat of global warming? One way to figure out is to take your cues from some leading climate scientists: They have moved on. That doesn’t mean they’ve abandoned the issue, but they are looking beyond what all agree is the most obvious solution — decreasing the amount of carbon we spew […]

Rate this: