Hillary Clinton’s Congo Blow-Up

Hillary Clinton chewed out a Congolese student for asking what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a public policy issue: ABC's Kirit Radia: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost her cool Monday after a Congolese student, speaking through a translator, asked her what "Mr. Clinton" thought about a Chinese trade deal with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. "You want me to tell you what ...

Or Else What, Exactly?

When you have any number of alternatives to choose from and your opponent believes that you might actually exercise any of them, deliberate ambiguity can be a valuable negotiating tool. It preserves your options and may cause your opponent to expend resources he otherwise might not feel the need to. When you don't have an array of alternatives ...

The Limits of Realism in the Russo-American Relationship

This morning there's an interesting op-ed in the Washington Post by three leading Russian intellectuals, urging the Obama Administration not to allow a return to realism in foreign policy between the United States and Russia to become a rubric under which “American experts serve as the "conservators" of Russian authoritarian traditionalism”: MOSCOW -- As intellectuals and liberal Russians, we have read ...

Not Enough Pashto Speakers but Pashto is Not Enough

Stephen Walt repeats the popular lament (and specifically Gareth Porter's) that the United States Government employs a ridiculously small number of Pashto speakers and that this negatively impacts us in Afghanstan.   Pat Porter agrees but issues some important caveats: 1) Languages are extremely hard to develop at a sufficient level. Except for the most outrageously talented, most folk can study intensively ...

Iran to Attend Conference on Afghanistan

The BBC is reporting that Iran will attend the international conference on Afghanistan to be held next week: Iran has agreed to attend a US-backed international conference on Afghanistan next week, but Washington played down the prospect of a high-profile meeting. While US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also due to attend, the state department said she had no plans ...

What Does “Reset” Mean?

Anne Applebaum makes a solid point in the Washington Post this morning: Any president can legitimately call for a fresh start in his relations with the world, and none more so than this president, who replaces an unpopular predecessor. Sooner or later, however, Barack Obama will also have to make hard decisions about regimes that oppose U.S. policy for reasons deeper ...

The Nowrūz Message

Yesterday was Nowrūz, the Iranian New Year's, a spring holiday whose celebration by Iranian peoples goes back more than 2,500 years. President Obama sent a televised message to the Iranians in recognition of the day: There's nothing particularly revolutionary or even novel about that. President Bush made a couple of Nowrūz messages. Certainly, the tone of President Obama's ...

Negotiating With Iran

Yesterday there was a development on the foreign policy front that I found interesting and I thought I might throw it open for discussion here. During a gathering of NATO foreign ministers Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that Iran be invited to a high-level conference on Afghanistan to be held later this month: BRUSSELS, March 5 -- In the ...

What’s a Liberal, Anyway?

Andrew Sullivan is bemused to find himself on Forbes' list of "The 25 Most Influential Liberals In The U.S. Media" since he considers himself a conservative.  He posts a reader email that muses on this fact: Did you notice how many people on the list were seemingly chosen not for their writing or their politics, but rather their identity? Oprah ...

America and the World After Bush: Diplomacy and Security

Barack Obama has been president for more than 24 hours now.  America is once again beloved by one and all.  Hubris and overreach are things of the past, as the inmates of Gitmo have been freed and the troops are all home from Iraq, participating in rebuilding the infrastructure at home.   Or, certainly, change is in the air. As we ...

Henry Kissinger Blogging

I missed President Bush's farewell address last evening, as I was otherwise detained at the British ambassador's residence listening to Dr. Henry Kissinger deliver the Atlantic Council's annual Makins lecture.  It was, I suspect, a good trade. I've been blogging up a storm about the speech this morning at New Atlanticist. In "Kissinger: Iran Diplomacy More Than Just Talk," I bring the ...

Pulling Out: Debating Middle East Disengagement (Rebuttal)

Dave Schuler's arguments and his responses to my cross-examination questions highlight three critical failings in his argument. These flaws are his preference for inertia over strategic assessment, overweighing ambiguous evidence that marginally supports his case while ignoring compelling evidence that refutes it, and a failure to account for what might be called "conditions on the ground." I will address each ...

Tooth Fairy Diplomacy

Pat Lang isn't happy with the signals coming from the nascent Obama Administration about the new administration's prospective policies with respect to the Middle East: Words can not express my disappointment if this is the foreign policy that the Obama Administration will follow in the Middle East. The "Abdullah Plan" is not a plan. It was a public relations stunt in ...

Diplomacy Without Precondition

In my latest for New Atlanticist, "Preconditions, Preparations, and Posturing," I argue that Matt Yglesias, Kevin Drum, and perhaps even Nicholas Burns are misreading the now 16-month-old debate over Barack Obama's pledge to meet "without precondition, during the first year of [his] administration, in Washington or anywhere else, with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea."

North Korean Talks Not Dead

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected claims that talks with North Korea about dismantling its nuclear program are in trouble, saying that they are “by no means dead”: NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that North Korea's actions to reactivate its nuclear plant did not mean an end to six-party nuclear talks ...