Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
All signs point to France rejoining NATO’s military structure more than forty years after declaring its independence and kicking the alliance headquarters out of Paris. Norman Polmar provides some background: France is expected to soon rejoin NATO’s military command after a 40-year absence. The French government withdrew from the NATO military structure in 1966 (although [...]
Blake Hounshell transcribes Secretary of Defense Bob Gates’ comments about U.S. plans vis-a-vis Iran and Syria on yesterday’s “Fox News Sunday.” While Gates was “cagey” in his reply, using the required disclaimer that “All options are on the table,” it’s quite clear that military intervention is simply not in the cards for either set of [...]
Austin Bay wonders what metrics General David Petraeus will use in his report next month on our progress in Iraq. Let’s, for the sake of argument, accept the notion that Petraeus will actually write (by which I mean, staff out to his subordinates, read and comment upon, and sign) the report, not merely serve as [...]
Foreign Affairs is giving each of the major 2008 presidential candidates space to write a manifesto of their views on international relations. Rudy Giuliani has weighed in with “Toward a Realistic Peace.” [Also at RCP.] It is not particularly realistic — let alone Realist — and certainly does not contemplate peace. Highlights: “We have responded [...]
The United Nations will step up its efforts in Iraq after a four year hiatus. The Security Council voted Friday to expand the United Nations’ role in Iraq in a move aimed at promoting talks among ethnic and religious rivals and winning support from the country’s neighbors. The resolution, approved unanimously, authorizes the U.N., at [...]
William Bradley is already bored with the presidential debates. It’s time for fewer presidential debates with fewer candidates. And real debates, not these freeze-dried forums in which candidates give sound-bite answers that are overly parsed by a media settling for the trivial pursuit of degrees of difference. It’s time to drill down into the big [...]
Back in May, James Joyner and I wrote a piece for TCS Daily, Armed Diplomats? When State and Stability Operations Collide about the conflicting roles and missions of State Department diplomats and those of the US Military. The article noted that diplomats (as well as the various support staff needed to run a diplomatic missions, [...]
Marc Lynch has been keeping track of the major agenda items at the wide circulation Arab media — specifically, “al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya programs (since they are the two most-viewed TV stations with a region-wide audience) and the content of major Arab op-ed pages” — for several years in an effort to track anti-Americanism and the [...]
UPI International Editor Claude Salhani contends that Hamas’ taking control of Gaza by force is even more catastrophic than most observers realize. The violent confrontation between warring Palestinian factions unfolding in Gaza is far more than a civil war. It’s a coup d’etat accompanied by a civil war. And it’s also the most serious, most [...]
The almost-complete U.S. Embassy in Iraq is a sight to behold. The new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad will be the world’s largest and most expensive foreign mission, though it may not be large enough or secure enough to cope with the chaos in Iraq. The Bush administration designed the 104-acre compound — set to open [...]
Andrew Sullivan quotes, approvingly, from a reader email: What American ‘conservatism’ has become fits closely within the definition of fascism: an intensely nationalist movement intent on defining membership in the ‘nation’ on linguistic, religious, and (increasingly) ethnic/racial criteria, accompanied by an unquestioning loyalty to (male) authority, enshrined in family leaders, business leaders, religious leaders, and [...]
Christian Science Monitor has a good piece on the difficulties in developing a pool of Arabic speakers who can help develop and support US foreign policy in the Middle East. The article, Why the pool of Arabic speakers is still a puddle, notes that Arabic is a difficult language, taking at least triple the time [...]
US Public Diplomacy: A long row to hoe in the Islamic World Worldpublicopinion.org a project of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, has recently published an public opinion poll on attitudes toward the US, terrorist organization, and a generalized ‘clash of civilizations’. [The link is to a 28-page PDF document. [...]
Iran announced today that it has dramatically expanded its uranium production capability to the point where it might actually be able to produce a nuclear weapon. Iran announced a dramatic expansion of uranium enrichment Monday, saying it has begun operating 3,000 centrifuges nearly 10 times the previously known number in defiance of U.N. demands it [...]
New Mexico Governor and Presidential Candidate Bill Richardson will be spending the next week on a diplomatic trip to North Korea. U.S. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a Democrat running for president, and his delegation arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea’s official KCNA news agency said on Sunday. The White House said on April 3 Richardson [...]
The British service personnel seized by Iran and accused of violating Iranian territorial waters almost two weeks ago have returned home: LONDON – A British navy crew returned home Thursday from Iranian captivity to the relief of a nation, after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced their surprise release and ended the two-week crisis. The 15 sailors [...]
The Washington Post editorial board has a scathing assessment of Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Demascus: HOUSE SPEAKER Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered an excellent demonstration yesterday of why members of Congress should not attempt to supplant the secretary of state when traveling abroad. After a meeting with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Ms. Pelosi announced [...]
There’s an opinion piece in the Christian Science Monitor from John Cooley that I agree with wholeheartedly: The UN Security Council Saturday unanimously passed a resolution to sharpen sanctions against Iran for its presumed nuclear-weapons ambitions. This unanimity provides the West with an occasion for a bold new diplomatic initiative. The US should propose a [...]
John Burgess points out that “a single Arabic word can have six pages’ worth of definitions.” Not only does that have some significant implications for the interpretation of the Koran, the context of the observation, but it would seem to make diplomacy more problematic as well. Precise use of words is essential to negotiation; it [...]
Jim Henley promises to play the “Look Through Your March 2003 Archives” game over the weekend. I decided to go ahead and do it now. OTB was in its infancy then, having started January 31st. It was then a solo-author blog, featuring yours truly at his most prolific. (It was also on BlogSpot, but the [...]
There’s some buzz on both sides of the blogosphere over a number of press stories on the Iran-Iraq nexus. In the NYT, James Glanz and Mark Mazetti report that, “Investigators say they believe that attackers who used American-style uniforms and weapons to infiltrate a secure compound and kill five American soldiers in Karbala on Jan. [...]
Robert Novak‘s column today pours more cold water on the prospects of turning around the mess in the Middle East. Republicans in Congress who do not want to be quoted tell me that the State Department under Condoleezza Rice is a mess. This comes at a time when the U.S. global position is precarious. While [...]
The United States will soon have a unique major command focused on Africa. The Boston Globe‘s Bryan Bender reports: President Bush is expected to create a new military command for Africa, for the first time establishing an independent operations headquarters that will focus on anti terrorist operations and humanitarian aid, according to administration officials. The [...]
The Iraq Study Group, headed by James Baker, will recommend overtures to Iran and Syria in an effort to solve the crisis. A draft report on strategies for Iraq, which will be debated here by a bipartisan commission beginning Monday, urges an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative that includes direct talks with Iran and Syria but [...]
Beirut Daily Star opinion editor Michael Young argues that this week’s assassination of Lebanese industry minister Pierre Gemayel, most likely at the behest of the government of Syria, would seem to obviate talk about “engaging” that government as part of the solution to problems in the region. If political “realism” is about interests, then realists [...]
Weekend Caption Jam Linkfest. . . and now also Saturday Traffic Jam for those who wish to link. Rodney is taking the pledge. Wizbang knows corruption when he sees it. The Right Place is in need of a new sidekick. Willisms is suffering from de-feet. The Man is having a pe-lousy day. Bullwinkle is going [...]
Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, who served in the administrations of George H.W. and George W. Bush, sees a New Middle East emerging. His vision, described in the current Foreign Affairs, is not pretty: Just over two centuries since Napoleon’s arrival in Egypt heralded the advent of the modern Middle East — some [...]
Weekend Caption Jam Linkfest. . . and now also Saturday Traffic Jam for those who wish to link. Rodney is thinking of doing some remodeling. Wizbang has the other white meet. The Right Place is down on the farm. Willisms is stumped. The Man is looking for some pumkin’ jack. Bullwinkle has a little more [...]
Henry Kissinger argues that internecine bickering over the Iraq War and misunderstanding of the consequences of the Israel-Hezbollah war could lead to dire consequences. He calls for a comprehensive cross-Atlantic strategy to stave off a “war of civilizations.” Everything returns to the challenge of Iran. It trains, finances, and equips Hezbollah, the state within a [...]
According to The Israel Insider, evidence is mounting that indicates that the collapse of the building in Qana and subsequent deaths of women and children were all staged by Hezbollah. Here’s are the facts as The Insider presents them: On the morning of July 30, according to the IDF, the air force came in three [...]
According to Insight Magazine, conservatives are “revolting” against Secretary of State Condi Rice because she has “hijacked” the Bush agenda: The conservatives, who include Newt Gingrich, Richard Perle and leading current and former members of the Pentagon and National Security Council, have urged the president to transfer Miss Rice out of the State Department and [...]
Today’s WaPo fronts an analysis piece from Michael Abramowitz entitled “In Mideast Strife, Bush Sees a Step To Peace.” resident Bush’s unwillingness to pressure Israel to halt its military campaign in Lebanon is rooted in a view of the Middle East conflict that is sharply different from that of his predecessors. When hostilities have broken [...]
Newt Gingrich argues that the conflict between Islamist extremists and the West is World War III and we should start talking about it that way. (Of course, others have argued that the Cold War was WWIII and this is WWIV.) The debate may become moot, as the current mess in the Middle East continues to [...]
Japan said Monday it was considering whether a pre-emptive strike on the North’s missile bases would violate its constitution, signaling a hardening stance ahead of a possible U.N. Security Council vote on Tokyo’s proposal for sanctions against the regime. The vote itself could be delayed for several days, a news agency reported. China asked Japan [...]
“…hope for the best”: More via Breitbart/AP: President Bush said Thursday that the United States is seeking a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff with North Korea, but cautioned that diplomacy will take time. Bush said he was pleased that leaders of China, South Korea, Japan and Russia, in telephone calls during the past few [...]
CNN Breaking News: An Israeli airstrike Tuesday targeted a road that the Israeli military said is used by Palestinian militants to launch rockets. The Israel Defense Forces told CNN that tanks, which are massed at the Gaza border, are not on the move. Tanks and troops are poised at the border as tensions escalate over [...]
I took a step back from the issue before writing because I get a bit unreasonable over these kind of topics at times (see here and here). It’s difficult to remain reasonable at times when the country is under attack for various, often contradictory, reasons. Nevertheless, I shall try. This is usually James’s bailiwick and [...]
Robert Kagan, whose foreign policy analysis I take seriously, has an interesting but wrongheaded op-ed in yesterday’s WaPo arguing that a Democratic president might be good for the country. While there are reasons why that might be the case, the ones he adduces are quite odd, indeed. The Democrats need to take ownership of American [...]
Charles Lane gets page 10 of today’s WaPo for an Analysis entitled, “Breach Was More of the Spirit, Not the Letter, of the Constitution,” that basically says what I wrote 48 hours earlier. The FBI raid on Rep. William Jefferson’s congressional office was an aggressive tactic that broke a long-standing political custom. But while it [...]
After initial skepticism, U.S. officials have endorsed an Israeli ultimatum that would unilaterally draw borders between it and the Palestinian Authority if a negotiated settlement is not reached by 2010. AP’s Amy Teibel: Before Olmert arrived Sunday, the Bush administration had urged him to negotiate with the moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and bypass the [...]
Karen Hughes is making huge strides in improving America’s public diplomacy, according to a page 15 story by WaPo’s Glenn Kessler. Seven months ago, Undersecretary of State Karen P. Hughes began her job to improve the United States’ “public diplomacy” with an ill-fated splash — a “listening tour” of the Middle East that earned negative [...]
Amir Taheri has an interesting op-ed in yesterday’s London Telegraph arguing that the Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is hoping to run out the clock until President Bush leaves office. He’s also, apparently, even nuttier than most of us guessed: Last Monday, just before he announced that Iran had gatecrashed “the nuclear club”, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [...]
Military recruiters were run off the UC Santa Cruz campus by a violent mob, reports the SF Chronicle‘s Diana Walsh. Four military recruiters hastily fled a job fair Tuesday morning at UC Santa Cruz after a raucous crowd of student protesters blocked an entrance to the building where the Army and National Guard had set [...]
Sy Hersh claims in a long New Yorker piece that the United States is on the path to war with Iran to stop them from acquiring nuclear weapons. The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for [...]
John Kerry contends that Iraq is “in the middle of an escalating civil war” and offers a simple policy suggestion for dealing with it: Iraqi politicians should be told that they have until May 15 to put together an effective unity government or we will immediately withdraw our military. If Iraqis aren’t willing to build [...]
Governement by kleptocracy WaPo reports, Venezuela has seized control of oil fields from France’s Total SA and Italy’s Eni SPA in a show of force against those resisting President Hugo Chavez’s efforts to pry more profits from the industry at a time of high oil prices. The move signals that Chavez’s government is ready to [...]
Condoleezza Rice has repeatedly stated that being commissioner of the National Football League is her dream job. There will be a vacancy come July. Unfortunately, she’s a little busy at the moment. Condoleezza Rice, a bona fide football fan, is not applying for the newly opened post of NFL commissioner – not now, anyhow, her [...]