All Commentaries
Lockerbie Verdict Unlikely to Bring Change
The guilty verdict against Libyan intelligence operative Abdel Baset Ali Mohamed Al-Megrahi may have finally established guilt in the terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988, yet it will not usher in a new era for U.S.-Libyan relations. Perhaps, however, it will lead the new Bush administration to re-evaluate the failed anti-terrorism policies of recent administrations.
Sharon’s Israel Needs Tough Love
The election of the far-right Ariel Sharon as prime minister of Israel, while not unexpected, has sent shock waves through the Israeli peace movement. His participation in war crimes, his overt anti-Arab racism, and his refusal to endorse the already inadequate concessions of ousted prime minister Ehud Barak significantly dim the prospects of peace with Israel’s Arab neighbors.
The Trials and Tribulations of China’s First Democracy: The ROC One Year After the Victory of Chen Shui-bian
One year after Taiwan’s first democratic transfer of political power from the long-ruling KMT, the island’s political system has quickly taken on many of the most illustrious characteristics of American democracy: presidential victory by plurality, intra-party conflict, impeachment talk, sex scandal, and legislative gridlock. Yet, Taiwan is in a far different position than the United States; it exists in a precarious international limbo, and it has an exceedingly short democratic history. Consequently, although Taiwan’s prospects for democratic consolidation seem good, its new president faces special challenges in his quest to ensure Taiwan’s continued international security and domestic prosperity.
U.S. Scuttles Latest Chance to Avert Global Warming Catastrophe
Given the U.S. performance at the latest round of global warming negotiations at the Hague, it’s hard to see how George W. Bush could do any worse than the Clinton-Gore administration. The U.S. has isolated itself not only from its European allies, but also from developing countries and even a growing number of corporations. America has given new meaning to the term “outlaw nation.”
Paul Wolfowitz, Reagan’s Man in Indonesia, Is Back at the Pentagon
Paul Wolfowitz, Reagans Man in Indonesia, Is Back at the Pentagon Tim Shorrock
The Unanticipated Consequences of Policy Blindness: Why Even Belarus Matters
A dangerous blind spot in the incoming administration’s view of Russian affairs is its inadequate understanding of the significance of the newly independent states (NIS). The unanticipated consequences of such policy blindness are exemplified by developments in the 1990s in Belarus, formerly called Byelorussia—a country sandwiched between Russia and Poland—sharing a border with Ukraine to the south and with Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest.
Latin American Policy and the Bush Administration
George W. Bush’s decision to make his first overseas trip to Mexico, in mid-February, has generated a great deal of speculation about what this could possibly mean for changes in U.S. policy toward Latin America over the next four years. It is clear that Mexico is vastly more familiar and comfortable for Bush than any other foreign country. In light of the questions raised about the former Texas governor’s foreign policy experience and competence during the campaign, it is hardly surprising that he would look first to the country immediately south of the Rio Grande to show he is up to the job.
Bush Administration Should Reevaluate Failed Clinton Policies in Middle East
During the past two decades, the American military presence in the Middle East has dramatically increased, yet American interests—as well as individual Americans—are more at risk than ever. The new administration must look critically at how we define security. We cannot advance our real interests in this vital region through bombing raids, punitive sanctions targeted at innocent civilians, the arming of dictatorial regimes, the denial of the right of self-determination, and the undermining of basic principles of international law. The new Bush administration, however, appears to be unwilling to seriously reevaluate the failed policies of the Clinton administration.
Military Spending: Threats and Priorities
The Bush administration has made many of its major priorities clear through the selection of the president’s foreign policy advisers.
Winning One for the Gipper: Donald Rumsfeld and the Return of the Star Wars Lobby
The first six weeks of the George W. Bush era, starting with the flurry of appointments he made during December, through the confirmation hearings of his key cabinet members earlier this month, and on into his first full week in office, has had a very “retro” feel about it. We have a vice president who was Gerald Ford’s chief of staff, and we have a secretary of defense who got his start in the Nixon administration in 1969 before he went on to become Ford’s chief of staff and then Ford’s secretary of defense.