All Commentaries
Don’t Strengthen the WTO by Admitting China
The congressional debate over China’s trading status with the United States and its entry into the WTO has stirred a parallel debate among the directors and staff of Foreign Policy In Focus and within the two organizations—Institute for Policy Studies and Interhemispheric Resource Center—that sponsor the FPIF project. This essay is the second in a series of FPIF discussion papers examining the internationalist and nationalist tendencies within the fair trade movement in the United States. We invite readers to join the discussion by sending their comments to tom@irc-online.org for inclusion in the FPIF’s ezine, The Progressive Response.
Nationalist Ideologies and Misperceptions in India-U.S. Relations
The most prominent story in U.S. coverage of President Clinton’s March 2000 visit to India was the public rebuke issued to him by India’s ceremonial head of state, President K. Narayanan. At an official banquet Narayanan broke with protocol to chide Clinton for describing South Asia as “the most dangerous place on earth,” charging that such remarks would encourage the very violence Clinton feared. Oddly, though, Indian reporting of the event focused more on the tenor of U.S. reporting than on the remarks themselves. The difference reflected a contrast between the tones of American and Indian coverage that, though the reverse of what one would expect, confirms the very different perspectives of the U.S. and India on this chronically troubled relationship. American coverage was somber, focusing on Clinton’s failure to convince India to give up nuclear weapons. In India, where this outcome was never in doubt, reporting was more upbeat, seeing a belated American acquiescence to India’s nuclear status and role in world affairs.
Security Exception & Arms Trade
In February 1999, Defense Secretary William Cohen went to Redmond, Washington to meet with two hundred Microsoft workers and deliver a simple message: For all of the domestic prosperity produced by the high tech-firms of the “information age,” U.S. economic power is still dependent on military strength and a strong defense industry. As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman aptly put it, behind the hidden hand of the market is a hidden fist. It is an article of faith among U.S. policymakers like Cohen that America’s projection of military power around the world both guarantees U.S. prosperity at home and protects the economic benefits to be gained for all by globalized trade. In reality, as the global “leader” in both military spending at home and the arms trade abroad, the U.S. is both diverting resources from such national needs as healthcare, education, and environmental protection to a cold war-sized military and seeding the world with the tools of conflict that disrupt economies around the globe.
Global Focus: U.S. Foreign Policy at the Turn of the Millennium
This volume portrays the challenges and questions facing Americans and their government at a time when a new global order is being defined by transnational corporations, when the dimensions of U.S. military power bear little relation to threats, and when most global crises call for international solutions. The volume outlines the principles, practices, and policy alternatives that would help to make the U.S. a more responsible global leader and global partner.
Africa Activism: What Direction Now?
From February 16 to 20, some 2,300 committed and energetic delegates from throughout the United States gathered in Washington, DC, for a five-day, high-profile “summit” dedicated to building a politically powerful coalition for Africa, but there was much uncertainty about how to do it. The official program and plenary sessions were dominated by U.S. and African government officials, members of Congress, and corporate leaders. But the energy in the workshops and hallways of this event, as well as the commitment of delegates to use their own funds to get to Washington for the meeting, demonstrated again the potential for Africa activism that still exists in the United States ten years after the South African victory over apartheid. Particularly noticeable was the high attendance—upwards of 30%—of Africa expatriates who established themselves during the conference as key players in any future constituency for the continent.
U.S. Must Insist Israel Return to the Peace Talks and Withdraw from Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak’s decision to pull out of the peace talks with Syria is a shameless capitulation to Israel’s far right and raises serious questions as to whether the Israeli government is seriously interested in peace. President Clinton must demand that Israel return immediately to the negotiation table and come into full compliance with UN Security Council resolutions or risk an immediate cutoff of U.S. military and economic aid.
U.S.-EU Trade Issues
U.S. Policy Hampers Chances for Israeli-Syrian Peace
There is little hope for real progress in the Israeli-Syrian peace talks unless the Clinton Administration is willing to uphold human rights and international law along with its commitment to Israel’s legitimate security needs. Since Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967, these issues have been at the heart of the dispute.
Balkans Overview: Need for a Regional Solution
During the cold war the geopolitical map of the Balkans was relatively simple. Bulgaria and Romania were in the Soviet orbit, Albania was isolated and allied only with the People’s Republic of China, while Greece leaned westward, first as part of NATO and later when it joined the European Economic Community. Tito’s Yugoslavia, occupying the greatest section of the Balkan Peninsula, was officially non-aligned.
WTO, Agricultural Deregulation and Food Security
Key Points