War & Peace Archives - Page 350 of 673 - Foreign Policy In Focus

Too Little Too Late: The Supreme Court as a Check on Executive Power

by John Gershman, Lisa L. Miller | Feb 17, 2006

Under the Bush administration, foreign policy issues such as warrantless wiretaps, the rights of enemy combatants, and interrogation methods have become the latest topics in the longstanding debate over the limits of executive branch power and the role of the judiciary in enforcing those limits. The issue recently took center stage when Senate Democrats expressed concern at the confirmation hearings of Samuel Alito, President Bush’s most recent pick for the Supreme Court, that Alito would support greater judicial deference to executive authority.

Tao, Bush, and the Nature of Things

by John Gershman, Ronald Bruce St John | Feb 16, 2006

It is customary early in the New Year to recommend good books to read. And the Tao Te Ching should be at the top of President Bush’s list. Careening from crisis to crisis with approval ratings drooping, the president should consider the opening lines of chapter 80. “If a country is governed wisely, its inhabitants will be content.”

The Hamas Victory: Another Side to the Story

by John Gershman, Stephen Zunes | Feb 6, 2006

Lost amidst the predictably negative reaction to the victory by Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary elections is the crucial role that the U.S. government had in bringing the radical Islamist group to power.

Nuclear Proliferation: A Gathering Storm

by John Gershman, Conn Hallinan | Feb 2, 2006

“Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.”

How the World Can Help Americans Halt Bush Administration War Crimes

by Jeremy Brecher, John Gershman, Brendan Smith | Feb 2, 2006

On May 17 a legal summons was delivered to U.S. and UK embassies in capitals around the world—including Istanbul, Tokyo, Lisbon, and Brussels—on behalf of the World Tribunal on Iraq (WTI). The summons requested the attendance of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair to defend charges that they are in “violation of common values of humanity, international treaties, and international law” for waging war in Iraq.

A Mis-statement of the Union Address

by John Gershman, Stephen Zunes | Feb 1, 2006

This essay evaluates some of the key claims made by President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address of January 31, 2006.

Lessons in Post Conflict Reconstruction from the New Afghanistan Compact

by John Gershman, Peter J. Middlebrook, Sharon M. Miller | Jan 27, 2006

Living on a Life Support Machine: The Challenge of Rebuilding Afghanistan

by John Gershman, Peter J. Middlebrook, Sharon M. Miller | Jan 27, 2006

The forthcoming “London Conference” on Afghanistan (January 31-February 1, 2006), to be attended by President Hamid Karzai, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Paul Wolfowitz, head of the World Bank, brings together high ranking dignitaries from the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the international development community to endorse a new multilateral agreement to be known as the “Afghanistan Compact,” the successor of the Bonn Agreement.

Targeting Teheran

by John Gershman, Conn Hallinan | Jan 25, 2006

Iran has long been a target of the Bush administration’s rhetorical ire. The president called it “the world’s primary state sponsor of terrorism,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice characterized it as “something to be loathed,” and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused Teheran of designing roadside bombs to kill U.S. and British troops. But with the U.S. military under siege in Iraq, and polls running heavily against the White House’s Middle East version of Vietnam, it seemed just bluster and so much talk.

Iraq and the Problem of Terrorism

by Erik Leaver, Adil E. Shamoo | Jan 24, 2006

Last year, 5,736 Iraqis died and 845 U.S. soldiers died in the Iraq War, many at the hands of the estimated 2,000 foreign terrorist fighters based in the U.S.-occupied country. If this conflict is part of a larger war on terrorism as President George W. Bush claims, it’s clear the U.S. is losing the so-called “global war on terror.”