Scholars, advocates, and activists seeking to make the U.S. a more responsible global partner.
Europe & Central Asia

Whose Siberia?

by | Oct 24, 2010

The New York Times headline read, “Russia’s Chinese Worry,” and the story discussed the conflict on the Russian-Chinese border in eastern Siberia. Russia, it explained, is having trouble both maintaining political control over its northeast Asian provinces, and limiting the influence of its much more populous southern neighbor. “The excess of the Chinese population, if allowed to get out,” it said, “would in a comparatively short time overrun all of Asia.” As for Siberia, “The Russian authorities are completely outwitted by this invasion which has been going on for the past fifty years, and which has now given China a firm foothold all along their southern border.”

read more
Of Horns and Beaks and the Afghanistan War

Of Horns and Beaks and the Afghanistan War

by | Oct 22, 2010

There is always another “strategic” battle — in Afghanistan, as in Vietnam — that’s “key” to winning a war against an insurgency. But there are millions of hills and valleys and they are as meaningless in Afghanistan as they were in Vietnam.

read more

U.S. Military Aid Far Outpaces Democracy Assistance

by | Oct 20, 2010

Desperate to secure supply routes to Afghanistan, the United States has been spending at least six times more on military aid for the mostly authoritarian states of Central Asia than on efforts to promote political liberalisation and human rights in the region, according to a new report released here by the Open Society Foundations (OSF).

read more

The White Noise of War

by | Oct 12, 2010

In the high-vaulted main hall of Union Station in Washington, DC, the sound of a drone attack interrupts the morning rush hour. A dozen people suddenly freeze in place. Some point up into the air. Others crouch with hands over their heads in a vain attempt at self-protection. The commuters on their way to and from the trains pause to look at the stationary figures. After a minute or so, the leaf-blower sound of the drone attack cuts off, and the figures crumple to the ground, crying out in pain. As the cries of the victims fade, two attendants cover the bodies with blood-stained sheets.

read more

The War Addicts

by | Oct 7, 2010

On Monday, The Washington Post ran the first of three pieces adapted from Bob Woodward’s new book Obama’s Wars, a vivid account of the way the U.S. high command boxed the Commander-in-Chief into the smallest of Afghan corners.

read more