Commentaries Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

Implications for Iranian Democracy: The Student Movement and Social Change

by Juliette Niehuss | Jul 16, 2003

After September 11, Iranians set aside their differences with America and expressed public support for our loss in a candlelight vigil held in “Azadi” (freedom) Square in Tehran. Now, almost two years later, the U.S. may have lost a window of opportunity to improve relations with Iran, and currently faces resentment throughout the Islamic world. By proclaiming Iran as part of an “axis of evil,” continuing to implicate it in state-sponsored terrorism and nuclear weapons production, and threatening regime change, the U.S. has alienated a key regional player.

Real War–Virtual Weapons?

by Ian Williams | Jul 16, 2003

The Persian emperors used to have courtiers whose job was to whisper regularly in the rulers’ ears the message that they were only mortal. Looking at the Persian Gulf today and the respective pitfalls of U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in the Iraq war, it appears the courtiers’ profession needs reviving. Someone should be telling modern heads of state to avoid decisions based on weak evidence, unsubstantiated statements, and false hope. Contemporary leaders, like those of yore, ought to heed warnings to discount heady advice brought by people with their own agendas, be they the likes of neoconservative counselors to Bush and Blair or Hussein’s Baathist advisers.

Middle East Peace: Only with a Will is There a Way

by Muqtedar Khan | Jul 15, 2003

U.S. President George W. Bush’s Road Map for Middle East Peace, while based on widely held hopes for an independent Palestinian state co-existing with a secure and safe Israel, may nonetheless fail to deliver peace in the region. The recent agreement between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aqsa brigade to temporarily cease all military activities against Israel for the next three months, and the withdrawal of Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) from some Palestinian territories does suggest that the road map is now becoming a practical guide for reaching fulfillment of these hopes. But the plan has strategic and ethical flaws that make me deeply pessimistic over its prospects for success.

“Coin of Empire” Too Costly for Israelis, Palestinians, and U.S. Taxpayers

by Conn Hallinan | Jul 9, 2003

“The coin of empire is always bought dear” was an expression that emerged from the great Irish Tithe War of the 1830s, when the British taxed the Catholic Irish to support the Church of England. After three years of opposition, bloodshed, and financial chaos, one colonial officer glumly pointed out that it was costing the Crown, “a shilling to collect tuppence.”

Polls Show Slide in Bush Administration’s Credibility

by Jim Lobe | Jul 3, 2003

Two recent polls show signs of a sharp decline in popular support for the Bush administration’s policies in Iraq. One recent survey indicates that solid majorities of people in the U.S. now doubt the truthfulness of Bush administration claims regarding evidence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and Saddam Hussein’s links to al Qaeda, with majorities believing either that the Bush administration claims were “stretching the truth” or deliberate falsehoods. The poll, carried out by the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA), also shows a stark decline in public confidence in President George W. Bush and his administration’s credibility.

AIDS Appointee Shows that Business Still Rules the Roost

by Jim Lobe | Jul 3, 2003

The appointment of a former top executive of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company and major Republican contributor as President George W. Bush’s global AIDS co-ordinator has stunned and outraged AIDS experts and activists. Bush’s choice of former Eli Lilly & Co. boss Randall Tobias was announced at the White House on July 1, just a few days before Bush’s first trip as president to Africa. The U.S. Senate must confirm the nomination.

Alienation and Militancy in the Niger Delta: A Response to CSIS on Petroleum, Politics, and Democracy in Nigeria

by Oronto Douglas, Von Kemedt, Ike Okonta, Michael Watts | Jul 1, 2003

In the wake of the September 11th attack and the Iraq war, Nigeria’s geopolitical significance to the U.S. has come into sharper relief. In March and April 2003, militancy across the Niger Delta radically disrupted oil production in this major oil supplier nation. News of these actions, following conflict-ridden national elections, has reinforced the notion that Nigeria and the new West African “gulf states” in general are matters of U.S. national security.

U.S. Pre-emptive Strike Doctrine Bane of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Watchdogs

by Martin Schwarz | Jul 1, 2003

U.S. President George W. Bush’s new doctrine of preventive war and pre-emptive strikes is turning the UN’s nuclear watchdog into a lapdog.

Liberia: Ending the Horror

by Ezekiel Pajibo | Jul 1, 2003

As a Liberian living in Zimbabwe, I, like many of my expatriates, have been tying up Africa’s phone lines trying to reach my relatives in Monrovia. The reports of violence in the mainstream press have deep meaning for me, as I worry about the fate of my family, especially my mother, who was just released from the hospital. My sister told me that rocket-propelled grenades fired by Liberia United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel forces had landed on the house where she lived. My mother’s house also suffered such an attack. Thankfully, their lives were spared, but immediately after the explosions destroyed the houses, desperate vandals looted them, and my sister and mother are now among the 1 million Liberians who are displaced. They were able to seek refuge at the Faith Healing Temple in Logan Town, about a mile from their homes. As I spoke to them, the voices of others, especially crying babies, were audible in the background.

White House Hobbles International Criminal Court, World Security

by Harpinder Athwal, Maggie Gardner | Jul 1, 2003

The current U.S. administration has a near-religious aversion to the new, permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). The court, now with 90 member countries, was established to ensure that the rule of law prevails in places where the only alternative is impunity for the most gut-wrenchingly vicious crimes against humanity. Its opponents in the administration, however, claim that the court will become a forum for politicized prosecutions. In fact, they are so sure that the court is out to persecute U.S. citizens that they are willing to undermine some of the most basic foundations of international security to protect against this perceived, but nonexistent, threat.