Wouldn’t it be nice if the U.S. government took a cue from the Europeans or even from our own history to come up with a more visionary stimulus package?

The selective ignorance of the Bush administration–and its preference that the media and the public follow suit–has brought us to our current impasse.

Are we ready for the first missionary president? While the media debates endlessly whether America can overcome racism and sexism and finally elect an African-American commander-in-chief or a female to the White House, there’s been very little consideration of what it might mean to have a former missionary in the Oval Office. Like many Mormons, Mitt Romney did a two-year stint abroad trying to convert people to his religion. What impact would this perspective have on his foreign policy?

At Foreign Policy In Focus, we specialize in providing analysis of U.S. foreign policy and its alternatives. But we also want to tell you stories.

If you’re going to throw rocks at the government, you’d better dress up for the occasion. That’s the take-away point from the media coverage of the protests in Pakistan. Splashed across the front page of newspapers last week was a picture of a Pakistani lawyer in a suit launching a projectile at the police. The photo editors couldn’t resist showcasing such a delicious juxtaposition of law and disorder.

For all the vibrancy of Taiwanese politics and the high performance of Taiwan’s economy, the island is something of an embarrassment to the international community. Taiwan looks like a state. It acts like a state. But only two dozen other countries recognize Taiwan as a state

When the Bush administration tried earlier to push through a comprehensive immigration reform bill, anti-immigrant groups unleashed a grassroots protest over the proposed amnesty measures and helped to defeat the bill. Last week, the Senate refused to consider a bill that would have allowed the children of undocumented workers to apply for citizenship if they met certain criteria.

For many Americans, — 3,834 U.S. soldiers dead, 27,753 wounded — quantify the tragedy of Iraq. It’s all about us: our invasion, our occupation, our losses.

The anti-sweatshop campaigns, the protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the mobilizations against free-trade agreements have all been an education in the global economy that is rarely found in the classroom.