The latest election in Indonesia was not about radical Islam triumphing over pluralism.
Jakarta Peace Consensus Update: Where is the Antiwar Movement?
In the four months since U.S. President George W. Bush triumphantly declared the end of “major hostilities” in Iraq, the occupation has become ever more untenable and no less illegal by the day. Where are the members of the global antiwar movement?
de Mello’s Delight
Sergio de Mello’s death might accomplish something the dynamic and debonair UN special representative in Iraq would have loved to have seen–a U.S. request for the United Nations to take a leadership role in marshaling the international force and legitimacy needed to end the growing guerrilla war in Iraq. Now that Secretary of State Powell has initiated negotiations on a new UN resolution, United Nations officials and Security Council members should do more than pull the Bush administration’s fat out of the fire in Iraq. They should, with the support of U.S. internationalists, use it as an opportunity to permanently repair tattered UN-U.S. relationships. And they should demand a deal that will permanently fix the United Nations’ capacity to mount credible peace operations.
We’ve Lost Their Hearts and Minds
The war against terrorism is entering its third year, but the U.S. has already lost the most critical battle.
Is the Neocon Agenda for Pax Americana Losing Steam?
President George W. Bush’s speech to the nation last night was notable in many ways, most critically for marking what appears to be a weakening of the steep unilateralist trajectory on which neoconservative and right-wing hawks set U.S. foreign policy two years ago. Who would have thought it would lose momentum so quickly after Washington’s stunning military victory in Iraq in early April and plummet back to earth?
A Return to the UN?
The recent Bush administration’s draft UN resolution proposing a new role for the United Nations in Iraq is not a reflection of any concern regarding the illegality of the occupation, the lack of legitimacy of the U.S. presence in Iraq, or the impact on Iraqis of Washington’s abject failure to provide for even the minimal humanitarian needs of the population. Instead, it reflects a growing concern regarding what the New York Times called the “high cost of occupation” for the U.S. in Iraq–costs both in U.S. soldiers’ lives and in dollars.
Hexagonal Headache
It is a testament to the absurdly low expectations attached to the diplomatic abilities of both North Korea and the United States that pundits have avoided the obvious conclusion concerning the recently concluded Six-Party Talks in Beijing.
Quagmire? What Quagmire?
In the months leading up to the recent war in Iraq and in its aftermath, Bush administration officials were forced to continually change their rationale for launching the attack to topple Saddam Hussein. Where they have not wavered, and where they have received consistent support from top Pentagon military commanders, is in their insistence that Iraq is not another Vietnam, not a quagmire. The further the U.S. and the world move from the fall of Baghdad on April 9th, the more it seems that the administration is correct: Iraq is not a quagmire. It is really a black hole.
Iran and the Forgotten Anniversary
The talk of regime change in Iran that now fills the air in Washington is not new. Although very few Americans are aware of it, August of this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of a vital, yet little-known chapter in American foreign policy–a military coup against the elected leaders of Iran orchestrated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Time for a New Regime Change in Iraq
As so often with the George W. Bush administration, the real debate about the UN’s role is not in the Security Council, it is in Washington. With some macabre irony, the bombing of the UN headquarters August 19th in Baghdad may create some political space in the White House. With the attrition of will for the occupation due to the loss of U.S. soldiers’ blood and U.S. taxpayers’ gold, and an impending presidential election campaign, there are signs that administration is moving, albeit too slowly, toward the inevitable. It should be encouraged to do so.