If getting the Afghanistan peace process going involved taking out Osama bin Laden, well, in the cynical world of the “Great Game,” to make an omelet, you have to break eggs.
The SEAL who killed bin Laden, justified or not, may have deprived the world of a font of information about terrorism.
President Obama would have achieved more concrete results internationally by taking out Netanyahu politically than by eliminating Bin Laden physically.
Why the haste to kill Osama bin Laden when we might better have been served by his capture?
The grievances expressed in bin Laden’s manifestoes, such as U.S. military presence in the Middle East and support for Israel, will be enough to replenish the ranks of Al-Qaeda and like-minded groups as long as the United States continues to pursue those policies.
According to a recent WikiLeaks dump, if harm came to bin Laden, the West would be subjected to a “nuclear hellstorm.”
Osama bin Laden and his supporters around the world are digging in for the long haul, waiting for the day when the United States can no longer afford the war on terrorism and begins to wilt under the weight of unilateralism.
China’s foreign policy has been hit hard by recent developments, including new U.S. influence on their western border. In December alone China was faced with these new twists in international affairs:
In Japan, the Koizumi administration’s quick decision to send support ships and peacekeeping troops to the region reawakened a divisive debate over Japan’s use of military force abroad. Unable to effectively undertake promised economic reforms or achieve an economic recovery, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has seized upon a popular fear of terrorism and sympathy with U.S. suffering to pass domestic legislation permitting Japan’s first deployment of troops into a combat zone since World War II.
Porto Alegre, Brazil — The second annual World Social Forum (WSF) is now over, and the intention is to make it an annual event. But the questions being discussed among participants as they exchange hugs and business cards and board planes to various parts of the globe is, what shape should this gathering take in the future?