osama bin laden killed Archives - Foreign Policy In Focus

Bush’s Hot Air Plan

by Kelly Sims Gallagher | Feb 1, 2002

Having rejected the Kyoto Protocol on climate change soon after taking office, the Bush administration has finally released its alternative plan for addressing the threat of climate change. Unfortunately, the administration seems to have taken a page from Enron’s operating procedures on accounting tricks. Although it promises to reduce pollution, it will actually lead to increased emissions. This is partly because the plan requires only voluntary compliance, and partly because the Bush administration is promoting the plan with some artful wordsmithing.

Korea: U.S. Policy Casting a Long Shadow over the Sunshine Policy

by James Reilly | Feb 1, 2002

Immediately after the September 11 attacks in New York, South Korean and U.S. forces went into a state of heightened security alert that the North claimed was “threatening,” leading Pyongyang to break off ongoing negotiations on family reunions that remain stalled even today. Despite this reversal in negotiations, North Korea reacted to September 11 by unilaterally moving to sign two UN antiterrorism treaties and later expressing its willingness to sign an additional five.

Diplomacy by Dereliction: U.S. Policy Toward Korea is in Disarray

by Bruce Cumings | Feb 1, 2002

President George W. Bush will visit Seoul for the first time in mid-February, as part of a major East Asian trip that includes visits to Tokyo and Beijing. Republic of Korea President Kim Dae Jung is urging Bush to give support to his “Sunshine Policy” toward North Korea and return to the policy of “engaging” Pyongyang pursued by the Clinton administration. A year after taking office, Bush has presided over a cacophony of mixed signals and diplomatic backsliding that has left U.S. policy toward Korea in disarray. But there is still a chance to revive crucial negotiations with North Korea that are deeply in the interest of American and Northeast Asian peace and security.

Second Day in Porto Alegre

by Martha Honey | Feb 1, 2002

Porto Alegre, Brazil – The World Social Forum (WSF) officially began Thursday evening (Jan 31) with a march through the heart of this city’s main business district by some 10,000 delegates waving a sea of mostly red banners, chanting political slogans, and beating pots and pans, a Latin American symbol of protest. They gathered in a lakeside park for a 4-hour cultural performance by a variety of Brazilian bands and dance groups and a satellite hook-up via a giant television screen with worker and labor groups protesting outside the World Economic Summit in New York City.

Jonas Savimbi: Washington’s Freedom Fighter,” Africa’s “Terrorist””

by Shana Wills | Feb 1, 2002

Peace is back on the agenda, if not yet on the horizon in Angola. With the death of rebel leader Jonas Savimbi and the state visit to Washington by Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, there is again a glimmer of hope that the country’s 27-year-long civil war may finally be coming to a real end. As Salih Booker, Director of Africa Action, puts it, “Savimbi’s death removes the principal obstacle to peace in that country. So long as he was alive, it seemed virtually impossible that Angolans would ever be able to conclude and implement a peace settlement. But his death does not automatically ensure that peace will follow.”

Deconstructing George W. Bush: A Critical Analysis of the 2002 State of the Union Address

by Stephen Zunes | Jan 31, 2002

President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address on January 29, 2002 was the first in many years to focus primarily on foreign policy. Despite widespread accolades in the media and strong bipartisan support in Congress, a careful examination of the language and assumptions in the address raise disturbing questions about the direction of U.S. foreign policy under the current administration. What follows are some excerpts consisting of the majority of the speech addressing foreign policy issues and interspersed with some critical commentary. This should not be interpreted as in any way minimizing the very real danger from terrorism, or the need for a decisive response, nor to imply that Bush administration policy regarding terrorism and other foreign policy issues has been totally negative. Yet the failure to recognize the misleading verbiage and to recognize the dangerous implications of such words–however eloquent and reassuring to a nation that has experienced such trauma in recent months–will not only make us less safe from the threat of terrorism, but will deprive Americans of our greatest defense and asset: our freedom to question and challenge government policies that are not in the best interests of our country and the world.

First Day in Porto Alegre

by Martha Honey | Jan 31, 2002

Porto Alegre, Brazil–Under a strong summer sun and a broad political proclamation that “Another world is possible,” tens of thousands of activists from around the world are arriving here for the second annual World Social Forum. The host, like last year, is Brazil’s southernmost major city, capital of the state of Rio Grande de Sul. The city and state governments, which are both facilitating and underwriting some of the Forum’s cost, have won international acclaim for their progressive policies, providing extensive social services and a high quality of life.

Somalia At Crossroads of American Foreign Policy

by Ken Menkhaus | Jan 28, 2002

Somalia and the U.S. are apparently doomed by fate to collide at critical moments in global politics. The collision has never brought anything but trouble to both parties. We are about to crash into one another again, this time in an expanded war on terrorism.

History of the Movement

by John Cavanagh | Jan 25, 2002

I’m John Cavanagh, and I’m the director of the Institute for Policy Studies. And it’s great to be here with Alejandro, Thea, John, and Kristin, who between them have about a half a century of working on these issues. We at IPS have had a program on the global economy since 1975, founded by Orlando Letelier, and we’re certainly not planning to close it down any time soon.

Globalization and Food Policy

by Kristin Dawkins | Jan 25, 2002

I want to remind us that, even before September 11, we were heading toward a very militaristic world and police state, not only in the U.S. but globally. There have been recent revelations that the Bush administration was already planning on building up the antiterrorism campaign very intensively; and, at one of the street protests at Genoa, Italy, last year, a protestor was shot and killed by the police of Italy. So this is all part of a continuum. However, I would also agree that the movement is stronger than ever.