Obama's Evolving Foreign Policy
Robert Dreyfuss : Foreign Affairs
He's no George W. Bush, but will Obama's foreign policy bring us back to the days of the bipartisan, establishment consensus?
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McCain, Obama and Russia
Stephen F. Cohen : Presidential Election 2008
Overshadowed by the US disaster in Iraq, Moscow's impact on our foreign policy will continue long after that war ends. Why aren't Obama and McCain addressing that?
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The Return of Rudy
Countdown : Presidential Election 2008
The Nation's Christopher Hayes discusses the tone-deafness of the McCain campaign and the reemergence of Rudy Giuliani as a GOP attack dog.
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The Power Conundrum
Michael Massing : Non-Fiction
After railing against non-violent intervention in the face of genocide, Samantha Power rethinks her stand.
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The Appeasement Card
The Editors
Despite the Bush/McCain snake oil on Mideast policy, Obama can make the case that talking to your enemies isn't the same as appeasing Hitler.
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The New Geopolitics of Energy
Michael T. Klare : Environment
The Pentagon has now placed resource competition at the center of its strategic planning.
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The Clintonian Legacy
Barbara Crossette : Presidential Election 2008
Bill Clinton's foreign policy record, on which his wife is running, was anything but stellar.
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Neocon NATO Delusions
The Editors
The Bush Administration's mission to transform NATO promises to do great damage to international peace and cooperation.
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Castro and the Colossus
Robert Scheer : Cuba
He caused the Cuban people much suffering, but the giant to the north bears even greater responsibility for the island's plight.
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The Day After Fidel
Peter Kornbluh : Cuba
Most authoritarians leave office in a coup or a coffin. Fidel Castro is leaving on his own terms.
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Letter From Vietnam
Dustin Roasa : Human Rights & Civil Liberties
As Vietnam becomes a player in world trade, its human rights record and treatment of dissidents come under increased scrutiny. The world must do more.
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Chalmers Johnson: America's Going Bankrupt
Chalmers Johnson : US Politics & Government
From Tom Dispatch: The current economic crisis is caused by policies that tax the richest Americans at strikingly low levels and spend huge sums on defense projects that have no bearing on national security.
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A New Diplomacy for Pakistan
Christian Parenti : Pakistan
As American policy-makers and pundits seek a Plan B for Pakistan, it's time to recognize the desperate need for a new diplomacy for the Muslim world.
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The Democratic Foreign Policy Wars
Ari Berman : Presidential Election 2008
All the candidates reject Bush's disasters--but that won't be enough for the next administration.
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Pakistan's Plight
Tariq Ali : Presidential Election 2000
A multidimensional charade is taking place in Pakistan, and it is not an edifying sight.
2007
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Another Death in Rawalpindi
The killing of Benazir Bhutto echoes Pakistan's troubled history, portends more violence and flags a proud country's collapse into chaos. It also signals the manifest bankruptcy of the Bush Administration's anti-terrorism.
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State of the World 2008
The United Nations' chief troubleshooter and mediator, Lakhdar Brahimi, considers what should come next in Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan and how US foreign foreign policy went so far astray.
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Muqtada al-Sadr's Power Grab
The bad boy of Iraqi politics is going back to school. al-Sadr's plan to become an ayatollah has enormous implications for Iraqis and the United States.
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GWOT: Thailand
Noy Thrupkaew : Terrorism Targeting the US
Fear of terrorism has enabled Thailand's military dictatorship.
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GWOT: Pakistan
As the Taliban gains strength, a nascent democracy in Pakistan withers.
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GWOT: The Philippines
Since 9/11 the Philippines have seen an explosion of political killings.
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GWOT: El Salvador
Wes Enzinna : Terrorism Targeting the US
A new anti-terrorism law gives El Salvador carte blanche to stifle dissent.
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GWOT: Egypt
Negar Azimi : Terrorism Targeting the US
America's "war on terror" has strengthened Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's stranglehold on civil liberties.
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Forum: What GWOT Has Wrought
George W. Bush's "global war against terror" unleashed a wave of repression felt around the globe. Reports from Egypt, El Salvador, the Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan.
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Post-Annapolis Pitfalls
Henry Siegman : Israeli/Palestinian Conflict
Washington must abandon the fantasy that an Israeli-Palestinian agreement can be reached in the face of deep divisions between Fatah and Hamas, which the United States and Israel have fostered.
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Iran's Nukes Fade Away
: Iran
The revised National Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nukes makes a military strike less likely and opens the door to real diplomacy.
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Mexico Floods, America Shrugs
Florencia Soto Nino-Martinez : Environment
Massive floods cause widespread devastation; while other nations rush in with aid, Mexico's closest neighbor has barely responded.
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Trappings of Democracy in Pakistan
As hopes fade for the rule of law in Pakistan, the Bush Administration signals it will settle for just the trappings of democracy. People are braced for disaster.
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Bush, Pakistan and the Bomb
Jonathan Schell : Nuclear Arms & Proliferation
The Bush Administration's failed war on terror has stoked the fires it was meant to quench. And in Pakistan, the risk of nuclear terrorisism is on the rise.
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Syria's Dangerous Gambits
Ostracized by the Bush Administration, Syria is flirting with rogue status. But if Washington restarts dialogue, there is plenty of room for common ground.
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Our Man in Pakistan
Gen. Pervez Musharraf turns out to be just another crummy dictator. But he's our dictator--using the $10 billion in US aid to jail judges and lawyers, and give shelter Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Thanks, George.
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Who Lost Pakistan?
How often can the Bush Administration be caught off guard by the consequences of its own actions? Endlessly, it seems.
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The Great Debate of 2008
Jerry W. Sanders : Presidential Election 2000
The time is right for a Great Debate on America's purpose and place in the world. But neither Republicans nor Democrats seem up to the task.
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Why We Need International Law
Oona A. Hathaway : International Law
It's time to undo the damage and reaffirm America's historical commitment to international law.
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Relearning the Art of Diplomacy
Anatol Lieven : Presidential Election 2000
Most candidates have no idea what it involves.
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Facing Hamas and Hezbollah
Helena Cobban : Israeli/Palestinian Conflict
US diplomacy in the Middle East has been held hostage by a refusal to engage with these two popular movements.
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Combating Muslim Extremism
American politicians should stop implying that Muslim nations and individuals are more dangerous than any other group of human beings. They should also stop calling their religion "fascist."
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Avoiding the Toughness Trap
William D. Hartung : Nuclear Arms & Proliferation
Candidates should rethink their commitment to outmoded security tools and veiled nuclear threats against nonnuclear states.
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The U.S. and the World (Editors' Introduction)
The 2008 election, more than any election in decades, will turn on questions of foreign policy and national security.
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Exporting Instability
William D. Hartung : Middle East
Mideast stability can't be promoted with arms any more than democracy can be imposed through the barrel of a gun.
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Keeping Enemies Close--and Saudis Closer
What are Bush's real motives for the $63 billion Mideast arms deal to Israel, Egypt and Saudi America?
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Bush's Pakistan Paradox
He invaded Iraq, which had no connection to WMDs or terrorist threats against the US, while coddling the military junta in Pakistan, which was guilty on both counts. Go figure.
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For Liberal Internationalism
Now that neoconservative policies have led us into disaster, it's time to give liberal internationalism a chance.
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A Permanent Military Empire
To mainstream media, the Bush Administration's full-scale garrisoning of Planet Earth is simply not a news story. But in Iraq beyond, America's empire of permanent bases grows at an alarming pace.
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Chinese Mirrors
China has become like Israel: No matter the party, no matter the leader, the US government will defend its actions.
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The Great Pretender
The President's phony internationalism falls flat at the G-8 summit, more proof he has eroded US global leadership and cooperation.
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Crackdown in Iran
Thanks in part to Condi Rice's machinations to foment regime change in Iran, three innocent people are now charged with espionage.
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The Home-Run Wars
Babe Ruth's big bang changed baseball forever, giving America a thrilling symbol of power and an itch for the quick fix at the ballpark and in the world. Why can't we just ban the bomb?
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Iran Nukes Call Bush's Bluff
Robert Scheer : Nuclear Arms & Proliferation
Tehran's religious fanatics move closer to wreaking nuclear havoc, and what can Bush do about it? Nothing.
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A New Stance Toward Havana
The peaceful transfer of power in Cuba presents an opportunity for the US government to abandon its policy of perpetual hostility.
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Terror and the Counterterrorists
Five Cuban counterterrorism experts are being held indefinitely in American prisons while the "bin Laden of Latin America" is let free.
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The Changing of the Guard
Peter Kornbluh, Alberto Coll, Saul Landau, William LeoGrande, Philip Peters & Ramón Sánchez-Parodi : Cuba
A panel of experts explores the view from Havana.
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Changing Course on Cuba
: Cuba
The US government's policy toward Cuba is imperial, irrational, arguably insane. It's time to change it.
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US Silence Muzzles Vietnam's Dissidents
Andrew Lam : Human Rights & Civil Liberties
Vietnam is experiencing its worst crackdown on human rights in decades, and US policy bears part of the blame.
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Pelosi and Diplomacy
By refusing to negotiate at home and abroad, Bush has become isolated and dangerous.
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The Saudi Paradox
Recent anti-American rhetoric from the desert kingdom should not be taken at face value.
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Bush Amigo's Para Pals
Revelations of Colombian government collusion with paramilitary thugs ought to put the damper on President Bush's Latin American tour.
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North Korea: Back to the Future
Now that North Korea has joined the nuclear club, Bush is finally willing to negotiate. Can he try that with Iran?
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Collision Course With Iran
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich : Iran
Instead of using diplomacy to defuse nuclear tensions with Iran, the Bush Administration is seeking to bypass Congress and lay the groundwork for an attack.
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Bush's Somalia Strategy Enables an Ethiopian Despot
Washington is all too happy to overlook the undemocratic excesses of Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi, who has pledged his support for Bush's "war on terror."
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Blowback in Lebanon
One big and underreported reason for Lebanon's slide toward civil war is blowback from Iraq. Fearing the sectarian bloodbath in Iraq and Iran's growing regional influence, Lebanese Sunnis are lashing out.
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Zero and Infinity
Patricia J. Williams : Iraq War
Americans have become so sedated, obsessed and afraid, we are numb to the murders committed in our name.
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Destabilizing the Horn
Undeterred by blunders in Iraq, Bush opens another battlefront in Somalia.
2006
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John Bolton's Greatest Hits
Exactly how much damage did John Bolton do during his tenure at the United Nations? Let us count the ways.
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The Business of America
George Scialabba : Non-Fiction
The American Way of Strategy and Empire's Workshop examine the paradox of idealism and brutality in US foreign policy.
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The Case for Engagement
If US officials stopped their saber-rattling over Iran's nuclear ambitions and began to negotiate directly, they would have an eye-opening experience.
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What's Left of Reform
As Iran and the United States trade insults and America presses for Iranians to rise up, educators, students and women's rights groups may pay the greatest cost.
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Who's Running Afghan Policy?
Even if the United States has the will to do the hard work necessary to rebuild Afghanistan, there are few signs that senior Administration officials are engaged.
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Fidel Lives
Few Americans, especially those in government, know much about Cuba. And nowhere is that more evident than in the coverage of Fidel Castro's illness and the transition of power.
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Debating Security
The alleged British terror plot contrasts with the fruits of Bush's "war on terror": civil war in Iraq, an empowered Iran and Arab hatred. Let us instead seek security through diplomacy.
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A Bankrupt Cuba Policy
As Iraq burns and Castro recovers, the Bush Administration's schemes to further "Cuba's transition to democracy" ring more hollow than ever.
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'Mushroom Cloud' Rice, The Icy Spinmeister, Tries Again
Condi takes her "birth pangs" mantra on the road.
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Is Israel Good for the Jews?
An American Jewish identity that centers on unconditional defense of Israel is not healthy--for either American Jews or Israel.
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The Left Gets Real
Eyal Press : Progressives, Liberals, & The American Left
Is the coziness of progressives and foreign policy realists a strategic alliance or a sign that the conservative co-optation of "human rights" has disillusioned the left?
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Too Late for Empire
Thirty years after Watergate, we again face a constitutional crisis at home and a misconceived war abroad. The United States will remain a helpless giant until we finally learn that power in the nuclear, postimperial age is diplomatic, not military.
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The Triumph of Crackpot Realism
Alexander Cockburn : Middle East
The American government has lost its grasp on reality in Iraq and Lebanon. They seek out the bright, clear problems of war, leaving rubble and corpses in their wake.
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The Fractured Mideast
Bush's Mideast strategy of inaction is a dangerous failure. He must act diplomatically to achieve a cease-fire, prisoner exchange and Israeli withdrawal from Arab lands.
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Labor Pains of a Stillborn Foreign Policy
By saying that the Israel-Lebanon crisis simply represents the "birth pangs of a new Middle East," Condoleezza Rice underscored the Bush Administration's blindness to the disastrous effects its foreign policy has wrought.
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Channeling Nixon
If Tricky Dick could tame the grizzled Mao, then certainly Bush could butter up Kim Jong Il with some of that frat boy charm. Who knows, Dearest Leader might even join Bush's shaky "coalition of the willing."
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The New American Cold War
The cold war never really ended: Russia's continuing instability and weapons of mass destruction, combined with Washington's triumphalist foreign policies and US/NATO military buildup, are creating an even more dangerous situation.
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The American Political Tradition
Andrew J. Bacevich : Progressives, Liberals, & The American Left
American foreign policy is shaped by a myth of national righteousness. In two new books, Peter Beinart abuses history to suggest liberals embrace this myth, while Stephen Kinzer uses America's history of involvement in foreign coups to reveal why we cannot.
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Say Goodbye to Bolton
Selection of a new UN Secretary General is too important to be engineered by the whims and prejudices of John Bolton. It's time for saner voices in the Administration to tell the UN ambassador his time is up.
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The New American Cold War
The unfolding conflict over US plans to build missile defense components near post-Soviet Russia, in Poland and the Czech Republic, is the latest proof of the way US-Russian relations are deteriorating into a new cold war.
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We Are the World
When liberals and conservatives discuss the United States' role in the world, they are really talking about the narcissism of small differences. Two new books show how both sides share a conviction in American exceptionalism.
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UN to US: End the Abuse
UN Deputy Secretary Mark Malloch Brown's measured reprimand of the Bush Administration was not an attack. It was a call for real US leadership instead of the bullying tactics of John Bolton.
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As Others See Us
Nicholas von Hoffman : Journalists & Journalism
When a group of international journalists visited a small town in Maine, they made it clear that America's aggression in Iraq, its greed and the advance of pop culture are leading onetime allies to desert us.
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People Power In Nepal
Kanak Mani Dixit : Foreign Affairs
Kanak Mani Dixit writes that the removal of the contemptuous Nepali regime was a type of "people power" absent from Asia and the rest of world for many years, opening dialogue with the Maoist rebels and creating the conditions for peace.
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Saber Rattling Over Iran
The US and Iran are engaged in a reckless game of chicken that could end in disaster for the Persian Gulf region and the world.
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Ferment Over 'The Israel Lobby'
Criticisms of the Israel lobby have circulated for years, but it took two professors and the Iraq War to inject realist ideas into the debate.
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China's Internal Crisis
The Pentagon casts China as the Next Big Threat, but the Chinese regime is a far greater threat to its unmoored and angry citizens. China's unbridled economic expansion has also become a perilous source of discontent.
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Latin America's New Consensus
Latin America's new leftist leaders are making deals that threaten US dominance in the region.
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AIPAC's Complaint
Analytical weaknesses in a controversial academic paper on the impact of the "Israel lobby" on US Mideast policy hinder its authors' attempt to pierce the wall of ignorance and intimidation erected around the debate.
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Hu's 'State Visit'
The visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao underscores the deteriorating US-China relationship, yet the Bush Administration is making matters worse with diplomatic insults to the Chinese leader.
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'The Lobby'
: Israel
The recent furor over a scholarly article suggesting that the "Israel lobby" drives US Mideast policy presents an opportunity for vigorous open debate on a volatile subject.
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Olympic Swagger
Swagger was America's chosen posture at the Winter Olympics. Once again, sport imitated life: boasting got us nowhere at the Turin games or in the world.
2005
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Art, Truth and Politics
In his lecture to the Swedish Academy December 7, Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter excoriated the United States for hubris and manipulations of the truth over decades of abusive foreign policy, in particular the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. Here is the full text of his lecture.
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Undermining Haiti
Democracy is being destroyed in Haiti, openly and with the support of the United States and United Nations. If the farce election set for December 27 by unelected government takes place, it will be a huge step backward.
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Changing the Electoral Game in Colombia
In a landmark ruling, Colombia's Constitutional Court has allowed President Alvaro Uribe to seek a second term. That's good news for the Bush Administration, which considers Uribe a staunch ally. But others in Colombia are not so sure.
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The Question of Kurdistan
Christian Parenti : US Wars & Military Action
The Kurds have almost no natural resources and suffer from a culture of corruption. But their call for autonomy is a serious threat to the building of a united Iraq.
-
Talks Without End
Jonathan Schell : Nuclear Arms & Proliferation
An agreement between the United States and North Korea resolving longstanding differences on nuclear weapons and energy programs at first was cause for celebration. But in fact, no real breakthrough has occurred. There is only the appearance of an agreement.
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The Perils of UN Reform
Stephen Schlesinger : United Nations
Long-awaited reform efforts at the United Nations have fallen far short of Kofi Annan's original vision. But despite John Bolton's antagonism, there has been progress.
-
Our Two Gulf Crises
: Iraq War
Our strategy ought not to be to fight every prospective terrorist to the death in Iraq, but to deny them the cause that has swollen their ranks--our continuing presence there.
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Robert Kaplan: Empire Without Apologies
Andrew J. Bacevich : Non-Fiction
In his new book, Robert Kaplan proposes that the antidote to anarchy is empire, policed by soldiers holding an assault rifle in one hand and candy bars in the other.
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The Fear of the Liberals
How could liberals believe the most reactionary President since William McKinley could and would export democracy to Iraq?
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Theocracy Lite
Katha Pollitt : Foreign Affairs
How can women be equal before Islamic law, according to which they are unequal?
-
Iraq's Fig-Leaf Constitution
Bush may crow about a new constitution, but he can't deny that autocrats, theocrats and terrorists are clearly in control.
-
Lessons of Camp Casey
There is no possible strategy to win in Iraq. Now is the time for activists to reach out to the families of soldiers in Iraq who may feel betrayed.
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Bush's Blind Spot on Iran
Robert Scheer : US Politics & Government
Threatening Iran only strengthens the hand of hard-line nationalists and religious fundamentalists in Tehran.
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The Big Chill
Is the FBI's Franklin/AIPAC case about spying--or clamping down on leaks?
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Reconnecting to the World
Sherle R. Schwenninger : Progressives, Liberals, & The American Left
The US must make full employment and ample demand the guiding principles of its international economic policy.
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Tug of War
Andrew J. Bacevich : Vietnam War
The reality of America's role in the cold war was far more complex and ambiguous than historical accounts suggest.
-
Hall of Mirrors
A report on the mysteries of the FBI's Larry Franklin/AIPAC investigation.
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Letter From Ground Zero
Jonathan Schell : Human Rights & Civil Liberties
The government manipulates popular movements at home and abroad.
-
1600 Pennsylvania Meets Madison Ave.
Robert Scheer : George W. Bush
As a political marketing device, Bush's address was brilliant.
-
Iraq: The Chaos Deepens
David Enders : Nation Building
As elections near, guerrillas are conducting their own "shock and awe" campaign.
-
Afghan Poppies Bloom
Christian Parenti : Drug Policy/Drug War
The war-ravaged, opium-dependent country lives in fear of a new drug war.
2004
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Kissinger's Shadow Over the Council on Foreign Relations
Scott Sherman : Henry Kissinger
A critic of US-Chile policy paid the price.
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Freeze-Out of the Arabists
Neocons isolate State Department experts, with disastrous results.
-
Potemkin Government
Jonathan Schell : George W. Bush Administration
Misrepresentation of programs, including weapon systems, is an old story.
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What 'Democracy' Looks Like
Christian Parenti : Afghanistan
How free and fair is an election run by warlords?
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A World Neglected
Sherle R. Schwenninger : Presidential Election 2004
The foreign policy debate we should be having.
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You Can't Bomb Beliefs
Naomi Klein : Journalists & Journalism
Progressives should oppose the US attack on Sadr, because it is an attack not on one man but on the possibility of Iraq's democratic future.
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Nonproliferation Politics
Michael T. Klare : Nuclear Arms & Proliferation
Nonproliferation must be applied in a nondiscriminatory fashion to be effective.
-
Letter From Poland
Bush has managed to puncture Poles' image of America as essentially good.
-
Agents of Influence
Did Ariel Sharon run a covert program to influence the Bush Administration's decision to go to war in Iraq?
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Interview With Middle East Scholar Avi Shlaim
Don Atapattu : Israeli/Palestinian Conflict
"The cycle of violence is likely to continue."
-
Former Bush (41) and Reagan Officials Say Bush (43) Must Go
Katrina vanden Heuvel : George W. Bush Administration
these old hands are taking a stand against the most arrogant and incompetent foreign policy in their lifetimes.
-
Haiti's Occupation
The Haitian people have once again been excluded from their own governance.
-
Still Dreaming of Tehran
Robert Dreyfuss & Laura Rozen : Iran
The neocons haven't given up on "regime change" in Iran. Don't count them out.
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Africa's Oil Tycoons
Western firms and government leaders, not the people, benefit from Angola's wealth.
-
The Goldwater Parallel
Frances FitzGerald : Democratic Party
The Democrats can make a persuasive case that Bush is outside the mainstream.
-
Coup in Haiti
What happened in Haiti was a coup, and it's almost funny to hear Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell and Scott McClellan call that claim "absurd" and "nonsense."
2003
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US to Hussein: WMD A-OK
Robert Scheer : Saddam Hussein
New documents detail how Rumsfeld and Reagan let Iraq know it was just fine to keep using chemical weapons against Iran and the Kurds.
-
Ugly Americans in Paris
William D. Hartung & Michelle Ciarrocca : Arms Spending & Proliferation
The US may have won the war, but US companies are in danger of losing the peace.
-
A Costly Friendship
The price of the American-Israeli alliance has been steep.
-
No, Newt, the Ends Don't Justify the Means
Robert Scheer : State Department
Whatever happens in Iraq, lying to Americans and the world about the reasons for war is not acceptable.
-
Reading Iraq
Jonah Engle : Iraqi Reconstruction/ Occupation
"If you want to avoid another Saddam Hussein, you have to work toward peace and democracy in the Middle East."
-
'The Truth Will Emerge'
Senator Robert C. Byrd : George W. Bush Administration
Truth has a way of asserting itself despite all attempts to obscure it.
-
Pre-empting Protest
Sasha Polakow-Suransky : Peace Activism
The Peace Corps is feeling the fallout from Bush Administration policies.
-
Perle, Interrupted
Together with Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle is the intellectual architect of George W. Bush's foreign policy.
-
A Lesson in Diplomacy
Juliet Johnson : Condoleezza Rice
Condoleeza Rice taught us that C students rush to war, while A students work patiently toward peaceful solutions to international problems.
-
The Case Against the War
Jonathan Schell : Arms Spending & Proliferation
The revival of nuclear danger means we have already lost.
2002
-
An Imperial Moment
John Maxwell Hamilton & Jonathan Schell
In previous times of war fever, clear voices have called for a return to US ideals.
-
The Coup That Wasn't
Now is the time for Hugo Chavez to talk a whole lot less and do a whole lot more.
-
Letter to America
Breyten Breytenbach : War on Terrorism
I do not want to equate your glorious nation with the deplorable image of a president who, at best, appears to be a bar-room braggart.
-
Beyond Jihad Vs. McWorld
Benjamin R. Barber : Globalization
The only war worth winning is the struggle for democracy.
2001
2000
This week: Can Barack Obama be a "People's President," or is his move to the center for good? Betsy Reed, Doug Henwood, Jo-Ann Mort, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Gary Younge debate. (13mb mp3)
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