Op-eds

Filter

Products

April 17, 2008 Carter’s Confusion Former US president Jimmy Carter in Ramallah. Let’s be fair to Jimmy Carter. Let’s suppose he isn’t indulging in egotistical grandstanding, that he doesn’t harbor a deep-seated bias against Israel, and that he’s not been influenced by the millions of dollars Islamists have provided to his Carter Center. Let’s suppose his freelance diplomacy is sincerely in pursuit of the elusive path to peace in the Middle East. April 17, 2008 Botswana’s Success Sparkles amid African Gloom While the world has been watching the pathetic spectacle being played out in Harare, Zimbabwe, as Robert Mugabe clings desperately to the levers of power he has held for nearly three decades (see my report last week), not enough attention has been paid to the truly remarkable transition taking place contemporaneously just 500 miles to the west in Gaborone, Botswana. There, on March 31st, President Festus Gontebanye Mogae stepped down and was succeeded by his vice president, Seretse Khama Ian Khama (generally known as Ian Khama). April 15, 2008 Will Yousaf Raza Gilani change Pakistan? Perhaps the most notable aspect of Yousaf Raza Gilani's conduct upon his ascension as Pakistan's new prime minister has been his lack of apparent vitriol toward President Pervez Musharraf. April 12, 2008 Foreign Policy Shouldn’t be Based on U.S.-centric Coverage "Does U.S. media coverage of world events provide a sound basis for foreign policy decision making?" March 20, 2008 Bin Laden’s Threat Uncovers Jihadist Message for Europe In an audiotape posted on the Internet, Osama Bin Laden threatened Europe with punishment because of its "negligence in spite of the opportunity presented to take the necessary measures" to... March 20, 2008 The Long War Five years ago this month, American troops liberated Iraq from Saddam Hussein. Then came the hard part. March 18, 2008 Israel and the War of Ideas Israel's 60-year war for survival has been marked by numerous victories on the battlefield. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) is lauded as one of the premier military forces in modern history. But Israel has often lost on another front, sometimes without much of a fight: the battlefield of the mind, where ideas, words, and images are the weapons of choice. Israel's enemies are keenly aware of how the victories and defeats in one theater can affect the outcomes in the other. As Hizbullah commander Nabil Qaouk noted in 2000, "The use of media as a weapon had an effect parallel to a battle." March 13, 2008 Las dos Américas Al-Qaeda y otros grupos islamistas militantes viven en un mundo de tinieblas donde hacen planes para asesinarnos a Ud. y a mí. Si esperamos que nuestros profesionales de inteligencia eviten que los terroristas logren su cometido, debemos darles las herramientas necesarias para conseguir que hagan su trabajo. March 13, 2008 Two Americas Al-Qaeda and other militant Islamist groups live in a shadow world where they plot to kill you and me. If we expect our intelligence professionals to prevent them from succeeding, we must give them the tools required to get the job done. March 13, 2008 Prosaic Justice for Spitzer The young prosecutor rubbed his hands with glee. For months on end, the high-profile defense lawyer had been a thorn in his side. He’d violated every rule in th... March 12, 2008 Inverse False Alarms THE FBI'S NATIONAL SPOKESMAN was already prepared to dismiss a connection to terrorism the day after ricin was found in a Las Vegas hotel room. Special Agent Richard Kolko told the... March 10, 2008 Being a Christian in the Maghreb The plight of Christian communities in the Arab world has been quite well documented: from Saudi Arabia to Egypt to Iraq. But the Maghreb is now also turning into a troublesome spot for Christians. Under the veil of a wave of alleged "proselytizing" that has converted tens of thousands of Muslims into Christians, the authorities have been pressured to become tougher on Christian residents. March 10, 2008 Lawfare’s Soft Targets The failure of the Bush administration to reverse its predecessors’ drastic shrinkage of our armed services is notorious. Yet, because our fighters are the greatest in human history, the most pernicious fall-out of our parsimony remains unnoticed. The peerless but thinly stretched U.S. military, it turns out, has an Achilles’ heel: it cannot combat lawfare waged against the private partners on whom it is ever more dependent. March 6, 2008 Taliban Defeat in North-West Frontier? To some commentators, the results of Pakistan's Feb. 18 elections in its restive North-West Frontier Province appear to be a significant strategic victory for the United States. March 6, 2008 Helping Taiwan Help Itself On Monday, the Pentagon released the 2008 edition of its legislatively mandated Annual Report to Congress: Military Power of the People's Republic of China. March 6, 2008 Why AFRICOM is Critical for Our Security Interests This week I thought it useful to update readers on developments with some of the stories that have been previously reported in this column. March 6, 2008 Se debería castigar a las empresas de telecomunicaciones por ayudar a que nos protejamos de los terr ¿Está Ud. indignado? Debería estarlo. Según Peter Eliasberg, abogado de la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles (ACLU) después de los atentados del 11 de septiembre de 2001, “todos en el país” podríamos haber sufrido el “rastreo” de nuestras llamadas telefónicas para chequear la existencia de conexiones terroristas; y si eso ha sucedido, mucha gente estará indignada” afirmó al Washington Post. March 6, 2008 Listen Up: Should the Telecoms be Punished for Helping Protect You from Terrorists? Are you outraged? You’re supposed to be. According to Peter Eliasberg, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11/01 attacks, “everybody in the country” may have had their phone calls “combed through” for terrorist connections and, if that happened, he told the Washington Post, “lots of people will be outraged.” Would you be among them? Or would you, like me, be relieved to know that on at least this occasion, the government did its job? March 4, 2008 The Case for Telecom Immunity It’s been nearly three weeks since House Democrats endangered our national security by effectively rescinding the law that permitted the intelligence community to conduct aggressive surveillance... February 28, 2008 Will divisions undermine Somali rebellion? By mid-2007, when the fighting in Somalia was routinely described as an "Iraq-style insurgency," victory seemed likely for the extremist Islamic Courts Union. But rifts within the insurgency that were simmering last year may now have reached a boiling point, providing a strategic opportunity for Somalia's transitional federal government (TFG) and its Ethiopian allies. February 27, 2008 Al Qaeda’s Resurgence Four years ago, his words would have represented an almost unquestioned consensus view. In late January, the State Department's counterterrorism coordinator, Dell Dailey, described al Qaeda's top leadership as isolated, saying that they have "much, much less central authority and much, much less capability to reach out." January 31, 2008 Economía energética: Una alternativa a los paquetes de estímulo económico de siempre Se ha convertido en un ritual: La economía crece lentamente y los políticos se dan prisa en “hacer algo” al respecto. Y lo que hacen casi nunca tiene un impacto económico beneficioso, como cualquier acreditado economista podría decirle. January 31, 2008 Khartoum’s Partners in Beijing Last week, some 200 baton-wielding policemen prevented Mia Farrow and members "Dream for Darfur" group from holding a rally near the site of Cambodia's "killing fields" to urge the People's Republic of China (PRC) to use its influence on the Sudanese regime to end the conflict in the African country's Darfur region that no less a figure than former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan characterized as "the world's worst humanitarian crisis." An aide Cambodian Premier Hun Sen explained that the Hollywood actress was engaged in a "stunt to smear China" since her group, which as part of its international campaign has held similar events in Chad, Rwanda, Armenia, Germany and Bosnia, tried to light an Olympic-style torch (Beijing is hosting this year's Summer Olympics). Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu agreed, telling the audience at a routine January 24 press conference that the actress's action was "of apparent political intention and purpose to link the Darfur with the Olympics," a tactic which she said "violates the Olympic spirit and principle, and will never succeed." January 31, 2008 The End of the Waterboarding Controversy? The waterboarding controversy should end with a whimper. It probably won’t, but it should. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has studied U.S. interrogation methods, as he committ... January 30, 2008 Energetic Economics: An Alternative to the Usual Stimulus Packages It’s become a ritual: The economy grows sluggish and politicians rush to “do something” about it. What they do almost never has a beneficial economic impact, as any reputable economist will tell you. January 30, 2008 Shattered Hopes In the midst of an eight-day trip through Europe designed to assuage fears that his country is sliding toward chaos, Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf has reaffirmed that parliamentary elections will be held on February 18. Though the last year has certainly shown us that events in Pakistan are always subject to change, the election date should be considered about as stable as anything in Pakistan's political scene. With less than a month before these elections, it is a good time to assess the influence that Benazir Bhutto's assassination will have. January 29, 2008 State of the SOTU Last night’s State of the Union struck me as less the speech of a lame duck than the speech of a candidate. That’s not to say it was a great speech. Candidates’ speeches seldom are. But... January 25, 2008 Flex-fuel Cars Can Break OPEC Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez recently joined Iranian president Mahmoud Amadinejad in threatening to raise oil prices to $200 per barrel. The threat should be taken quite seriously. With no practical transportation fuel alternative to petroleum available to the world market, the OPEC oil cartel has already been successful in raising prices an order of magnitude since 1999, with a 50 percent increase effected in 2007 alone. January 25, 2008 Questions for the Pentagon: Who is Hesham Islam? In the sorry tradition of shooting the messenger, the Pentagon is cashiering its top expert on Islamist doctrine, Stephen Coughlin. Some members of Congress are now contem... January 24, 2008 The New True Believers: What we should have learned about fanatical mass movements Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was evil and perhaps a madman. But throughout history, there have been many evil madmen in many corners of the Earth. Few have attracted millions of passionate followers; fewer still have conquered Europe and committed genocide. So what made Hitler different and – for a time – effective? January 11, 2008 Hezbollah’s Billion Petrodollars A few weeks ago, articles published around the world reported that Hezbollah is undergoing two major changes. Both portend greater violence from the Iranian-sponsored global terrorist network. The first change is a shift in leadership responsibilities. A report published initially in the Saudi owned Sharq al Awsat said the office of Ayatollah Khomenei appointed deputy secretary general Sheikh Naim Qassim as the new supreme commander of Hezbollah forces and the personal representative of the Ayatollah in Lebanon. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, according to this report remains as secretary general of the organization. Sources said this change in control and command is because of "differences in opinions" between Narsrallah and Qassim. January 10, 2008 Wishful Thinking: A lethal habit when it comes to Islamist terrorists Osama bin Laden probably does not get home delivery of Parade but more than 30 million Americans do. And on the magazine’s cover last Sunday was the not-quite-smiling face of Benazir Bhutto, along with this confident quote: “I am what the terrorists most fear.” By the time Bhutto’s image and words reached America’s breakfast tables, she was, of course, dead. The January 6 issue of the magazine had gone to press before Bhutto was assassinated on Dec. 27 during a campaign stop in northern Pakistan. January 3, 2008 Soft foreign policy hurts the U.S. Sec. of State Condoleezza Rice If American diplomacy were delivering on its promises, we'd be heading into boom times for peace and security. Instead, the new year begins with Washington foreign policy increasingly cocooned in a cloud of "soft power," trying to deflect threats through the wiles of diplomacy, the art of the deal. Welcome to the world of wishful thinking. October 21, 2007 While Pakistan Burns If there were any doubt about the reach of militants in Pakistan, last week's events should have put them to rest. The ostentatious procession celebrating the return home of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was tragically cut short by twin bombs that killed over 130 and wounded several hundred more on Thursday night. The attackers almost succeeded in killing Bhutto as well. The blast shattered the windows in her vehicle and set a police escort car ablaze. The sophistication of the attack was apparent from the outset, and the bombs may have been accompanied by sniper fire. October 18, 2007 Al Qaeda in Iraq on the Run Al Qaeda is on the horns of a dilemma. Last month, some 30 of its senior leaders in Iraq were killed or captured. Now, Osama bin Laden faces a tough decision: Send reinforcements to Iraq in an attempt to regain the initiative? That risks losing those combatants, too -- and that could seriously diminish his global organization. But the alternative is equally unappealing: accept defeat in Iraq, the battlefield bin Laden has called central to the struggle al Qaeda is waging against America and its allies. October 4, 2007 COIN Is Not Small Change General David Petraeus helped write COIN. It’s the Pentagon’s job to prepare for wars of the future. But somewhere between Vietnam and Iraq, military planners confused “future” with “futuristic.” They convinced themselves that combat in the 21st Century would resemble computer games. Satellites would provide intelligence. “Smart bombs” would do much of the killing. The enemy, overcome by “shock and awe,” would lose his will to fight. October 3, 2007 An Oil for Food Exposé Having stood trial for almost a month in a Manhattan federal courtroom, 83-year-old Texas tycoon Oscar S. Wyatt Jr. struck a deal Monday. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United Nations' former Oil for Food program for Iraq. Brushing past me on his way out of the courtroom -- he's clearly familiar with my writing on the subject -- he shot a remark: "You ought to be happy." October 3, 2007 Phony-Soldier Sympathizers Stoke a Phony Controversy There really was a news story, generated by the mainstream media of all people, about phony soldiers — poseurs who falsely claim to have put their lives on the line in our country’s armed forces, at least some of whom engage the pretense precisely to libel real heroes as terrorists and marauders. September 30, 2007 Securing Africa On February 6, 2007, President George W. Bush launched a major evolution in American military posture when he formally announced that he had directed the Pentagon to establish a new unified co... September 27, 2007 Why We Fight In the Christian Science Monitor this week, Lt. Col. Chris Brady argues that America should “keep fighting for progress” in Iraq where he is currently serving a tour of duty. “America's forefathers had help from other nations when the United States was born,” he writes. “Allow us to continue to help Iraq be re-born.” September 24, 2007 Egyptian Security and the Gaza Border Following the June Hamas coup, the Egyptian government (EG) took drastic measures against the smuggling operations on its Eastern border with Gaza. The EG ordered the demolition of some 3,000 to... September 24, 2007 UN-Real Assembly As the contributors to The National Interest symposium in the current issue note, there is an emergent consensus among foreign policy analysts of all political persuasions that “going it alone” interventionism is no longer a viable option for the United States, if it ever was before. Two general solutions are now frequently bandied about in Washington policy circles and both are flawed. The first is the creation, advocated Ivo Daalder, Robert Kagan, G. John Ikenberry and others of a “concert of democracies” to “legitimately” bypass gridlock in the United Nations Security Council. The second is the opening à la Baker-Hamilton of diplomatic dialogue with the rulers of regional spoilers like Iran and Syria. Both address some of the weaknesses with the current modus operandi, but they fail to grapple with the fundamental defect of the contemporary international system: its dogmatic adherence to a post-Westphalia formal equality of states and consequent lack of a forum reflecting the realities of global power. September 21, 2007 Is Al Qaeda Iraq a Threat to Sweden? The leader of al Qaeda in Iraq recently offered a bounty encouraging the assassination of a Swedish cartoonist and his editor for having published drawings deemed insulting to the religion of Islam. Omar al Baghdadi, in an audio statement said Lars Vilks, who "dared insult the Prophet", should be killed for a reward of $100,000 and, if "slaughtered like a lamb", the killer will receive another $50,000. In addition, he offered a Jihadi financial reward of $50,000 for the murder of Ulf Johansson, the editor of Nerikes Allehanda, the Swedish paper that printed Vilks' cartoon on August 19. September 8, 2007 Bin Laden Unplugged Osama bin Laden's strength as an orator has always been his ethos. He is an eloquent and seemingly honest speaker, proud of his role in the attacks of 9/11, a principled spokesman for radical Islam's war against the West. Though bin Laden may not have penned all his words personally, the force of his ideas always shines through. As Bruce Lawrence notes in Messages to the World, "these messages are not ghostwritten tracts of the kind supplied by professional speechwriters to many politicians in the West, whether American Presidents, European Prime Ministers, or their Middle-Eastern counterparts." August 21, 2007 Ban the Old Ways We are about to learn the meaning of “ethics” in the United Nations administration of Ban Ki-moon. Eight months after Secretary-General Ban took office, promising to “restore tr... August 20, 2007 Welcoming an Asian Elephant in Africa All eyes are on China and its growing involvement in Africa, but India’s expanding relations with African countries have gone largely unnoticed. China’s intentions create anxiety; Ind... August 20, 2007 The Audacity of Shallowness Among certain Arab elites, there is considerable interest in how a Democratic administration would differ from the eight years of George W. Bush. It's a good question. Most Democrats, at lea... August 16, 2007 On the Move The new National Intelligence Estimate caught the media’s attention in mid-July by discussing an aspect of the war on terror that some analysts have warned about for over a year: al Qaeda&r... August 15, 2007 Surging: It’s getting harder to deny that General Petraeus is making progress “The only thing this surge will accomplish is a surge of more death and destruction.” That was the prediction of blogger and anti-war activist Arianna Huffington back in December of l... August 14, 2007 China’s Play for Somalia’s Oil As this column has chronicled over the past year and a half, United States policy toward the remnants of the former state of Somalia has evolved into a sort of dramatic farce played out in the fo...

…

287

288

289

290

291

292

293

…

315

#archivePage { display:none; } .noscript-posts { display: flex; flex-direction: column; max-width: 600px; margin: 50px auto; } .noscript-posts a { margin-bottom: 25px; text-decoration: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; } .noscript-posts a .post-title { text-decoration: underline; font-weight: 700; font-size: 24px; margin-bottom: 10px; } .pagination { list-style-type: none; max-width: 600px; margin: 50px auto; }