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By Nikolas Gvosdev
03 Sep 2010
World Politics Review
Last week I suggested that the best way for President Barack Obama to
secure his fragile foreign policy gains would be to announce that he
would not run for re-election. My
concern was that the growing preoccupation first with the midterm
elections, then with a re-election campaign in 2012, would begin to draw
away the administration's energy and focus. Already, the president's
attention as well as that of his team has shifted.
By Frida Ghitis
02 Sep 2010 |
World Politics Review
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Sri Lanka has always
held a special place in the hearts of global strategists. In earlier
centuries, Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial invaders sought to
exploit its riches, but they also coveted the island for its location.
Now, in what may become the Chinese Century, it is Beijing that has its
sights on the country
formerly known as Ceylon.
By David Axe
01 Sep 2010 |
World Politics Review
Torrential monsoon rains since late July have flooded Pakistan's Swat
Valley and portions of neighboring Afghanistan, killing nearly 2,000
people and displacing around 2 million. Relief efforts have included
deployments of troops and helicopters by the Pakistan military, the NATO
force in Afghanistan and, perhaps surprisingly, the nascent Afghan air
corps.
By Richard Weitz
31 Aug 2010 |
World Politics Review
The National Research Council recently released a
report warning that U.S. nuclear forensics capacity was dangerously eroding, despite renewed government
efforts to bolster it. Although the report has identified important problems with the resources
and strategy employed for U.S. nuclear forensics, it does not address
some fundamental problems with the application of the
concept of nuclear forensics.
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
29 Aug 2010 |
World Politics Review
While the world doesn't yet face a food crisis on par with the summer
of 2008, it's clear that the drought currently affecting the Black Sea
trio of Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan -- all big-time global exporters
of wheat and barley -- has suddenly made food inflation a primary
threat to the somewhat fragile and decidedly uneven global economic
recovery. At the very least, it reminds us just how tight global food
markets are.
By Nikolas Gvosdev
13 Aug 2010 |
World Politics Review
More than halfway through 2010, the Obama administration has made
some progress on a number of foreign policy challenges. There have been breakthroughs in Washington's
relations with Moscow, sanctions against Iran, operations in Afghanistan, and the U.S. troop wind down in Iraq. But these gains, while real, are nonetheless fragile and very reversible.
By Frida Ghitis
12 Aug 2010 |
World Politics Review
After the Obama administration shifted gears in its strategy to stop
Iran's nuclear program, moving from diplomacy to sanctions, a sense of
skepticism about its chances for success emanated from all corners. A consensus emerged that the weak U.N. sanctions would simply fail to
deter Iran's pursuit of nuclear know-how. Since the latest resolution's passage, however, much has transpired in many places.
By David Axe
11 Aug 2010 |
World Politics Review
Today, the
U.S. Navy is scrambling to preserve its dominance of the western
Pacific in the face of a rising Chinese military. But the emerging
AirSea Battle doctrine -- inspired by the 1980s' AirLand doctrine -- risks foundering for a lack of cash and hardware.
U.S.-allied governments that could help compensate for America's waning
resources might be turned off by AirSea Battle's risky aims and
aggressive overtones.
By Richard Weitz
10 Aug 2010 |
World Politics Review
One of the few positive outcomes of last July's disputed Iranian presidential election
and the failed U.S. diplomatic initiatives toward Iran was to make it
easier for the Obama administration to induce foreign governments to
adopt a harder stance towards Tehran. Although it is too early to judge the effects of the new
sanctions adopted by the EU and the United States, we can begin to assess the
administration's multilateral diplomacy.
By Thomas P.M. Barnett
09 Aug 2010 |
World Politics Review
Every step that China takes to build up its military
power naturally triggers a strong balancing desire throughout the rest
of Asia. But with none of those far-smaller economies looking to anger
"rising China," somebody needs to give voice to those fears and create
vehicles for organizing the sought-after balancing. That somebody can only be the United States.
By Nikolas Gvosdev
06 Aug 2010 |
World Politics Review
It's not unreasonable to think of Iraq as the new Lebanon
-- a fractious and not-so-united nation-state unable to form and
sustain coherent governments, and still tottering near the precipice of a
renewed civil war. If so, has the United States become its Syria? Put
differently, the United States may no longer be willing to engage in
open combat in Iraq, but it may have to maintain a military presence in
Mesopotamia far beyond any 2011 departure date, in order to provide a
certain degree of political stability in the country.