U.S. Foreign Policy Archive

Iraq’s refugees tell heartbreaking accounts of suffering, displacement, and shattered dreams, but these refugees represent more than mere human interest stories. Collectively, the outpouring of millions of Iraqi refugees into a very small number of neighboring countries poses a dramatic security threat to the Middle East, and there is no sign that threat is going away. In the lead up to the Iraq war, most of the U.S. government discussion about refugees assumed that refugee flows would be sudden, massive and brief. When more than a million Kurds fled Iraq into Turkey and Iran in 1991 to avoid Saddam’s wrath, […]

In his role as national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie is one of the key figures in the Iraqi government. Shortly before General David H. Petraeus presented his Iraq report to the U.S. Congress on Sept. 10, reporter Urs Gehriger of the Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche met with Rubaie at his home in Baghdad. In a 90-minute interview, the British-trained neurologist spoke about progress in Iraq, continuing challenges, and the consequences of a withdrawal of American troops. World Politics Review presents this wide-ranging interview for the first time in English. -o- Next week will be a crucial moment for Iraq. General […]

TEL AVIV, Israel — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Middle East this week, and while her stay in the region may be short, her to-do list is very, very long. Just two months before a Mideast peace conference is scheduled to be held in Washington, the meeting’s exact purpose, agenda, and list of participants remains the subject of much speculation. Indeed, recent rumor even has it that the November conference might not take place at all, because the Palestinians are doubtful about its prospects. Palestinian reticence to attend the conference may still turn out to be a […]

PARIS — There has been much talk of late of impending “changes” in French foreign policy. New French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s programmatic speech last month on foreign policy matters — and especially his remarks on the “unacceptability” of an Iran armed with nuclear weapons — first spurred such discussions. Then came the publication last week of former French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine’s commissioned report to the French President on globalization and French foreign policy. Védrine, a Socialist, served as Foreign Minister from 1997-2002 in the government of Lionel Jospin, in which capacity he famously qualified American counter-terrorism efforts in the […]

Rumors that Fidel Castro is dead are again electrifying gossip circuits on the streets of Havana, at the favored hangouts of Cuban exiles along Miami’s Calle Ocho, and in some corners of the blogosphere. The Cuban President, who handed power “temporarily” to his brother Raúl more than a year ago, has not appeared in a new video or photograph in almost three months. But Fidel maintains a presence in print, regularly publishing lengthy disquisitions about wide ranging subjects. His most recent, an analysis of presidential politics in the United States, brought back memories of the last time I saw the […]