Briefing Archive

One reason why President Obama and other very senior U.S. officials personally met with a select group of leading columnists and opinion writers at the White House last week was to highlight the often overlooked progress his administration has achieved in securing comprehensive European support for the U.S. policy toward Iran. Although it is too early to judge the effects of the new sanctions adopted by the EU and the United States independently and collectively through the United Nations, we can begin to assess the administration’s multilateral diplomacy. At least in the case of Europe, that diplomacy seems to be […]

Few pages in the American political playbook have proven more resilient over the last decade than blaming China’s undervalued currency, the yuan, when the U.S. economy sags. When Beijing announced last month that it was unpegging its currency from the dollar and implementing a more flexible exchange rate system, it came after more than a year’s worth of constant but unsuccessful pestering from Congress and the Obama administration. Now, with more than a month of this new “flexible” regime in the books, American politicians are unimpressed with the yuan’s paltry appreciation against the dollar, and are once again calling for […]

In late-July, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gently put China on notice regarding its increasingly aggressive claims over the near-entirety of the South China Sea by proposing a formal international legal process to resolve territorial disputes there. Naturally, the Chinese were not pleased, but the proposal was a great move by the Obama administration. 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 […]

Leaders from Mexico’s National Action Party (PAN) and the Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD) recently announced their intention to run on a joint ticket in the 2011 race for the governorship of the state of Guerrero, and have begun talks to collaborate in an additional four state races. The announcement follows July’s defeat of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) at the hands of the PAN-PRD alliance in gubernatorial races held in three PRI strongholds — Oaxaca, Puebla and Sinaloa — and signals the increasing collaboration between Mexico’s main center-right (PAN) and center-left (PRD) parties as the 2012 presidential contest nears. The […]

This week, President Barack Obama reaffirmed U.S. plans to end its combat mission in Iraq at the end of August, and to pull out the 50,000 troops that will remain past that date in a supporting, advisory role by the end of 2011. The president emphatically stated that “we will maintain a transitional force until we remove all our troops from Iraq by the end of next year.” 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 […]

Unless you have been living under a rock, the news that China has become the world’s top energy consumer should not have been surprising. For some years now, China has been steadily marching up the global energy consumer rankings, an ascension that was expedited by the severity of the recession’s impact in the U.S. The International Energy Agency (IEA), whose data confirmed the dubious milestone, called it a “new age in the history of energy.” Even if it is not entirely surprising, the news does beg further analysis because of its implications for global energy markets and international affairs. It […]

BEIJING — Over the past decade and more, China has capitalized on critical transformations in the global landscape to forge new patterns of political and economic influence and significantly further its national interests. But in so doing, it has also become exposed to a growing matrix of risks to its capacity for continued international expansion. While this exposure has rendered China more vulnerable to external actors and threats, the greatest obstacles facing the country’s future trajectory ultimately come from structural deficiencies in the domestic political economy. In the international arena, although China’s most recent gains have been impressive, much of […]

Early this Monday, a small barrage of rockets struck the Red Sea cities of Eilat, in Israel and Aqaba, in Jordan. The missiles, which appeared to come from the Sinai, inside Egyptian territory, killed one Jordanian man and injured five. While few doubted the main target of the attack was Israel, it was less clear who exactly launched the rockets. Jordanian authorities claimed they had proof the strikes had originated in Egypt, while Egypt promptly blamed Hamas, which quickly denied any responsibility. Once again, Hamas and Egypt found themselves in a familiar position — on opposite sides of a dispute. […]

LIMA, Peru — With the entire western Amazon experiencing oil and mining booms, indigenous groups in the Amazon Basin and the Andes — already fighting encroachment by loggers and small-scale farmers, or else struggling to obtain title for their ancestral land — have now stepped up their resistance to efforts to exploit oil reserves, mineral deposits and other natural resources in and nearby their communities. In response, the region’s presidents have accused native leaders and environmentalists who help them of everything from terrorism to being U.S. lackeys. The trends cut across ideological divides. Peruvian President Alan Garcia has taken a […]

It was a shocking discovery. On July 2, agents from the Ecuadorian military and police, acting on a tip from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, raided a smugglers’ camp deep in Ecuador’s jungle. Among rickety buildings and some scattered equipment lay a 100-foot-long submarine, half-submerged in a muddy channel. The diesel- and electrically powered vessel, constructed partially of fiberglass and capable of carrying six people and up to 12 tons of cargo fully underwater, was clearly designed to smuggle multi-million-dollar shipments of cocaine, most likely to the major drug markets in the U.S Smugglers have been using low-riding, hard-to-spot semi-submersible […]

NEW DELHI — Last week’s visit to India by Burma’s military ruler, Gen. Than Shwe, during which several bilateral agreements and treaties were signed, highlighted the tensions in New Delhi’s policy toward the isolated Southeast Asian country. The red carpet welcome that New Delhi accorded to Than sparked protests by Burmese refugees, who in addition to denouncing Than as a murderer and dictator, argued that a democratic Burma would better serve India’s strategic interests. India once openly supported the Burmese democracy movement led by Aung San Suu Kyi. But in the 1990s, it changed course and stepped up engagement with […]

According to Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadij, the insurgent group is very happy about the Dutch military withdrawal from Afghanistan that began on Sunday. “We want to wholeheartedly congratulate the citizens and government of the Netherlands for having the courage . . . to take this independent decision,” Ahmadij told the Dutch daily Volkskrant, adding that, “We hope that other countries with troops stationed in Afghanistan will follow the Netherlands’ example.” Ahmadij’s remarks, though intended to be provocative, in fact raise key questions — namely, how many other countries will indeed follow the Netherlands’ example, and how quickly. The decision […]

Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada’s reiteration of support last week for the Iranian fuel swap proposal outlined in the Tehran Declaration is the latest sign of a strategic reorientation in Japanese international nuclear policy. That this announcement was accompanied by reports of Japan exploring the possibility of constructing quake-resistant nuclear plants in Iran is further indication that a shift in Japanese nuclear diplomacy is being effected — one that doesn’t necessarily adhere to a U.S.-led approach, but instead seeks to leverage Japan’s inherent strengths in the global nuclear renaissance to advance its own geopolitical interests. Despite being the only country […]

American public diplomacy has been the subject of many reports and much discussion over the past few years. But one rarely examined element is the true impact of the Smith-Mundt Act of 1948, which for all practical purposes labels U.S. public diplomacy and government broadcasting as propaganda. The law imposes a geographic segregation of audiences between those inside the U.S. and those outside it, based on the fear that content aimed at audiences abroad might “spill over” into the U.S. This not only shows a lack of confidence and understanding of U.S. public diplomacy and international broadcasting, it also ignores […]

Disney is picking up steam in China, and in addition to bringing cartoon characters, theme parks, and Americana, it’s also bringing the English language. U.S. policymakers should take notice. During the next five years, Disney will spearhead a massive expansion of English-language schools in China, from a mere 11 today to 148 by 2015. According to Russell Hampton, president of Disney Publishing Worldwide, the expansion could deliver operating earnings of more than $100 million. In other words, teaching English is good for business. But it can also deliver strategic benefits in terms of trade, public diplomacy and even military strength. […]