World Politics Review’s managing editor, Judah Grunstein, appeared on France 24’s panel discussion, The Debate, yesterday evening to discuss Syria’s role in an eventual ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Part one of the program can be found here. Part two can be found here.
In a national security transition that has generally been given high marks, Barack Obama seems to have stumbled for the first time, at least politically, by picking Leon Panetta to lead the agency. Interestingly (and perhaps reassuringly for those who might be given to wonder about Obama’s judgment in this matter, given Panetta’s complete lack of intelligence experience), the Los Angeles Times reports that Panetta appears not to have been Obama’s first pick. But the Obama team is now scrambling to defend the pick, not least to members of Congress, including the current and former Democratic chairwoman and chairman, respectively, […]
By now you might be aware of Foreign Policy’s online overhaul. If not, this rundown gives a good introduction. It’s an exciting collection of foreign policy voices, some of whom (Laura Rozen, Marc Lynch, SWJ) are already a part of our daily online itinerary, and others (Thom Ricks) who are likely to become additional stops. This is good for foreign policy coverage, and we couldn’t agree more with Joshua Keating’s observation that “We can’t imagine a better time to launch a project like this. . . .” At a moment when the country seems to be poised between the twin […]
I was glad to read this Daniel Levy post, because it means I can take the day off from blogging about Gaza.
I’m not really sure what motivates the derision in David Kenner’s FP Passport write-up of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s diplomatic activism, currently on display in the Israel-Hamas conflict: The French president has tasked himself with the modest goal ofnegotiating an immediate ceasefire to the carnage in Gaza. Even if hefails to score a diplomatic victory, his whirlwind tour will no doubtrepresent a triumph of travel booking. . . . The French taxpayers are getting precious few diplomatic victories fortheir money, but many headlines. And that seems to suit them just fine.Sarkozy’s trips have raised France’s international profile, much to thepleasure […]
Last week, Judah wondered why a dispute over gas payments between Russia and Ukraine only begins to be called a “gas war” when Gazprom cuts off the gas, but not when Ukraine refuses to pay for it. If there is indeed a tendency among the Western press (and blogs) to paint these sorts of conflicts as exclusively precipitated by Russia, then that might owe as much to an unwillingness to delve into the underlying economic issues as it does an inherent anti-Russian bias. So I’ve been turning to the financial press lately to get some alternative views. And, perhaps unsurprisingly, […]
Last week, the old, stubborn Somali president resigned, clearing the prime minister to sign a peace agreement with moderate Islamists that represents the last chance for the U.S.-back government to hang onto power. Taking advantage of the political drama, and the accelerating withdrawal of the war-weary Ethiopian army-of-occupation, one of the two main hardline Islamic groups — the Islamic Courts — advanced into Mogadishu and began taking over vacant police stations. “We have to show commitment to do our part in security, we want to help people feel secure,” Abdirahim Issa Adow, an ICU spokesman, told a reporter. U.S. Africa […]
I wrote in these pages and said on the TV program Worldfocus on Friday that Israel had appeared to adopt more modest goals at the outset of Operation Cast Lead than it did in the 2006 war against Hezbollah. But with Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza, that assessment now looks potentially off the mark. Israel may now be looking to do something more than merely degrade Hamas’ rocket-attack capability and may now want to seize this opportunity to deal a more decisive and lasting blow to Hamas as a military and political force. It’s unclear, however, whether Israel has expanded […]
Without getting too blogged down in Gaza, I’d like to respond to some criticisms that have been raised to a recent post, both here on the WPR blog, and in comments at Friday Lunch Club. I’ll start with Petra’s welcome feedback, which adds needed perspective in a pitch-perfect tone, something rare for this isssue. Indeed, one of the reasons I usually try to avoid writing too much about it isbecause it requires a long list of caveats, which I might one day takethe time to compose and link to each time I get the urge to weigh in,but which essentially […]
In a recent postaptly entitled “Bringing the Negotiating Table to Hamas,” Judahtempered his critical view of Israeli policies with the acknowledgementthat he was writing “from the comfort of a Paris apartment, beyondmissile range from Gaza.” Indeed, things look quite different fromwhere I live, which is just on the outskirts of Tel Aviv-Yaffo — andjust on the edge of the area threatened by missiles from Gaza. When Ilook south from my balcony, I can see Ashdod, which has already been struck by missiles with deadly consequences. This goes to illustrate that Israel is simply too small a countryto leave its southern […]
Nouri al-Maliki, now that you’ve returned the Green Zone to Iraqi sovereignty and placed American troops under Iraqi jurisdiction, what are you going to do next?
Score one for the good guys. Unfortunately, the bad guys were captured and returned to Somalia, where they will be on shore leave in the nearest cathouse tried in a Somali court, asap.
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Ten days ago, I referred to this M.K. Bhadrakumar piece in Asia Times Online as “speculation.” In the meantime, things have moved pretty quickly, and the direction they’re headed in lends increasing weight to the scenario Bhadrakumar sketched out. In a nutshell, the Afghanistan Surge is essentially a done deal, with logistical preparations for an additional 30K troops already underway. That, in turn, creates a need for more secure supply lines than is presently the case via land routes through Pakistan. There are essentially three alternatives: the East-West Corridor by boat, rail and road via Georgia-Azerbaijan-Turkemenistan; airlift via Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan […]
It’s hard not to read this Army War College monograph by Sherifa Zuhur on the broader Osrael-Hamas conflict (i.e., written in December before the recent round of escalation) without feeling a tragic sense of missed opportunity about the past two years. For me that begins with the American and Israeli decision to exacerbate the Fatah-Hamas split following the latter’s 2006 electoral victory, and to move ahead with a separate Israel-PA peace track. I also think that Israel could have taken a more courageous position with regard to building on the truce that just expired. I recognize that I write that […]
Without harboring any naivete regarding Russia/Gazprom’s use of energy supplies as a geopolitical weapon, it seems odd that a pricing dispute suddenly becomes a “gas war” (Danger Room) when Russia shuts off the gas, but not when Ukraine stops paying for it. Whether or not Ukraine owed $1.5 billion or $2.1 billion for November and December deliveries, they hadn’t made the payment (NY Times). And that’s independent of the price for 2009 deliveries. Michael Hancock, writing at Registan.net, says: This comes as just another step towards normal usage of gas and oil aspolitical tools. The idea that some resources or […]