WPR Blog Archive

President Barack Obama makes a video for the Iranian government and people, saying, “Happy New Year, guys. I’m willing to talk if you’re willing to change your behavior.” The Iranian government says, “Thanks, but we’re kind of busy organizing an Af-Pak summit of our own. Oh, and by the way, Syria’s still our friend, and no, we won’t forego domestic uranium enrichment, especially if it’s that loser, Gordon Brown, who asks us to. Anyway, thanks again for the New Year’s wishes. When you’re ready to actually change some policies of your own, you know where to find us.” Of note […]

MONROVIA, Liberia — One of the most interesting developments in post-war Liberia over the past three years has been the emergence of the Chinese presence. In addition to building themselves a lavish new embassy, the Chinese have been making major investments in education and infrastructure. On the way in from the airport last night, I passed several road crews working under flood lights, each with a nattily dressed Chinese foreman guiding the effort. Another of their more visible projects is a $4 million investment in the rebuilding of the Liberian government’s radio broadcasting network. In exchange for all the new […]

World PoliticsReview managing editor, Judah Grunstein, appeared on France 24’s French-language paneldiscussion program, Le Débat, to discuss France’s reintegration of the NATO integrated military command, alongside Paul Quilès (former minister of defense under François Mitterand), Guillaume de Rougé and Jean-Louis Dufour. Part one can be seen here. Part two can be seen here.

Spencer Ackerman introduces us to the new SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander Europe, otherwise known as NATO’s military commander), Adm. James Stavridis. It’s the first time a Naval officer has held the post. Note that the alliance, along with the rest of the world, is currently engaged in anti-piracy patrols off of Somalia. That also corresponds to a shift in strategic focus among Western general staffs towards the Indian Ocean and Asia as the most likely threat horizon, with an emphasis on naval rivalries. This is admittedly tea-leaf reading, but I wonder if this doesn’t represent Washington’s desire to reassert the […]

The Polish daily Gazeta (via Nicolas Gros-Verheyde) is reporting that Poland is planning to send 400 more troops to Afghanistan. That might seem like good news for an Obama administration that has been lowering its expectations for European troop increases. (And yes, any good news on European troop increases will number in the hundreds, not the thousands.) But the reason why the Poles are likely to send the reinforcements is cause for some concern: The 1,600 Polish troops in Ghazni province are in for an exceptionallystormy spring and summer. U.S. forces will be pushing the Taliban out ofthe Kabul region […]

Here’s what Mark Thoma has to say about where West is (via Andrew Sullivan): The key, then, is to have good jobs waiting for workers when they aredisplaced due to inevitable (and desirable) technological change or tojobs moving overseas, jobs that are every bit as good or better thanthe jobs they left. That is where we are falling short. The new jobs weare creating are not as good as the jobs we are losing, when workersare forced to find new jobs they don’t tend to do as well as they didin their previous job, and that is the source some […]

I’ve said this before, but the militarization of the Afghan economy doesn’t strike me as an effective way to pacify the place. This picture by Josh Foust (more here) of FOB Salerno in Khost Province, Afghanistan, got me thinking that essentially what we’re modelling in Iraq (the Green Zone) and Afghanistan is the most extreme version of the American gated community. But when a gated community is inhabited primarily by soldiers (yes, I’m exagerrating to make the point), it becomes a garrison. Apparently that’s what’s left of the nation-building approach.

Nikolas Gvosdev echoes a lot of what I’ve been writing and thinking about NATO and the EU in recent weeks: NATO expanded at a time when Russia seemed prostrate and Article 5commitments could be extended without much thought — then came theRussia-Georgia war. Plus NATO’s continued unraveling over Afghanistandoesn’t inspire much confidence. Twenty years ago, NATO as asmaller group was much more formidable — and the EU was born atMaastricht with a smaller number of states whose economies were muchmore aligned. Are either stronger today as a result of expansion? I’m not sure if “stronger” is the right word. I’d […]

How’s this for infrastructure stimulus spending (via 2point6billion): The Kra Canal Project, which would link the South China Sea directlyto the Indian Ocean by cutting across the Thai isthmus, has shownrecent signs of being reactivated given the economic benefits it wouldbring to the region as well as the continuing problems with piracy inthe Straits of Malacca and the current route for trade to and fromIndia and South-East Asia to China. The canal, which was first recognized as a potential for boostingtrade in 1677, would have the same impact on South-East Asia as thePanama and Suez Canals have had elsewhere. The […]

Dan Drezner is bearish on the prospects of negotiations with Iran yielding any major concessions on its nuclear program: Pragmatically, I seriously doubt that the United States can offeranything to get Tehran to halt its nuclear program. This leads to oneof two possible decisions: pre-emptive action to delay the program, oraccepting the inevitable. Contra Cohen, the most pragmatic thing for the United Statesto do is to expect nothing fruitful to come from negotiations with Iran– and to (nonviolently) prepare for the contingency of a nuclear Iran. A question to myrealist colleagues here at FP — why on God’s green earth […]

In a piece over at Foreign Affairs’ revamped Website, Rawi Abdelal and Adam Segal echo what I’ve been saying about the impact of the global financial crisis on this round of globalization. Namely, that as big as the economic challenges of the crisis are, the political challenge it presents might be bigger: The current crisis has caused the destruction of value, the contractionof capital, a decline in consumption, and an increase in unemployment.But its ultimate impact may be even more pervasive, because the crisishas further undermined the political legitimacy of the free movement ofcapital, goods, and services. The legitimacy problem […]

Things are moving quickly in Madagascar as the military has effectively taken control of the government. The next step is uncertain but it is clear that while opposition figure Andry Rajoelina talks democracy he is also willing to let the military rather than the electorate put facts on the ground. The question is whether supporters of President Marc Ravalomanana are going going to accept the military’s action or will Madagascar be in for Kenyan and Zimbabwean type political showdowns? Meanwhile, in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, confrontations between the country’s two main political parties sparked a day of violence. […]

This is just a re-occuring, random thought that’s been bouncing around in my head for the past few weeks, but I thought I’d air it out: Is there something peculiar to the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars that explains why the literature to emerge from them is almost exclusively non-fiction, whether war memoirs or war reporting? Or does that just reflect on the current state of the publishing industry? My hunch is that it’s both. Or to be more specific, it’s a reflection of the professionalization of the military. To be sure, there were plenty of war memoirs to come out […]

The folks over at Foreign Policy were kind enough to invite WPR managing editor Judah Grunstein to contribute a piece on France’s reintegration of NATO. Here’s a taste: Sarkozy’s decision is part of a broader shift towardreaffirming France’s place in what he calls the “family of the West” — aproject he began upon taking office in May 2007. In concrete terms, that hasmeant a more vocal opposition to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a recommitment tothe NATO war effort in Afghanistan, and demonstrations of French solidaritywith U.S. objectives in Iraq. All of those initiatives have generated charges of apro-American alignment. But with […]

President Barack Obama took office promising to extend an “open hand” to the Islamic World. But what will the effort entail? In its latest set of feature articles, WPR examines “The Open Hand: Engaging Islam.” Nathan Field looks at “The Re-Education of Radical Islam,” Shadi Hamid examines “Democracy Promotion in the Aftermath of Iraq,” and R.S. Zaharna tackles “Obama, Public Diplomacy and the Islamic World.” All of our features articles require a subscription for access. But, for a limited time, anyone can sign up here for a free four-month trial to our subscription product. In addition to the benefit of […]

Most Americans know about Madagascar, located in the Indian ocean off the coast of Africa, from the eponymous Disney animal movie featuring the feuding lemurs and fossas. Indeed, the fauna of the world’s 4th-largest island is spectacular. The human side of Madagascar, on the other hand, is not such a fun place these days. In what is amounting to a blood feud in which over 100 people have died, President Marc Ravalomanana refuses to cede power to Andry Rajoelina, the upstart former mayor of Antananarivo, the island’s capital. (Rajoelina is also a former DJ and media owner.) For the moment, […]

Friend (and former assistant editor) of WPR Michael Wilkerson sent in this piece on Kim Jong-il’s relentless and now successful pursuit of nuclear weapons capacity pizza. It’s reassuring to know that the number one priority of Stanford undergrads has not changed considerably since my days on the Farm twenty-odd years ago. Less reassuring to know that we’ve been sharing it all these years with Kim.