I wasn’t there to hear horror stories. The refugees that gathered in the living room of the house in this small village outside of Sarajevo were participants in a community garden project. In urban plots throughout Bosnia, families from different faiths and backgrounds coaxed vegetables from the ground and rebuilt relationships shattered by war. The… Continue reading Speak Memory
After the attacks in Mumbai last week, should the United States bomb suspected terrorist cells in India? Send the Marines to Kashmir where one of the suspected groups behind the attacks — Lashkar-e-Taiba — originates? Or initiate regime change in Pakistan, which has provided support for several terrorist outfits operating in South Asia? These are,… Continue reading Bomb India?
During his campaign, Barack Obama the candidate played it safe. He gave careful answers in the debates. He didn’t provide detailed foreign policy proposals. He spoke of the need for change, but stressed decisions he made in the past — like voting against the invasion of Iraq — rather than the decisions he planned to… Continue reading Foreign Policy for Obama Should Be Approached with a Broad Vision
George Fernandes, the Indian socialist trade union leader and politician, was a prominent opponent of nuclear weapons. That is, until he became India’s Defense Minister in 1998. That year, India detonated its first nuclear bomb and officially entered the nuclear club. Fernandes, the former peacenik, had become the country’s number-one nukes booster. Do appointments shape… Continue reading Not-So-Pearly Gates
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is nosediving in the polls, its gaffe-prone prime minister Taro Aso has acquired a reputation as his party’s funeral director, and a pivotal election may transform the Japanese political landscape before September. Particularly at stake is the country’s military and foreign policy. Currently, Japan is caught between its “peace… Continue reading Aiming for Middle Power Status
(Editor’s note: The author presented a different version of this paper at the International Symposium on North Korean Human Rights, sponsored by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, in Seoul in October.) In the evolving U.S. policy toward North Korea, human rights considerations and national security concerns have competed for precedence. During President George… Continue reading Engaging Pyongyang on Human Rights
The world isn’t flat. When it comes to the global economy, the world slopes upward. The 190-odd countries in the world, roped together in various-sized groups, are groping their way toward the top of this mountain. The summit — and now you know why they are called “economic summits” — is shrouded in mist. The… Continue reading Group Grope
As Barack Obama assembles his foreign policy team, he appears to be drawing from two primary sources: the Clinton faithful and Republican renegades. These old dogs might be up for some new tricks, but one risk of relying on such “experience” could be the triumph of conventional thinking in Washington — when the world expects,… Continue reading The North Korean Conundrum
The United States, so obsessed with policing its own borders, shows precious little concern for those of other countries. When it comes to waging war, the Pentagon is like a little kid with crayons and a coloring book. It has great difficulty staying within the lines. Last week, for instance, Special Ops carried out a… Continue reading Bombers without Borders
Americans worship guns. We stockpile nuclear weapons, we spend hundreds of billions of dollars on conventional weapons, and we keep handguns under our pillows. Not me, you might say: never touched a gun, never will. But you can still be part of the religion without visiting the church. Consider all the video games that involve… Continue reading The Religion of Guns