In The News

Europe Must Stop 'Fetishizing' American Relationship

Gregor Peter Schmitz November 4, 2009
Globalization is shifting the balance of power in the world. A new report from the European Council on Foreign Relations argues that European nations need to stop concentrating so much on relations with the United States and instead set clear foreign policy goals for themselves. The report observes the many ways in which EU nations worry about perceived slights from Americans, becoming entangled...

China’s North Korea Conundrum: How to Balance a Three Legged Stool

Jonathan D. Pollack October 23, 2009
China is caught in North Korea’s tangled web. As US Naval War College Professor Jonathan Pollack notes, despite offering economic life-support and friendly relations, Beijing does not seem able to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions nor can it extricate itself from supporting the isolated regime. And Pyongyang is taking full advantage: recognizing that China cannot cut its lifeline without...

Pakistan's Partial War on Terror

C. Christine Fair October 15, 2009
Pakistan is now reaping the bitter harvest of what it had sown by cultivating Islamic militants. Islamabad believed that it could use militants and terrorists to keep India in check and as a hedge for maintaining influence in Afghanistan should the US withdraw. But the recent uptick in suicide bombings and attacks across Pakistan along with evidence of how the Pakistani and Afghani Taliban and Al...

Germany’s Boring Election Masks Troubles Ahead

Bruce Stokes October 12, 2009
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s win in the recent German election could bring trouble for Berlin’s allies both in Europe and abroad. Though the elections were some of the dullest in history, according to commentator Bruce Stokes, the make-up of the new government – Christian Democrat and Free Democrat – is likely to lead to divisions with international allies over jumpstarting the economy and...

Brazil Flexes Muscles over Honduras Crisis

Jens Glüsing October 12, 2009
For nearly all of Brazil's history in which quiet diplomacy has been its tradition, the central government has favored a quiet diplomatic approach. Now, the country’s emerging economic clout and the popularity of President Lula's regime has freed the government to push its will in foreign affairs. With the political strife in Honduras and ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya seeking...

Afghan Peace Needs a Map

Li Qinggong October 8, 2009
The war in Afghanistan has become mired by a lack of strategic vision on the part of the Western alliance amid turmoil both in the country and abroad. In an article published in China’s official China Daily, Li Qinggong, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Council for National Security Policy Studies notes, the war is a “source of ceaseless turbulence” that has not brought peace, security, or...

Nuclear Challenge from Pakistan and Iran – Part II

Leonard S. Spector October 7, 2009
Iran’s surprise revelation of a nuclear facility near the city of Qom was not such a surprise given that Western intelligence agents already knew of the site. The consensus analysis was that Iran revealed the existence of the site precisely because it had been discovered. But Leonard S. Spector, Director of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, believes the revelation was...