In The News

Can Afghanistan and Pakistan Prop Each Other Up?

Paula Newberg March 30, 2012
NATO is winding down its military operations in Afghanistan, leaving the nation only slightly more stable than when troops arrived in 2001. Security priorities drove aid, and Afghanistan and its neighbor Pakistan are now left in desperate need of good governance and nation-building. “Billions have been spent, but only a trickle was invested in Afghanistan's economic future,” explains Paula...

Neighbors Eye Iraq’s Sectarian Rift With Unease

Angus McDowall, Parisa Hafezi December 27, 2011
No one can say what might have eventually happened had the US not invaded Iraq and removed despot Saddam Hussein. Now shown the exit door by Iraqi leaders, US troops leave Iraq even as the entire Middle East is in tumult. In Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia, Syria, and other countries, citizens seek representative governments, while politicians are bitterly divided over secular and Islamist policies, as...

What Does Gaddafi's Fall Mean for Africa?

Mahmood Mamdani October 21, 2011
The brutal end of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi is a warning for despots who resist reforms. Too many African leaders follow the personality-based model of Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah rather than the state-building model of Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere, argues Mahmood Mamdani, a professor at Columbia and Makerere universities in an essay for Al Jazeera. Failure to establish sustainable institutions breeds...

The Arab Spring’s Unintended Consequences

Christopher Hill September 29, 2011
As the Arab Spring protests continue, the region endures repression and economic upheaval, to be exacerbated with impending US troop withdrawal from Iraq. Christopher Hill, former US assistant secretary of state for Asia during the Bush administration, links sectarian clashes with US withdrawal in Iraq in a Project Syndicate essay. A US-led international coalition deposed Iraq’s dictator, leading...

Message to Perry: Stop Banging on About Israel

Simon Schama September 28, 2011
Global communications put US politicians and presidential candidates on the world stage with constant scrutiny. Attempts by Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican candidate for US president, to blast President Barack Obama’s Middle East policies and support Israel, may have backfired, revealing an ignorance of history, US policies and security issues that’s alarming, argues author Simon Schama,...

The US Public Wants Disengagement

Bruce Stokes September 14, 2011
The United States has periodically withdrawn into its isolationist shell, particularly after wars. While much of the world looks to the United States to exercise strong leadership, otherwise polarized opinion within the US often finds common ground on at least one issue: expecting leaders to focus less attention on problems overseas. Recent surveys show the US could be heading towards such an...

An America Adrift

Paul Kennedy September 9, 2011
The 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks is a time of reflection, and historian Paul Kennedy analyzes the American responses and mood of the past decade. After 9/11, the US quickly invaded Afghanistan, putting the Taliban on the run. Then in March 2003, the US invaded Iraq, intent on deposing dictator Saddam Hussein who had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Kennedy offers anecdotal...