Watching Protesters Risk It All

Posted by , 24th February 2011

bahrain protestsNicholas D. Kristof
2/21/2011

In Bahrain, witnessing the protests seems like the Arab version of 1776, with people standing up for democracy in the face of a tyrant monarch even in the face of violence and possible death until President Obama pressured the king to stop shooting his people. The United States has for too long embraced corrupt and repressive autocracies in the Middle East out of fear that a democratic movement might be hostile to us. Kristof looks at the schism between the corrupt Sunni minority in Bahrain and the Shia majority and how the Sunnis receive favorable treatment that has led to the protests.

Kristof is a New York Times columnist.

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The ‘Long War’ May Be Getting Shorter

Posted by , 24th February 2011

Afghan warNathaniel Fick and John Nagl
2/21/2011

There is increasing evidence that Afghanistan is moving in a more positive direction than many analysts think and the country can achieve the stability and self-reliance necessary for a draw-down over the next four years. There are an additional 30,000 troops on the ground, more high-tech intelligence resources, and an increase in the Afghan Army troop strength. Two problems that still exist include the corruption of the Afghan government and the complicity of some Pakistanis with the insurgency, but military and civilian leaders are establishing a task force to investigate and expose corruption and are shoring up the parts of the border that the Taliban uses with Pakistan.

Fick, a former Marine captain, is the chief executive of the Center for a New American Security. Nagl, a former Army lieutenant colonel, is the president of the center.

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Beijing and the Arab Revolt

Posted by , 24th February 2011

Arab RevoltsBret Stephens
2/22/2011

Seen from a distance, the Arab revolts of 2011 all seem connected and broadly similar. Yet Stephens notes that on closer inspection, the convulsing states of the Arab world are each undergoing distinct revolutions. Events in Bahrain in the last two weeks have sent a tiny but telling shot across China’s gigantic bow. Even though it has a per capita GDP of $27,000, women can vote, and the country is an excellent place to invest, Bahrainis lack real political freedom. As such, conditions are ripe for a bourgeois revolt. Beijing has been censoring news about the Arab revolt and putting down small but widespread protests that draw inspiration from it. But Bahrain proves–to Beijing’s horror–that economic growth will not save it. Until they grant their people democracy, their quest for discipline will only hasten their demise.

Stephens writes ‘Global View’ for the Journal.

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Where is Boehner and Obama’s courage to lead?

Posted by , 18th February 2011

USARuth Marcus
2/16/2011

Marcus cites recent examples of House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama failing to lead effectively. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Boehner dodged questions about his role in leading Republicans toward the facts about Obama’s citizenship and religion. Boehner claimed it was not his job to tell Americans what to think, yet Marcus contends that he tells citizens what to think about other issues, such as Obamacare. As for President Obama, his leadership failure comes in the form of a hands-off approach to the budget. The president would not directly confront the tax code or entitlement spending, leaving the issues hanging and sending the message that discussions would not resume until 2013. Apparently, the “cowardly state of politics” in modern America is not exclusive to any political party.

Marcus is an editorial writer for The Post, specializing in American politics, campaign finance, the federal budget and taxes, and other domestic issues.

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Obama’s Louis XV budget

Posted by , 18th February 2011

ObamaCharles Krauthammer
2/18/2011

Despite Obama’s claims that he is imposing “painful cuts” on spending, Krauthammer runs the numbers to reveal that these cuts actually result in government spending on “stratospheric levels.” The cuts themselves come from an emergency-level, inflated base, and the amount of the cuts ($1.1 trillion over the next decade) is accompanied by $7.2 trillion in new spending (with $2 trillion of that coming from tax increases) over the same amount of time. At the end of the decade, the US will be burdened with a deficit three times the level it was when Obama took office. Yet the president continues to ignore entitlement spending and proposals of tax reform and presents a “cynical” budget that forfeits the future while setting Obama up for re-election.

Krauthammer is a weekly columnist for The Post, writing on foreign and domestic policy and politics.

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Obama Isn’t Trying to ‘Weaken America’

Posted by , 14th February 2011

obama_contemptMichael Medved
2/14/2011

Some conservatives call the president the political equivalent of a suicide bomber: so consumed with hatred that he’s willing to blow himself up in order to inflict casualties on a society he loathes. Against this, Medved says the White House record of more than 200 years shows plenty of bad decisions but no bad men. For all their foibles, no president ever displayed disloyal or treasonous intent. He criticizes Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin for hyperbole in criticizing Obama. For 2012, Medved says Republicans face a daunting challenge in running against the president, which becomes impossible if they’re also perceived as running against the presidency.

Medved hosts a daily, nationally syndicated radio show and is the author of “The 5 Big Lies About American Business” (recently out in paperback by Three Rivers Press).

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The Misleading Metaphor of Decline

Posted by , 14th February 2011

us-flagJoseph Nye
2/14/2011

Nye reflects on whether the US is in decline. He considers the rising power of China and other future challengers to American hegemony. America, he writes, is likely to remain more powerful than any single state in the coming decades. At the same time, it will certainly face a rise in the power resources of states and nonstate actors. America’s capacity to maintain alliances and create networks will be an important dimension of its hard and soft power. What it needs now is a vision that combines domestic reforms with smart strategies for the international deployment of its power in an information age.

Nye is a professor at Harvard and author of “The Future of Power” (Public Affairs, 2011).

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Reviving Japan

Posted by , 11th February 2011

Japan Prime Minister KanDavid Abraham
2/11/2011

Late last month, Japanese PM Kan proclaimed 2011 to be the “third opening of Japan”, equating his agenda to the great waves of transformation that swept the country in the mid-19th century and in the years after World War II. That will sound hyperbolic to anyone familiar with economically moribund, politically fragmented Japan, but his aspirations should not be dismissed out of hand. Kan can reopen his nation’s economy–the world’s third largest–to competition, and Kan has shown that he understands Japan’s competitiveness problem and has managed to push forward some substantive changes. This suggests that Kan has at least some capacity to address it.

Abraham is a Hitachi international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and previously worked as a sovereign analyst at Lehman Brothers.

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From freedom agenda to freedom doctrine

Posted by , 11th February 2011

Egyptian2011ProtestsBCharles Krauthammer
2/11/2011

The United States needs to adopt a Freedom Doctrine that unabashedly supports democracy throughout the Middle East. Such a doctrine would include aiding emerging democracies in throwing off dictatorships and protection for new democracies against regional and global totalitarianism. It would allow time for key elements of democracy (such as a free press and independent political parties) to establish themselves before holding elections so as to avoid rogue coups coming to power and destroying the democracy that elected them. This is not reinventing the wheel, says Krauthammer. Similar foreign policy was implemented successfully in post WWII Europe and during the Cold War. A freedom agenda powered by guiding principles can be as effective now as it was in Truman’s day.

Krauthammer is a weekly columnist for The Post, writing on foreign and domestic policy and politics.

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