Nicholas 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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Nathaniel 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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Bret 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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Charles 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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Mohamed ElBaradei
2/11/2011

ElBaradei lists the problems facing Egypt, including poverty, illiteracy, and being listed as a failed state, while people live in a state of fear and repression where democracy has been denied to its people. Young people have been preparing for this moment through the Internet, which gave them opportunities for expression and assembly that their government did not. The tipping point was the Tunisian revolution, which sent them the message that they, too, could succeed. President Mubarak can no longer hold on to power that is no longer his, ElBaradei says. He outlines the actions needed next to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition of power to a new Egypt based on freedom and social justice.

ElBaradei, as the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. He is the author of the forthcoming book “The Age of Deception: Nuclear Diplomacy in Treacherous Times.”

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Matthew Kaminski
12/22/2010

The surge in Afghanistan is a wager that we can make the country a less violent and more stable base for America. Kaminski notes that America’s forces aren’t leaving anytime soon and probably not in this lifetime. Where the US military has gone in robustly, the Taliban has folded. The Afghan government’s shortcomings feed the insurgency. President Karzai squandered nine years, but the Taliban is hated. Only a tenth of Afghans tell pollsters they prefer them, and their sympathy is often as much practical as ideological. Afghans want the state to protect and serve them. In the many places it fails, the Taliban steps into the gap. Kaminski argues that giving up prematurely on our Afghan surge could make the fantasy of failure real.

Kaminski is a member of the Journal’s editorial board.

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Bartle Bull
12/21/2010

Nine months has been a long time to wait for a new government in Iraq, but the process has happened peacefully and constitutionally, and Bull is encouraged by that. There is evidence that Iraq can avoid much of the “oil curse” and build a more cosmopolitan and modern economy than those of its autocratic neighbors. Iraq’s greatest resource is its famously resourceful, tough, educated, and enterprising people. Whereas the capitals of the Gulf oil monarchies did not have paved streets a generation or two ago, Baghdad and Basra are ancient capitals of commerce, ideas, and global finance. However, Iraq still faces the challenge of overcoming inefficient bureaucracy, rampant corruption, and sporadic violence.

Bull, a former journalist, is a founder of Northern Gulf Partners, an Iraq-focused investment bank.

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Douglas Murray
12/15/2010

It’s a story that is becoming as familiar as the traditional nativity: ordinary young man goes to Britain, most likely to study, and comes out an Islamic extremist. While Sweden may change after its first suicide bombing, it is more urgent that things change in Britain. One-third of British Muslim students polled believe that killing in the name of their religion could be justified. Yet the government’s minister for higher education dismissed the findings. Murray concludes that if you had told Britons 20 years ago that this occurrence would become routine they would have laughed at you. But Britain is no longer the country it was.

Murray is the director of London’s Center for Social Cohesion.

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Robert Wright
12/14/2010

If there is no two-state solution to the situation between Israel and Palestine, Israel has two poor choices: give Palestinians the vote in occupied territories while the Arab birth rate makes Israeli Jews a minority or continue to deny the vote to Arabs, moving Israel toward global pariah status and giving terrorists propaganda to feed their calls for war. Wright says there is a third solution: have the United Nations create a Palestinian state now as it did a Jewish state. Although it would be tricky, it is better than the current state of affairs between Israel and Palestine.

Wright blogs for The New York Times on culture, politics, and world affairs.

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