MetaFilter posts tagged with foreignpolicy

Are nuclear weapons safe in Pakistan?

homunculus — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:44:09 -0800

Defending the Arsenal: In an unstable Pakistan, can nuclear warheads be kept safe?

When keeping it real(ist) goes wrong

aheckler — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 17:38:22 -0800

Back when he was younger, Jay-Z was a merciless, ruthless killer in the "beefs" which define hip hop politics. [...] As Jay-Z got older and more powerful, the marginal benefits of such battles declined and the costs increased even as the number of would-be rivals escalated. Just as the U.S. attracts resentment and rhetorical anti-Americanism simply by virtue of being on top, so did Jay-Z attract a disproportionate number of attackers.

Marc Lynch compares international relations to rap feuds, with Jay-Z as the hegemon and up-and-comer The Game as the "insurgent." Lynch's article inspired several reactions, and landed him an interview with NPR earlier today.

The Axis of Upheaval

homunculus — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 21:49:20 -0800

The Axis of Upheaval: A special report on the coming age of instability.

Pakistan's Jihadi Problem Worsens

homunculus — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 17:30:08 -0800

Pakistan in Peril. "The relative calm in Iraq in recent months, combined with the drama of the US elections, has managed to distract attention from the catastrophe that is rapidly overwhelming Western interests in the part of the world that always should have been the focus of America's response to September 11: the al-Qaeda and Taliban heartlands on either side of the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan." [Via]

Britain's torture of Obama's grandfather

jonesor — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 06:56:44 -0800

The Mau Mau rebellion against British rule in Kenya lasted from 1952 to 1960. Although there were atrocities on both sides, there has been a movement in Kenya to claim compensation from the British government for their actions. Obama's grandfather took part in the uprising (some have labelled him an "insurgent") and was captured and brutally tortured by the British. The UK press now asks what effect this family history will have on US policy towards Britain and terrorism: "he may draw the broader historical conclusion that the imposition of torture and repressive violence has a habit of undermining the political legitimacy of world-class powers".

Ending Chaos in Afghanistan and Pakistan

homunculus — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:09:19 -0800

From Great Game to Grand Bargain. "The crisis in Afghanistan and Pakistan is beyond the point where more troops will help. U.S. strategy must be to seek compromise with insurgents while addressing regional rivalries and insecurities." A new piece in Foreign Affairs by Barnett R. Rubin and Ahmed Rashid. [Via]

Leadership for the 21st Century

daHIFI — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:56:38 -0800

Leadership for the 21st Century Harvard Business School hosts moderator Charlie Rose in a roundtable discussion concerning the credit crisis, housing, American leadership and foreign affairs. Participants are the 2008 HBS Alumni Achievement Award recipients, including eBay (and McCain advisor) CEO Meg Whitman, GE CEO Jeff Immelt, Venture Capitalist extrordinaire John Doerr, Indian business juggernaut Anand G. Mahindra, and former World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn. This aired on PBS last night and it was some of the most honest, intelligent, and inspiring discussion I have heard in some time. While the only transcript I could find is a paid one here, this 100 minute video should be required viewing for anyone working in a fortune 500 company, or those interested in politics, environmentalism, technology, foreign policy or the election. I only caught the tail end of last night's airing, (and I'm watching the whole thing as I post this) but a couple of things that really stood out for me: Mahindra's statements regarding the schizophrenia of India toward America; Doerr's excitement on the potential for future innovation around climate change technology and call for the restoration of DARPA; and the general optimism of the participants, especially that of Immelt, whose company's stock is at a 50 year low. If the last half hour of this could light a fire under my butt, then I would love to see what the whole thing does to the Mefite population.

The Stakes

homunculus — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:34:17 -0800

The Stakes, 2008. Eight of the Washington Monthly's contributing editors "consider the looming challenges that America is likely to face—in the economy, education, the courts, and other areas—during an Obama or McCain presidency, and how, based on what we know about the two men, they are likely to handle them." Also in the Washington Monthly: The Grand Bargain: Five presidents have treated Iran as a threat. The next needs to think of it as an opportunity.

The Supreme Court and America’s international relations

homunculus — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 11:00:24 -0800

When Judges Make Foreign Policy. "In a globalized, post-9/11 age, decisions made by the Supreme Court are increasingly shaping America's international relations. When the next justice is appointed, our place in the world may well hang in the balance."

Oh sh*t.

phaedon — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 23:15:46 -0800

Palin on Foreign Policy.

Talibanistan

homunculus — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 22:45:22 -0800

Right at the Edge. "The Taliban and Al Qaeda have established a haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas along the Afghan border. This is where the war on terror wil be fought – and possibly lost."

Bacevich speaks to Moyer about the American Empire

geos — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 07:00:56 -0800

Ret. Col. Andrew Bacevich speaks to Bill Moyers (transcript) about the American empire and his new book "The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism."

The Top Public Intellectuals

vacapinta — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:17:16 -0800

Prospect/Foreign Policy release their list of the world's top public intellectuals(full list). Number 1? The Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen.

The rest of the top 10? The microfinancier Muhammad Yunus, the cleric Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the writer Orhan Pamuk, the politician Aitzaz Ahsan, the evangelist Amr Khaled, the philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush, the philosopher Tariq Ramadan, the cultural theorist Mahmood Mamdani and activist Shirin Ebadi. Sense a theme? Yes, all Muslims.
This is a striking turnabout from the 2005 poll topped by Chomsky, Eco and Dawkins.
What happened? Prospect Magazine explains. The Turkish newspaper Zaman weighs in. The UK's Independent is outraged. Fethulah Gulen defends himself .

Fragments of stealth

Abiezer — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 19:42:24 -0800

The F117A Swan Song, the Fall of the Belgrade Embassy...and China Rising China Matters blog offers a fascinating take on "the role that the Belgrade bombing seems to play as the creation myth of the birth of the 21st Chinese strategic military doctrine, founded on the assumption that the U.S. will unscrupulously use its military, diplomatic, and propaganda advantages not only to contain China but even to attack it when need, desire, and circumstances permit."

Admiral Fallon

homunculus — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:59:59 -0800

The Man Between War and Peace. "As head of U. S. Central Command, Admiral William 'Fox' Fallon is in charge of American military strategy for the most troubled parts of the world. Now, as the White House has been escalating the war of words with Iran, and seeming ever more determined to strike militarily before the end of this presidency, the admiral has urged restraint and diplomacy. Who will prevail, the president or the admiral?" [Via Think Progress.]

Welcome To [insert your name here]Land!

amyms — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:00:40 -0800

How To Start Your Own Country In Four Easy Steps. You’ve picked out a flag, written a national anthem, even printed up money with your face on it. But what’s the next step?

A Solar Grand Plan

homunculus — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:16:55 -0800

A Solar Grand Plan: By 2050 solar power could end U.S. dependence on foreign oil and slash greenhouse gas emissions. [Via Gristmill.] Previously mentioned here.

In the Shadow of Lal Masjid

Abiezer — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 20:22:40 -0800

The China Factor in Pakistani Politics "Pakistan’s alliance with China, which supports Islamabad’s confrontation with India and underpins its hopes for economic growth in its populous heartland, is probably a lot more important to Islamabad than the dangerous, destabilizing, and thankless task of pursuing Islamic extremists on its remote and impoverished frontiers at Washington’s behest."

The man who knew too much

homunculus — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 15:00:09 -0800

The man who knew too much. "He was the CIA's expert on Pakistan's nuclear secrets, but Rich Barlow was thrown out and disgraced when he blew the whistle on a US cover-up. Now he's to have his day in court."

It's Tuesday

chuckdarwin — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 05:15:38 -0800

Martin Amis on 9/11 and the cult of death:

"Let us briefly trundle through the argument for moral equivalence, and let us begin with a trio of ascertainable truths. First, the years 1947 and 1948 saw two imperialistic decisions that guaranteed an increase in hostility between Muslim and nonMuslim: the partition of India along religious lines, and the establishment of the state of Israel. (These decisions also led to, but did not invent, murderous hostility between Muslim and Muslim – in East Pakistan, in Gaza). Second, throughout the 1970s the Arab regimes sponsored by the US started to head off political dissent by guiding the opposition towards Islamic fundamentalism. And, third, in the 1980s the US backed the Mujahidin against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, and also helped to fund the Pakistani madrassas, whose graduates (all of them unemployable zealots) increased from 30,000 in 1987 to well over half a million by 2001. Thereafter, or so the equivalence argument goes, the Islamist vanguard, having wearied of seeing the battles fought exclusively on its own soil, visited a taste of this destruction on the West. Which turns out to suit the neocons and Christian Zionists, who can now place the US under military rule while they prepare their push for Islamic oil and for Israeli hegemony in the Middle East. The goals of the so-called “terrorists” (who are merely responding in kind to state terrorism from the US and its clients) are not delusive or messianic but solemnly political. So it has always been: the oppressed struggle against the oppressor; the wrongs of the past rise up to avenge themselves on the present."

America to the Rescue

homunculus — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:55:12 -0800

Three Generations of “America to the Rescue.”

Worsening relations between Russia and the US

russilwvong — Wed, 09 May 2007 17:32:00 -0800

Vladimir Putin: You know who else wanted to dominate the world? Also: Russia suspends compliance with treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe. A 2002 analysis of Putin's foreign policy by Clifford Gaddy and Fiona Hill discusses Russia's fear of US unilateralism; a more recent article by Hill notes that high oil prices have made Russia an energy superpower. A 1951 article by George F. Kennan on US policy towards Russia. Previously.

Think again.

Abiezer — Fri, 04 May 2007 22:58:03 -0800

Audits of the Conventional Wisdom "MIT's Center for International Studies tours the horizon of conventional wisdoms that animate U.S. foreign policy, and puts them to the test of data and history."

In Defense Of Foreign Policy Reptiles

Sticherbeast — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 11:01:16 -0800

Learning From Ike: What a Republican realist could teach George Bush. "If we hope to succeed, we manage evil. We minimize, mitigate, and manipulate evil. But efforts to pre-emptively eliminate evil are prone to end in overreaction and destabilization, with consequences that are often worse than the original problem."

Chomsky on Iran, Iraq, and the Rest of the World

chunking express — Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:42:34 -0800

Chomsky on Iran, Iraq, and the Rest of the World.