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Rise of China, Brazil Point to Creation of New World Order
Tweet Share on Facebook October 15, 2012 CommentScheherazade S. Rehman is a professor of international finance/business and international affairs at The George Washington University. You can visit her homepage here and follow her on Twitter @Prof_Rehman.
The world is still vibrating from global tectonic shifts that occurred over the past five years. The 2007-onward global financial meltdown is a prime example.
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The U.S. Finds Odd Bedfellows in the Arab Spring
Tweet Share on Facebook October 15, 2012 CommentAndrew S. Natsios is an executive professor at the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A and M University, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and the author of Sudan, South Sudan and Darfur: What Everyone Needs to Know. Natsios served as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and as President George W. Bush's Special Envoy to Sudan.
The uprisings that swept the Arab world have challenged traditional alliances in the region including the one between Egypt and the United States. But they have also forced some of the most unsavory characters in the world into unintended tactical alliances with the United States. During the Libyan uprising against Muammar Qadhafi the United States, Britain, and France became unwanted allies of Omar al-Bashir—the president of Sudan who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for his government's atrocities in Darfur—when he sent Sudanese troops and weapons to support the Libyan rebels, the same rebels the western democracies were supporting. For a decade Qadhafi armed rebel groups fighting against Bashir's government in Darfur, and so Sudan's support for Qadhafi's enemies certainly made strategic sense. After Qadhafi's execution by the rebels, Bashir boasted publicly that Sudan had helped take him down. This is not the only instance of strange U.S. bedfellows.
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The U.S. Must Strengthen Ties With Rising African Star Nigeria
Tweet Share on Facebook October 12, 2012 CommentStephen Hayes is president and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa.
Nigeria is perhaps the most misunderstood country in Africa, and it is not an easy country to understand. I am not sure I know anyone who really does understand it. On the surface, it is Africa's most populous country. The Nigerian government says that there are 160 million citizens living in the country, but no one really knows how many are there.
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The Lessons of the Afghanistan War, 12 Years Later
Tweet Share on Facebook October 11, 2012 CommentRobert Nolan is an editor at the Foreign Policy Association and producer of the Great Decisions in Foreign Policy series on PBS. You can follow him on Twitter @robert_nolan.
It's been said that those who don't remember history are bound to repeat it. But Americans seem to want nothing more than to forget about the war in Afghanistan. Sunday marked the start of the 12th year of U.S. military operations there, making it the longest war ever fought in our nation's history, but you sure wouldn't know it from reading the news media. Indeed, the dearth of coverage related to the war's anniversary was even more conspicuous as NATO defense leaders met in Brussels to chart the end of combat operations there in 2014, and Mitt Romney continues to make foreign policy a new pillar of his campaign.
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Paul Ryan Knows That Reckless Spending Hurts National Security
Tweet Share on Facebook October 11, 2012 CommentMackenzie Eaglen is a resident fellow at the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Tonight's vice presidential debate will offer a clear choice when it comes to America's national defense. Vice President Joe Biden and the Obama administration have overseen hundreds of billions in military spending cuts while in office—before sequestration (automatic additional budget cuts) are set to take effect early next year.
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Expect More Drone Use Like Recent Israeli Episode
Tweet Share on Facebook October 11, 2012 CommentTed Harshberger is vice president and director of Project Air Force at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.
Several days ago, a still-mysterious drone penetrated Israeli airspace and was shot down by Israeli Air Force fighter jets over a sparsely populated region in the Negev desert. In all likelihood, it won't be the last.
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Romney's Plan to Find Allies in Syria Is Easier Said Than Done
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2012 CommentMichael P. Noonan is the director of the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Former Gov. Mitt Romney gave a major address on foreign and defense policy before the Cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va., Monday. One major element of the speech that has gained much attention was the governor's comments on arming the Syrian rebels. Here is what Romney said:
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Mitt Romney Draws Contrast With Barack Obama on Foreign Policy
Tweet Share on Facebook October 10, 2012 CommentEvan Moore is a policy analyst at the Foreign Policy Initiative
On the heels of last week's presidential debate on domestic issues in Denver, former Gov. Mitt Romney gave a major foreign policy speech at the Virginia Military Institute on Monday. Many conservatives have urged the governor to talk more about international relations in his campaign. The need to demonstrate how Romney's foreign policy would differ from President Barack Obama's only intensified after the tragic killings in Benghazi on September 11.
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NATO Needs to Take Action on Syria
Tweet Share on Facebook October 9, 2012 CommentRoss Wilson is director of the Atlantic Council's Dinu Patriciu Eurasia Center and served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2005-2008.
The never-ending violence that wracks Syria has dramatically spilled across its borders in recent days. After having withheld a tough answer to the downing of its F-4 jet fighter in June and smaller incidents in the weeks since, Turkey responded to Syria's shelling of the southern frontier town of Akçakale on October 3 with force. It reacted similarly to cross-border mortar and artillery strikes on October 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 in the same area and farther west. Ankara's new stance aims to punish enemy forces for their actions. More importantly, it seeks to convince friends, allies, and others that Syria is spinning out of control, increasingly threatens regional stability, and warrants a firmer international stance. Circumstances increasingly cry out for more robust action—and for more U.S. leadership.
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The United States Is Losing the Arab Spring
Tweet Share on Facebook October 9, 2012 CommentDaniel Gallington is the senior policy and program adviser at the George C. Marshall Institute in Arlington, Va. He served in senior national security policy positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Department of Justice, and as general counsel for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
Imagine we are watching—say from another planet—the violent and tumultuous, social media-inspired events of the "Arab Spring." We would probably conclude that the two major themes of the various movements were: youth (average age in these countries is 19) and a struggle for "democracy" or "freedom" against entrenched autocratic and corrupt governments.
