Alan Bock

In his surprisingly effective inaugural address George W. Bush spent only a nominal amount of time on foreign policy (as distinguished from military policy insofar as they can be distinguished) and filled it mostly with "we’re still engaged; terrorists don’t get any cute ideas" boilerplate. But it seems to me that a Bush administration foreign … Continue reading “Dubya’s Foreign Policy Could Depend On Us”

Madeleine Albright, as Agence France-Presse recently reported, closed out her final mission abroad in style. The comfortable converted Boeing 757 used by the Secretary of State for trips abroad, on which la Albright has logged almost a million miles in four years, was stocked with fine champagne and French cheeses for the final Albright trip … Continue reading “Clinton’s Sad Foreign Policy Legacy”

I know that the Middle East is a bigger ongoing problem, though others (excepting, as usual, most of the establishment media) are covering it reasonably well. And it won ‘t be long before it becomes essential to raise the interest level in Colombia, perhaps before Dubya’s team makes a hard-and-fast decision about what to do … Continue reading “Mixed peace prospects in Northern Ireland”

In some ways it is a mistake for a journalist to meet politicians. They are in the business of being charming and ingratiating, and most of them who have had even modest political success, of whatever stripe, are pretty good at it. It is easy to be swayed by some of them, to be flattered … Continue reading “Remembering Alan Cranston”

Let me get the bemusedly angry sidebar out of the way first. The most egregious offender in the media I saw was Tom Raum of the Associated Press, who began his story, "Carrying through on a promise to bring diversity to his administration, President-elect Bush on Sunday named a second black to his foreign-policy team … Continue reading “Scoping out Condoleezza Rice”

Fresh from his triumphs in bringing peace to Northern Ireland or at least the pretense of peace for a few weeks or months former Maine Sen. George Mitchell, as head of the new U.S.-led commission formed after the abortive Sharm al Sheik meeting a couple of months ago, is trotting around the Middle East pretending … Continue reading “Israeli Wild Cards in the Peace Process”

Given how odd and virtually unprecedented the Florida Follies are in a presidential election, any prediction should be guarded and qualified. But at this point – and the stock market seems to agree – it almost looks as if it is all over but the whining and Dubya will be the next president. Even though … Continue reading “Making Lemonade”

There has been a good deal of talk, during this post-election of our discontent, about sparing no effort to discern the will of the people, a process whereby the next president and the next administration will presumably be blessed with a shroud of legitimacy. It is astounding that this term can be used in the … Continue reading “The Will to Power”

The closeness of the U.S. presidential vote suggests strongly that the next president will have very little even resembling a mandate to conduct foreign affairs. That lack of a mandate might prove a blessing if it is used to reassess current commitments and announce prudent steps to reduce US vulnerability to violence and conflict in … Continue reading “A Peace Platform?”

What we are seeing in Florida rather closely resembles an organized crime war between two rival "families" who seek control over certain rackets. The soldiers have gone to the mattresses, moving away from their homes to be at the scene of the action, devoting full time to the war and all its tactical maneuvers and … Continue reading “To The Mattresses”