Many people, including many of my students at the Naval Postgraduate School, worry that economic growth in China will make China a formidable competitor to the United States. My students typically raise this concern when we talk about free trade, and they worry about...
In contemplating how and why we got where we are today – stuck in the quagmire of Iraq and faced with a relentless assault on our civil liberties at home – three major failures come to mind, three institutions that imploded under enormous pressure. Like the...
In the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2002-2003, oil was seldom mentioned. Yes, Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz did describe the country as afloat "on a sea of oil" (which might fund any American war and reconstruction program there); and, yes, on rare...
I have been to many demonstrations in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, even when it was still called "Kings of Israel Square." I was at the legendary "Demonstration of the 400,000" after the Sabra and Shatila massacre (actually, there were around 200,000, which is still...
Updated at 12:56 a.m. EDT, May 8, 2007After a bloody weekend in Iraq, the White House warned Americans to expect more troop casualties and blamed the increase in soldier deaths on a surge of troops used in a 10-week-old security crackdown in Baghdad. Meanwhile, the...
TEHRAN, Iran As economic sanctions are applied to this country for its nuclear activities, hardliners in the government are getting strengthened and successfully demanding even harsher curbs on individual liberties. The sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security...
Updated at 12:45 a.m. EDT, May 7, 2007At least 118 Iraqis were killed or found dead and 134 Iraqis were wounded in violent attacks today; the largest a bombing in Bagdad that killed dozens. Twelve U.S. servicemembers were also reported killed, nine of them died today....
The National Security Act of 1947 created the Office of the Director of Central Intelligence, making said DCI responsible for providing "timely, objective, independent of political considerations" intelligence, "based upon all sources available to the intelligence...
With just over 18 months left in office, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush appears once again to be moving in a more "realist" direction in its dealings with the rest of the world, including the Middle East. The most obvious sign came...
Updated at 11:50 p.m. EDT, May 5, 2007At least 81 Iraqis were killed or found dead today and another 61 were wounded during violence. The most significant attack took place in western Baghdad when a suicide bomber detonated his cargo among a group of police recruits....
