Sanctions: Useless, or Worse Than Useless?

Many foreign policy experts advocate using economic sanctions to motivate foreign governments to change policy. And, while it may be true that many of these governments could improve their countries with policy reforms, history shows that economic coercion doesn't...

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‘Kill Them! Kill Everyone!
All of Them!’

During the first Lebanon war, I visited Jounieh, a town some 20 km north of Beirut. At the time, it served as a port for the Christian forces. It was an exciting evening. In spite of the war raging in nearby Beirut, Jounieh was full of life. The Christian elite spent...

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Is Putin Being Set Up?

PARIS – Whoever poisoned Alexander Litvinenko had two goals: a long and lingering death for the KGB defector and pointing a finger of accusation for his killing right in the face of Vladimir Putin. Which leads me to believe Putin had nothing to do with it. In an...

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Backtalk November 27, 2006

Who Is 'We'? Valid and valued argument in general, but I'm afraid that it becomes slightly irrelevant, considering that 50 percent-plus (of voting American individuals) returned Mr. Bush to the White House barely two years ago – are they "innocent victims"? ~...

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The Nuking of Alexander Litvinenko

Four major political assassinations with international implications in the past year, three in the last month or so: Rafik Hariri and Pierre Gemayel in Lebanon, and two Russians, Anna Politkovskaya, a journalist, and former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko. Is it just...

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Monday: 109 Iraqis Killed, 70 Wounded

Updated at 6:20 p.m. EST, Nov. 27, 2006 A curfew that followed a massacre in Sadr City on Thursday was completely lifted today. As clashes resumed in Baghdad, 109 Iraqis were killed or found dead and another 70 wounded during incidents in the capital and elsewhere...

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Boogeymongering

There are over a half-million foreign students at American colleges and universities; the U.S. borders, for all practical purposes, remain wide open; only 6 percent of the shipping containers are checked; and there is still a generous number of legal immigrants...

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Bonkers Diplomacy

Well, if nothing else, be thankful that Bonkers Bolton doesn’t stand any chance of remaining our ambassador to the United Nations, come January 2007. It’s also beginning to look like President Hu Jintao has outsmarted Bonkers Bolton (and his nominal boss,...

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