WPR Blog Archive

Yesterday I mentioned that China’s reaction to the Sichuan earthquake — specifically whether it called for (or accepted international offers of) aid — would reveal something about how secure it is with its newfound global status. Over at FP Passport, Mike Boyer pointed out that the degree of information transparency would also be revealing. So far, it looks like the Chinese government is adopting a forward-leaning, if guarded, approach on both counts. As this page from Xinhua demonstrates, information is being quickly updated, and a French-language report from Le Figaro includes government announcements on some ecological risks posed by the […]

Richard Weitz’ roundup of the nuclear agreement signed last week between the U.S. and Russia is the most thorough I’ve read so far. I’d been under the impression that the agreement threatened efforts to reduce Russia’s stock of weapons grade uranium. But Weitz points out all the other ways that the agreement opens up areas of cooperative counterproliferation. Among the most convincing is that by offering Russia access to both the American domestic nuclear market and, via cooperative mechanisms, various foreign markets, the agreement provides a lucrative alternative to Russia’s nuclear cooperation with Iran. Ironically, that’s the very sticking point […]

Melinda Brouwer of the FPA’s U.S. Diplomacy blog flags a USA Today article on the Pentagon’s latest information operations campaign, “a global network of foreign-language news websites.” The sites feature “reporting” by local journalists designed to promote American interests, and while the Pentagon’s involvement is not hidden, it is far from prominently displayed. The article itself focuses on the ethical problem of targeted propaganda being passed off as “news.” It mainly discusses the site already launched for Iraq, but additional sites are in the works for Latin America and Asia. The program is based on a site launched in 1999 […]

There was some mention in the American press about Iran’s role in brokering the ceasefires in both Basra and more recently in Badr City. This is the first time I’ve actually seen Fars, the official Iranian news agency, brag about it call attention to it. Their analysis of the Iraqi government’s double bind bears citing in full: The Iraqi government has been forced to balance its allegiances to the US and Iran. Supported by American troops and reconstruction funds, Baghdad is obliged to pay attention to the US demands. But the Iraqi government cannot give in to Washington’s illegitimate demands […]

The situation on the ground in Lebanon is still pretty volatile, but should it stabilize as is, this Daily Star analysis (via Friday Lunch Club) of the major clarifications that have so far emerged is the most lucid and thought-provoking I’ve seen to date, both for the implications on Lebanon’s institutional crisis, as well as the broader regional implications: If Lebanon shifts from street clashes to the hoped-for political compromise through a renewed national dialogue process, it will have a national unity government whose two factions receive arms, training, funds and political support from both the United States and Iran. […]

I’ve been silent to date on the unfolding tragedy in Myanmar (which by the UN’s latest estimate will claim several hundred thousand lives), not out of indifference, but for lack of anything pertinent to add to the discussion. Today comes news that a 7.8-magnitude earthquake just hit China’s Sichuan province, with initial estimates of three to five thousand dead. The first reaction to natural disaster should be to think of the victims, with a priority on saving lives and alleviating further suffering. I admit that mine was to wonder how China and the world would respond politically, in terms of […]

TEL AVIV — According to the Jewish calendar, Israel turned 60 on Thursday — but since the day begins in the evening according to the lunar calendar, the big fireworks and street parties took place Wednesday night. Many other celebrations have been going on for quite some time, with events organized by Jewish groups all over the world. And more is yet to come, including a planned May 14 visit by President Bush to mark the anniversary of the Jewish state’s establishment. Anyone who wonders why a country should celebrate its 60th anniversary so extensively probably doesn’t take into account […]

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So Ehud Olmert has now admitted to taking bundles of cash from a NY financier, but denies it was for personal gain. The money apparently went to fund his re-election as mayor of Jerusalem, and to fund the Likud party. I don’t know a whole lot about Israeli campaign finance laws, but I imagine that suitcases full of cash that go undeclared until a police raid on your home probably violate them. Olmert has refused to quit, but did promise to resign in the event he’s indicted, which seems pretty big of him.

Interfax has got a brief interview with American Ambassador to Russia, William Burns. I mention it mainly as an excuse to note that Burns isn’t the only Embassy staff who will be leaving Moscow imminently. ITAR-TASS is reporting that the Russians just asked two military attaches to pack their bags, ostensibly in response to two Russian diplomats expelled from Washington, one last year and one in April. Interestingly enough, though, America’s position on the risk of war over Abkhazia was the first question Interfax posed Burns. Talk about tough assignments. Is there anyplace outside of Baghdad that’s been more of […]

For a solid rundown of what precipitated the violent clashes in Beirut today, this AFP report is a good place to start. For wall-to-wall blog coverage, the gang over at Blacksmiths of Lebanon seem to be putting in extra hours. There’s obviously a lot of tangled threads involved here, but I think it’s safe to say that Lebanon has been the functional equivalent of a frozen conflict for quite some time now, with the temperature gradually rising to thaw level. What Hezbollah’s willingness to push back this forcefully against the government’s attempt to rein it in says about Iran and […]

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner yesterday said the United Nations should invoke the “responsibility to protect” in passing a resolution to deliver aid to Burma with or without the government’s consent. Here’s what the 2005 U.N. resolution concerning the “responsibility to protect” says about the responsibility of the international community: The international community, through the United Nations, also has the responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. In this context, we are prepared […]

As far as I can tell it hasn’t hit the English-speaking media yet, but researchers in Chile announced this week (warning: links in Spanish) the discovery of a new genetically engineered variety of rice that can be cooked with 1/4 the amount of water needed for normal rice. Here’s the official University of Santiago release, reviewing the new strain of rice and also the crush of press interest since the first reports on Monday. The project was cosponsored by Chile’s governmental Foundation for Agricultural Innovation, which is sponsoring a number of other projects to help increase Chile’s agricultural output. In […]

To add my $0.02 to the discussion of Barack Obama’s foreign policy (Hampton’s response to Matthew Yglesias’ pushback against Hampton’s original post), I’d say that to the extent that digging wells is a better way to not live up to your utopian rhetoric than dropping bombs, I think Matthew has a point. But therein lies the rub. The danger of Obama’s overly ambitious and unrealistic rhetoric, like all overly ambitious and unrealistic rhetoric, is in raising expectations, both domestically and abroad, about the transformative capacity of American power, at a time when a smart foreign policy would attempt to downsize […]

Matthew Yglesias says my previous criticism of Obama’s foreign policy doesn’t really hold water: The rhetoric of American foreignpolicymaking has always been suffused with grand — some would say grandiose — aspirations and professions of lofty ideals. And yet the actual substance of policymaking has differed enormously over the years, decades, and centuries. That’s because methods — what’s dismissed here as “their strategy for achieving this goal” — are essentially the entire ballgame. Practical American politicians will always commit themselves to a set of basically similar highest-order goals of spreading wonderfulness throughout time and space. Even in our “do not […]

Readers who will be in Washington anytime between May 14 and July 10 should stop by the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars to check out a photo exhibit called “Children of the Iranian Revolution.” The photographer, Iason Athanasiadis, has been an occasional contributor to World Politics Review. With Iran looming so large in international relations at the moment, it can’t hurt to gain insight into the culture of the 70 percent of the country that is under 30. For a taste of Athanasiadis’ photographic style, check out these three photo essays that he contributed to World Politics Review: Istanbul’s […]

One of President Bush’s small victories at April’s NATO summit was the alliance’s vote of confidence, despite Russia’s very vocal opposition, for the American missile defense system based in Eastern Europe. But judging by how much the Polish military is expecting in return for hosting the interceptors, the deal is far from a sure thing. The Poles want $20 billion for a serious overhaul of their armed forces, whereas one State Department official dismissively put the upper limit at $20 million. That’s quite a bit of daylight. Twenty billion is a lot, even when you factor in Moscow’s threat to […]