WPR Blog Archive

One thing that’s clear, reading through the press briefings and interviews given by returning members of Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s 60-day strategic review, is that the situation on the ground in Afghanistan is depressingly alarming or alarmingly depressing, take your pick. Both Andrew Exum and Stephen Biddle are in the “hard but not hopeless” camp, but came back with more of the former than the latter to report. And Anthony Cordesman, whose real-time thinking comes out in paragraph form, was downright brutal in his assessment of where things stand. Cordesman thinks the war is winnable, but that we must come to […]

On Monday, I flagged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s remarks on Meet the Press, in which she declared that Iran “[does] not have the right to have the full enrichment and reprocessingcycle under [its] control.” That seemed to be the most expansive and, perhaps more significantly, the least vague pronouncement on the subject that I’d seen by an Obama administration official to date. Compare it, for instance, to Obama’s language in his Prague speech: We will support Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy with rigorousinspections. That’s a path that the Islamic Republic can take. Or thegovernment can choose increased isolation, […]

World Politics Review managing editor Judah Grunstein appeared on the France 24 panel discussion program, The Debate, on Tuesday to discuss President Barack Obama’s foreign policy. Part one of the video can be found here. Part two can be found here.

Amnesty International has named Burma’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi as the 2009 recipient of its Ambassador of Conscience Award. Her selection, AI Secretary General Irene Khan said, is a reflection of her status as “a symbol of hope, courage and undying defense of human rights, not only to the people of Myanmar but to people around the world.” Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party won elections in 1990. But the military refused to recognize the results, instead opting to unleash a campaign of brutal repression against dissent that continues today. “The Lady,” as her followers adoringly […]

I raised this question in relation to Iraq and the Surge in January 2007. Sam Roggeveen applies it to Afghanistan, with perhaps even better effect: I wonder how convincing such arguments would beif we weren’t inAfghanistan already. Would we now advocate an invasion and long-termoccupation of Afghanistan to stabilise the Indian Ocean region, reducethe chances of nuclear conflict between India and Pakistan, disruptdrug supplies, protect energy sources, substitute for the lack of aregional security framework anddiscourage Pakistani cooperation withthe Taliban? More to the point, have any of these problems been reducedor made more manageable by the Western presence in Afghanistan? […]

For various reasons, the truth of the military relationship between the U.S. and India is inconvenient for both countries. Considerable anti-Americanism and national pride makes the Indian side prickly regarding any perceived infringement on Indian sovereignty and autonomy. Meanwhile, recognition of India’s strategic significance combined with the need for discretion in terms of regional perceptions makes the subject a delicate one for the U.S. The End User Monitoring agreement recently agreed to by the two sides during Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit is a good illustration of the dynamics involved, and gives me the opportunity to call your attention […]

I just wanted to call your attention to the interview I conducted with Andrew Exum, a.k.a. Abu Muqawama. Andrew just got back from a month in Afghanistan, where he took part in Gen. stanlye McChrystal’s 60-day strategic review. He took some time out of a busy morning to talk freely and openly about his impressions on the war, including some fo the hard challenges and difficult decisions facing the U.S. military and policymakers. Here’s what he had to say when asked what one thing Americans need to know about the war in Afghanistan: The thing that I would say is […]

In preparation for a France 24 panel discussion program yesterday — which unfortunately hasn’t been put online yet (Note: Part I now available here, Part II here) — I tried to dial in a bit more closely this idea of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy so far representing a great deal of continuity with the final two years of the Bush administration. And what I came up with, and had the pleasure of discussing with some very insightful fellow panelists, was not so much an either/or comparison between the two, but rather a multi-layered model of Obama’s foreign policy. The […]

Shareholders at the annual meeting of British mining company Vedanta Resources found themselves thrust into an ongoing debate between the corporation and human rights activists on Monday, when supporters of India’s Dongria Kodh tribe made an impassioned appeal to halt plans for a bauxite mine they believe could end the tribe’s way of life. Vedanta plans an open-pit bauxite mine to tap the resources in Orissa’s Nyamgiri Mountain. The Dogria Kodh people, who number only about 8,000, depend on the mountain and surrounding ecosystem for their way of life, and hold the land to be the sacred home of their […]

Vice President Joseph Biden’s sharply worded criticism of Russia in his interview with The Wall Street Journal, Saturday, came two days after a group of prominent East Europeans published an open letter to the Obama administration urging Washington not to improve relations with the Russian leadership at the expense of its ties with Eastern Europe. The letter was signed by former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel, founder of Poland’s Solidarity movement and former President Lech Walesa, and ex-President Emil Constantinescu of Romania, along with other intellectuals and former leaders. It confessed to “a nervousness in our capitals” over the thaw […]

An infamous name returned to the British headlines last week when a memoir written by Anthony Blunt, a wartime spy for the Soviet Union, was made public by the British Library. Blunt was the fourth figure in a spy ring that included Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean, and H.A.R. (Kim) Philby, formed while they were at England’s Cambridge University. As a member of MI5, Britain’s domestic intelligence organization, Blunt was well-placed to pass on valuable information to the Russians. Burgess and Maclean were diplomats, and Philby an intelligence officer in MI6, the British equivalent of the CIA. The last three had […]

A friend pointed me in the direction of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Meet the Press appearance yesterday (video here, transcript here). And I, like he, was suitably impressed by the tone and professionalism. I never gave in to the Hillary demonization during the primary campaign. As things turned out, we got what I think is a very competent president and secretary. I think, had she won, we would have gotten the same thing. That said, I only found one remark “significant,” in terms of both raising my eyebrows and adding an element to my thinking about the administration’s policies. […]

Vice President Joe Biden’s comments on Russia represent a clear-eyed take on Russia’s fundamental long-term vulnerabilities. Coming from a think tank Russia analyst, they would be noticed mainly for being accurate, if not very remarkable or original. Coming from the U.S. vice president, and in the midst of the U.S.-Russia reset, the reaction is a bit more prickly, from commentators both Russian and Stateside. I suspect that the online excerpts are a bit more provocative than the remarks taken as a whole are, although I don’t have the print edition to know for sure. Setting aside the questions of protocol […]

The A400M, the troubled European joint effort to meet demand for heavy strategic airlift capacity, has officially gotten a six-month reprieve. The A400M has been plagued by technological setbacks, production delays and cost overruns. At this point, the contractor, EADS/Airbus, is officially in default of its contract, meaning the partner countries could, if they wished, back out of the program, with at least some of the €6 billion already allocated reimbursed. Over the weekend, defense ministers from the seven countries agreed to maintain a “moratorium” on pursuing any contractual penalties against EADS. Jean-Dominique Merchet compares the eventual cost of the […]

If you’re wondering why the U.S. is turning a blind eye to reports of irregularities in the Kyrgyz presidential election, and so eager to arrange Russian transit routes for Afghanistan supply logistics, this Deirdre Tynan article for EurasiaNet on the disappointing initial results from the recently negotiated Central Asian land routes — known as the Northern Distribution Network — is a good place to start: In June and July, according to publicly available data, only sevencontainers a day on average were arriving in Afghanistan via the NDN. Acommercial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, characterizedthe performance as “ridiculous.” Railway experts […]

What a difference a decade makes. I remember being back in NY for a two-week vacation in the summer of 1998. One afternoon, while wandering around Little Italy, I saw the following sign, handwritten in marker on a piece of brown cardboard carton, taped to a ground-floor window on Mulberry Street: Today at Yankee Stadium, David Wells pitched a perfect game. I remember being struck by three things about that sign. First, that someone, having learned of something they felt was newsworthy inan age of instantaneous telecommunications and round-the-clock media,had nonetheless fabricated a sign and taped it to their window […]

Enough’s RAISE Hope for Congo campaign is calling on the public to vote for a winner in its “Come Clean 4 Congo” video campaign. The contest is part of Enough’s larger bid to create a grassroots movement against genocide and crimes against humanity. Enough and partner Global Witness are spearheading a growing global movement to end the use of “conflict minerals” as a driver for conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “It’s time for death to lose and life to win. . . . We are consuming the Congo. . . . Help us gain traction and share that […]