NewsTrust - All Rated Stories

Foreign Affairs - The Myth of the Autocratic Revival - Daniel Deudney and G. John Ikenberry

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Foreign Affairs - By Daniel Deudney, G. John Ikenberry - Jan. 01 (News Analysis) - Autocracies such as China and Russia do not represent a sustainable alternative to liberal democracy. In fact, the pull of liberal democracy is stronger than ever.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.1 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How to Leave a Stable Iraq

Thu, 21 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By Stephen Biddle, Michael E. O'Hanlon, Kenneth M. Pollack - Aug. 21 (Special Report) - If the prognosis in Iraq were hopelessly grim, it might make sense for the United States to threaten withdrawal, hold its breath, and hope for the best. But the prognosis is now much more promising than it has been in years, making a threat of withdrawal far from necessary. With a degree of patience, the United States can build on a pattern of positive change in Iraq that offers it a chance to draw down troops soon without giving up hope for sustained stability.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.2 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

China's Olympic Nightmare

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By Elizabeth C. Economy, Adam Segal - Jul. 28 (Special Report) - ... even as Beijing has worked tirelessly to ensure the most impressive of Olympic spectacles, it is clear that the Games have come to highlight not only the awesome achievements of the country but also the grave shortcomings of the current regime. Few in the central leadership seem to have anticipated the extent to which the Olympic Games would stoke the persistent political challenges to the legitimacy of the Communist Party and the stability of the country. Demands for political liberalization, greater autonomy for Tibet, increased pressure on Sudan, better environmental protection, and an improved product-safety record now threaten to put a damper on the country's coming-out party. As the Olympic torch circled the globe with legions of protesters in tow, Beijing's Olympic dream quickly turned into a public-relations nightmare.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Price of the Surge

Tue, 27 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By Steven Simon - May. 27 (Special Report) - The surge has changed the situation not by itself but only in conjunction with several other developments: the grim successes of ethnic cleansing, the tactical quiescence of the Shiite militias, and a series of deals between U.S. forces and Sunni tribes that constitute a new bottom-up approach to pacifying Iraq. The problem is that this strategy to reduce violence is not linked to any sustainable plan for building a viable Iraqi state. If anything, it has made such an outcome less likely, by stoking the revanchist fantasies of Sunni Arab tribes and pitting them against the central government and against one another. In other words, the recent short-term gains have come at the expense of the long-term goal of a stable, unitary Iraq.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Future of American Power

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By Fareed Zakaria - Apr. 25 (Special Report) - Through shrewd strategic choices and some sophisticated diplomacy, Britain was able to maintain and even extend its influence for decades. In the end, however, it could not alter the fact that its power position -- its economic and technological dynamism -- was fast eroding. Britain declined gracefully -- but inexorably. The United States today faces a problem that is quite different. The U.S. economy (despite its current crisis) remains fundamentally vigorous when compared with others. American society is vibrant. It is the United States' political system that is dysfunctional, unable to make the relatively simple reforms that would place the country on extremely solid footing for the future. Washington seems largely unaware of the new world rising around it -- and shows few signs of being able to reorient U.S. policy for this new age.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 14 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By C. Ford Runge. Benjamin Senauer - Apr. 22 (Special Report) - The enormous volume of corn required by the ethanol industry is sending shock waves through the food system. (The United States accounts for some 40 percent of the world's total corn production and over half of all corn exports.) In March 2007, corn futures rose to over $4.38 a bushel, the highest level in ten years. Wheat and rice prices have also surged to decade highs, because even as those grains are increasingly being used as substitutes for corn, farmers are planting more acres with corn and fewer acres with other crops

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Arctic Meltdown

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By Scott G. Borgerson - Apr. 18 (Special Report) - The Arctic Ocean is melting, and it is melting fast. This past summer, the area covered by sea ice shrank by more than one million square miles, reducing the Arctic icecap to only half the size it was 50 years ago. For the first time, the Northwest Passage -- a fabled sea route to Asia that European explorers sought in vain for centuries -- opened for shipping. Even if the international community manages to slow the pace of climate change immediately and dramatically, a certain amount of warming is irreversible. It is no longer a matter of if, but when, the Arctic Ocean will open to regular marine transportation and exploration of its lucrative natural-resource deposits.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.7 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Kenya's Great Rift

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Foreign Affairs - By Joel D. Barkan - Feb. 20 (News Analysis) - The current violence threatens to roll back an impressive record of democratization and economic growth achieved in the five years since Kibaki succeeded longtime Kenyan President Daniel Arap Moi. Whereas the Moi years were marked by economic stagnation and stubborn resistance to democratic reform, Kibaki's administration turned the country around on both fronts. The Kenyan economy grew by more than 6 percent in 2006, the highest growth rate in more than 30 years; foreign investors and tourists poured into the country; and civil society, the press, and parliament came together to advance democratization. Kenya, it appeared, had been reborn.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A Disciplined Defense

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Foreign Affairs - By Richard K. Betts - Dec. 18 (Special Report) - ... when pressed, one would have to concede that Washington spends so much and yet feels so insecure because U.S. policymakers have lost the ability to think clearly about defense policy.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 7 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Security and Opportunity for the Twenty-first Century

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:43:30 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By Hillary Rodham Clinton - Oct. 15 (Opinion) - The tragedy of the last six years is that the Bush administration has squandered the respect, trust, and confidence of even our closest allies and friends. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the United States enjoyed a unique position. Our world leadership was widely accepted and respected, as we strengthened old alliances and built new ones, worked for peace across the globe, advanced nonproliferation, and modernized our military. After 9/11, the world rallied behind the United States as never before, supporting our efforts to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan and go after the al Qaeda leadership. We had a historic opportunity to build a broad global coalition to combat terror, increase the impact of our diplomacy, and create a world with more partners and fewer adversaries.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.0 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Battle Over Burma

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 08:45:44 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By Michael Green, Derek Mitchell - Oct. 01 (News Analysis) - U.S. policy toward Burma is stuck. Since September 1988, the country has been run by a corrupt and repressive military junta (which renamed the country Myanmar). Soon after taking power, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), as the junta was then called, placed Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition party the National League for Democracy, under house arrest. In 1990, it allowed national elections but then ignored the National League for Democracy's landslide victory and clung to power. Then, in the mid-1990s, amid a cresting wave of post-Cold War democratization and in response to international pressure, the SLORC released Suu Kyi. At the time, there was a sense within the country and abroad that change in Burma might be possible.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Containing Russia

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:12:22 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By Yuliya Tymoshenko - Apr. 30 (Special Report) - Sixty-one years ago, a telegram arrived at the State Department from the U.S. embassy in Moscow. Its purpose was to examine the sources of the conduct of the men who ruled in the Kremlin. Its impact was immediate. The "Long Telegram," penned by a young diplomat named George Kennan, became the basis for U.S. policy toward the Soviet Union for the next half century. Although the Soviet Union is long gone, the West is once again groping to understand what motivates the leaders in the Kremlin. Many believe that the principles behind Kennan's policy of "containment" are still applicable today -- and see a new Cold War, this time against Vladimir Putin's resurgent Russia, in the offing.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 09:45:23 -0700

Foreign Affairs - By C. Ford Runge, Benjamin Senauer - Apr. 06 (Special Report) - Now, thanks to a combination of high oil prices and even more generous government subsidies, corn-based ethanol has become the rage. There were 110 ethanol refineries in operation in the United States at the end of 2006, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. Many were being expanded, and another 73 were under construction. When these projects are completed, by the end of 2008, the United States' ethanol production capacity will reach an estimated 11.4 billion gallons per year. In his latest State of the Union address, President George W. Bush called on the country to produce 35 billion gallons of renewable fuel a year by 2017, nearly five times the level currently mandated.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 9 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Saving Afghanistan

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 09:56:14 -0800

Foreign Affairs - By Barnett R. Rubin - Feb. 08 (Special Report) - With the Taliban resurgent, reconstruction faltering, and opium poppy cultivation at an all-time high, Afghanistan is at risk of collapsing into chaos. If Washington wants to save the international effort there, it must increase its commitment to the area and rethink its strategy -- especially its approach to Pakistan, which continues to give sanctuary to insurgents on its tribal frontier.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.8 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

The Challenge of Global Health

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 10:37:18 -0800

Foreign Affairs - By Laurie Garrett - Jan. 01 (Special Report) - Less than a decade ago, the biggest problem in global health seemed to be the lack of resources available to combat the multiple scourges ravaging the world's poor and sick. Today, thanks to a recent extraordinary and unprecedented rise in public and private giving, more money is being directed toward pressing heath challenges than ever before. But because the efforts this money is paying for are largely uncoordinated and directed mostly at specific high-profile diseases -- rather than at public health in general -- there is a grave danger that the current age of generosity could not only fall short of expectations but actually make things worse on the ground.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.6 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A Battle for Global Values

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 14:05:49 -0800

Foreign Affairs - By Tony Blair - Dec. 28 (News Analysis) - To me, the most remarkable thing about the Koran is how progressive it is. I write with great humility as a member of another faith. As an outsider, the Koran strikes me as a reforming book, trying to return Judaism and Christianity to their origins, much as reformers attempted to do with the Christian church centuries later. The Koran is inclusive. It extols science and knowledge and abhors superstition. It is practical and far ahead of its time in attitudes toward marriage, women, and governance.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Fidel's Final Victory

Fri, 08 Dec 2006 11:24:56 -0800

Foreign Affairs - By Julia E. Sweig - Dec. 08 (Special Report) - The post-Fidel transition is already well under way. Power has been successfully transferred to a new set of leaders, whose priority is to preserve the system while permitting only very gradual reform. Cubans have not revolted, and their national identity remains tied to the defense of the homeland against U.S. attacks on its sovereignty. As the post-Fidel regime responds to pent-up demands for more democratic participation and economic opportunity, Cuba will undoubtedly change -- but the pace and nature of that change will be mostly imperceptible to the naked American eye.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer