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Netanyahu Is Not the Problem 11.10.11
by Martin Peretz
11 Nov 2011 at 10:10am
At the G20 Summit last week in Cannes, Nicolas Sarkozy held only four private meetings. One was with Barack Obama and a second was with Manmohan Singh, prime minister of India. (It?s not clear whether Felipe Calderon, the president of Mexico, met alone with the French president or whether his country was a fully deserved separate topic on the agenda, perhaps as a ?disaster in the process.?) The other two privileged to have Sarkozy alone face-to-face were Hu Jintao, president of the People?s Republic of China, and William Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, literally the only people in attendance representing enterpris...
How Congress?s Showdown With China Puts Obama in a Serious Bind 10.06.11
by William Galston
6 Oct 2011 at 11:11pm
While all of Washington fastened its gaze on Chris Christie, the most important issue of the week?maybe of the year?was playing out on the floor of the Senate. By a margin of 79 to 19, senators agreed to consider a measure that would allow the United States to impose tariffs on another country if the Treasury found its currency to be ?misaligned.? As the Wall Street Journal points out, this is a less demanding standard than current law, which ?requires a finding of intentional manipulation.? If this newfound bipartisan comity in Congress over the issue of confronting China culminates in a bill that passes both houses, it will put Obama in ...
How Ahmadinejad?s Regime Tried - and Failed - to Break One Protester's Spirit...
by Abbas Milani
22 Sep 2011 at 10:58pm
As the world grants an audience to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, we would be better served to look upon Samiye Tohidlou. Samiye is a child of the Iranian revolution, born in 1979, when the current regime came to power. She comes from a family of educators; her father was a teacher who declared, after the arrest of his daughter, that he had been a staunch supporter of the revolution. Samiye was herself a doctoral student in sociology at Tehran University?the country?s oldest and most venerable institution?and an active member of the Islamic Student Association. And she was a voluntee...
Texas Dispatch: How Ron Paul Sparked a Movement - Only to Lose his District ...
by Abby Rapoport
22 Sep 2011 at 10:57pm
Ron Paul doesn?t like Rick Perry. And if Thursday?s debate is anything like the last two, you?ll hear about it tonight. At the first GOP debate to feature Perry, Paul pointed to the governor?s past as a Democrat and cited his support for Clinton-era efforts at healthcare reform. In an ad earlier this month, Paul?s campaign dredged up Perry?s 1988 support for Al Gore. ?America must decide who to trust,? a voice in the ad proclaims, ?Al Gore?s Texas cheerleader or the one who stood with Reagan.? And in an open letter to Perry, Paul?s campaign chair spelled out the line of criticism once more: ?We don?t think the fact that you used to be a De...
Hillary Clinton?s Embarrassing, Disingenuous Equivocating on the Crisis in Su...
by Eric Reeves
14 Jul 2011 at 6:30pm
In a recent op-ed in The Washington Post about the independence of South Sudan, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered a conspicuous example of the Obama administration?s policy of equivocation when it comes to the world?s newest nation and the country it split from last weekend. Namely, the op-ed disingenuously equated the Khartoum regime with its adversaries in South Sudan, in the embattled regions of South Kordofan and Abyei, and in Darfur. The evident logic of such false equivalence is that it?s necessary to keep Khartoum engaged in negotiations: If ?both sides,? as Clinton refers to them repeatedly, are equally responsible for vi...
The Hawk 5.23.11
by Robin Simcox
24 May 2011 at 7:56am
When America traded George W. Bush for Barack Obama, few thought the result would be an escalation in the American war on terror. Swathes of U.S. conservatives (but also some liberals) were ready to dismiss President Obama as too naïve and idealistic to be president in the face of a heightened terrorist threat. Moderates did not believe that a campaign based on hope and change would cause Al Qaeda terrorists to fear this president more than the previous one. In Europe, meanwhile, Obama was seen as someone who would roll back the vulgarities of the war and make Europe feel good again about its more police-driven approach to terrorism. Toda...
After Osama bin Laden 5.2.11
by Louis Klarevas
2 May 2011 at 12:07pm
Al Qaeda has been on the run and in deterioration, unable to launch a spectacular attack like that of September 11 for quite some time now. With the death of Osama bin Laden, this demise will continue?and perhaps be expedited. Still, the threat of jihadist terrorism remains, namely in the short-term, and the American counter-terrorism community would be well-advised to maintain its vigilance in the coming months. The immediate reaction of Al Qaeda and its sympathizers to bin Laden?s death is sure to be one of shock and dismay, but it?s only a matter of time before those emotions give way to anger. And the irate have a tendency to lash out....
Obama to Talk Entitlement Reform. Gulp. 4.11.11
by Jonathan Cohn
11 Apr 2011 at 9:14am
The big news on Sunday was the announcement, from senior White House adviser David Plouffe, that President Obama plans to make a major policy speech about how to reduce the deficit. And I am worried--not about the substantive position Obama will stake out, but how that positioning will affect the rest of the debate about federal spending. The speech will be Obama?s formal response to House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, who last week put forward a Republican blueprint for balancing the government?s books. And Plouffe made clear on several Sunday shows that Obama is no fan of Ryan?s proposed scheme, which would transform Medicare into a vouche...
A Modest Proposal in Defense of Free Speech 3.25.11
by Jagdish Bhagwati
10 Mar 2011 at 2:50pm
On December 12, 2010, a suicide bombing was committed in central Stockholm by an Islamic terrorist who denounced the Swedish government for its ?foolish support for the pig Vilks.? Vilks was the conceptual artist who had, in 2007, depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a ?roundabout dog,? familiar to tourists as a street display in Sweden. This had led to an outcry by outraged mobs in Islamic countries and occasional death threats by zealous Muslims (most definitely not to be confused with vast numbers of moderate Muslims). The terrorist found it intolerable that Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt would not intervene to deny Vilks the right to dr...
Afghanistan Dispatch: It Takes a Village 3.8.11
by Anna Badkhen
8 Mar 2011 at 10:46am
For the next several weeks, Anna Badkhen will be traveling through Afghanistan?s north, documenting life there during this pivotal year for the U.S.-led war. This is the first in a series of dispatches Badkhen will be writing for TNR Online about her experiences. Karaghuzhlah, Afghanistan?You can spot the village from miles away, quivering in refracted sunlight above a tract of Bactrian desert dun and tufted like a camel?s hide. The black crown of a sole pine, a rarity in these alkaline plains, marks the village?s eastern boundary. Churned trunks of mulberry trees weave into a palisade above the hand-slapped clay walls. Within these walls...
Why I'd Place My Bet on Tim Pawlenty 3.8.11
by Jonathan Chait
8 Mar 2011 at 10:45am
With few declared candidates and no clear frontrunner, the Republican presidential primary appears to be as muddled as ever. But I actually think things are shaking out in a way as to clear the path for Tim Pawlenty. My view of the primary selection system is that it consists of two basic constituencies, the elites and the base. The elites want to find a candidate who is electable and committed to their policy agenda. The elites are the prime driver of the process; they can communicate, via organs like Fox News and The Weekly Standard, which candidates may be undeserving of serious consideration despite their emotional appeal to base vote...
Need for Speed 3.2.11
by Neera Tanden
2 Mar 2011 at 10:19am
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has used his state?s budget deficit as an excuse to attack collective-bargaining rights. He argues that Wisconsin simply can?t afford collective bargaining. Nevertheless, as has widely been reported, his claimed $137 million deficit could be addressed without touching these rights. Indeed, it?s simply false to argue that eliminating collective bargaining has really anything to do with the budget deficit, especially since unions have already offered pay concessions. But what is most surprising about Walker?s attack on collective bargaining is its speed. Walker was sworn in on January 3. He announced his prop...
Libya?s Stranger Soldiers 2.28.11
by Louis Klarevas
28 Feb 2011 at 1:03pm
It looks like Muammar El Qaddafi is preparing for what could be his last stand. Increasingly abandoned by his cabinet, diplomatic corps, and military, Qaddafi has turned to a desperate measure in order to shore up his regime: bringing in foreign mercenaries to fight his opponents. According to human rights organizations, these freelance fighters have already contributed to many deaths. And, with the number of protesters taking to the streets and the number of mercenaries entering the country growing simultaneously, an even more horrific collision could be in the making. The soldiers-for-hire could very well be the determining factor of Li...
Policy Paralysis 2.24.11
by Jonathan Bernstein
24 Feb 2011 at 10:45pm
Up until now, a government shutdown because of a stalemate over the budget was a strong possibility, but it didn?t appear inevitable. That?s because House Speaker John Boehner stands to be badly hurt by the train wreck a shutdown would be, and I?m confident?from what he?s said and because he was around the last time it happened?that he realizes it. But his decision last week during House consideration of the must-pass spending bill to open up the floor to unlimited amendments reframed the issue in a way that gives Boehner much less room for compromise. Just to recap the mechanics here: The Democrats last year (inexplicably) failed to pass...
Libya?s Legacy 2.23.11
by Michael J. Totten
23 Feb 2011 at 1:11pm
Not since Saddam Hussein?s regime was demolished in 2003 has an Arab head of state run a more ruthlessly repressive terror state than Muammar Qaddafi in Libya. Tunisia?s Zine el Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt?s Hosni Mubarak were small-government libertarians by comparison. The implications of the uprising in Libya are therefore much bigger than they were in Tunisia or Egypt: If ordinary citizens can overthrow Qaddafi, of all people, every other despot in the region may look vulnerable?including Ali Khamenei and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran. I managed to finagle a visa for myself just after Libyan-American relations defrosted in 2004, and the U...