Background on the News - 2004-10-06

What Makes Greenhouse Sense?

October 6, 2004

Last week, the Russian government announced that it would move to ratify the Kyoto Protocol capping emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Russia's decision to join the 120 countries that have already ratified it paves the way for the 1997 agreement to finally come into force, leaving the United States on the sidelines. In a 2002 article for Foreign Affairs, Thomas C. Schelling explains why Washington has refused to join the effort -- and how it can help reduce worldwide emissions nonetheless.

• Full text of original essay

Previously in Background on the News

Arming Kabul, Disarming Cabals
September 22, 2004
Next month, Afghanistan will have its first free presidential and parliamentary elections since the fall of the Taliban — a seminal event for the country. . . . Read more

Putin's Putsch
September 22, 2004
Moscow's fierce war against Chechen insurgents has been plaguing Russia for more than a decade, but with Vladimir Putin's recent centralization of power in the Kremlin in response to the Beslan massacre it is now having profound structural repercussions on Russian democracy. . . . Read more

• Newsletter Archive

In the Next Issue of Foreign Affairs

On newsstands starting November 2, 2004

• Robert Tucker and David Hendrickson on the United States' post-Iraq credibility problem;
• Marshall Goldman on Vladimir Putin's power grab in Russia;
• Tufts University professor Tony Smith and former C.P.A. official Larry Diamond debate the Iraq occupation;
• Khalil Shikaki on the need for Palestinian elections.

Plus: Piracy and terrorism on the high seas, economic liberalization in Iran, a look at the E.U. constitution, and the United States' dwindling technological advantage.

To get your copy of the November/December 2004 issue, visit your local newsstand or the Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstore nearest you beginning November 2, 2004. To receive your copy in the mail, subscribe no later than:

• U.S. Orders: November 30, 2004
• International and Canadian orders: October 31, 2004

Or use our Newsstand Finder.

Outstanding New Books

Plaudits from our book review panel in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs.

Fragments of Grace: My Search for Meaning in the Strife of South Asia
by Pamela Constable
" . . . Constable's combination of the public and the private gives character and authority to her account, making this far more profound than either a mere travelogue or a reporting of political events."  —Lucian W. Pye
Read the review

The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America
by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge
" . . . an original, probing, and engaging examination of conservative politics in America. . . . The Right Nation is part social analysis, part history of ideas that examines how conservative ideology became such a defining feature of American life."  —Daniel Casse
Read the review

From Oslo to Iraq and the Road Map
by Edward W. Said
"With a slashing style worthy of Jonathan Swift, Said is ever evocative."  —L. Carl Brown
Read the review

From Empire to Community: A New Approach to International Relations
by Amitai Etzioni
"In this sweeping vision of an emerging world community, Etzioni, a distinguished sociologist and leading communitarian thinker, lays out a world order that charts a path between power-oriented realism and law-oriented liberalism."  —G. John Ikenberry
Read the review

Islam in Russia: The Politics of Identity and Security
by Shireen Hunter
"To say this is an encyclopedia of Islam in Russia would be to slight the book's rich analysis. But to avoid that description would be to understate how thoroughly Hunter and her colleagues cover every aspect of the subject . . . "  —Robert Legvold
Read the review

In the Current Issue of Foreign Affairs

The complete text of selected essays and of all the book reviews from the September/October issue can be found on the Foreign Affairs Web site. Currently the following essays are available in their full text:

The Neglected Home Front

Stephen E. Flynn

The Bush administration has waged an aggressive war against terrorists abroad, but it has neglected to protect the homeland, even though Americans in the United States are the ones most vulnerable to future attacks.

• What people are saying
  (via Google)

What Went Wrong in Iraq

Larry Diamond

Although the early U.S. blunders in the occupation of Iraq are well known, their consequences are just now becoming clear. The Bush administration was never willing to commit the resources necessary to secure the country and did not make the most of the resources it had.

• What people are saying
  (via Google)

The Receding Horizon

Samuel W. Lewis

In The Missing Peace, Dennis Ross provides a fair and clear-headed overview of almost ten years of Middle East peacemaking. Although he finds plenty of blame to spread around, he sees one man as the ultimate impediment: Yasir Arafat.

• What people are saying
  (via Google)