Background on the News - 2006-12-07

The Baker-Hamilton commission yesterday released the much-awaited Iraq Study Group Report, an argument for a new U.S. policy in Iraq. In this special Web exclusive, Foreign Affairs asks four experts — Stephen Biddle, Larry Diamond, James Dobbins, and Leslie Gelb — to assess the report's findings and debate what Washington should do next.

• Online Roundtable (December 7, 2006)

Previously in Background on the News

Tenacious R&D
December 6, 2006
China has just overtaken Japan as the world's second-largest spender on research and development, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development reports — and its efforts are furrowing brows abroad. Yet spending alone might not be enough to overcome China's deep structural problems in this area. . . . Read more

Good Morning, Vietnam
November 22, 2006
This has been a good month for Vietnam: on November 7, after a decade of negotiations, it finally secured a seat at the World Trade Organization, and this past weekend it hosted the annual APEC summit and earned lavish praise from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In fact, the country has had a good year in general: with an annual growth rate hovering at 8 percent, its economy is one of the fastest expanding in Asia. How has Hanoi worked its wonders? . . . Read more

Turning Right on Red
November 8, 2006
Early results from Sunday's election show the former Sandinista guerilla leader Daniel Ortega as the likely next president of Nicaragua. The return to power of Ronald Reagan's foe is a symbolic blow for U.S. foreign policy and further evidence that Latin America is swerving to the left. But does it really bode ill? . . . Read more

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