Background on the News - 2007-10-17

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October 17, 2007

Defining Genocide

	Last week, the House Foreign Affairs committee voted 27-21 to characterize the deaths of more than one million Armenians during World War I as "genocide." The resolution has sent Turks to the streets in protest and prompted Ankara to warn that passage of the resolution by the House at large would severely damage U.S.-Turkish relations. This is not the first debate over what should be called "genocide," and won't be the last. A January/February 2005 Foreign Affairs article, "Darfur and the Genocide Debate," by the University of Wisconsin's Scott Straus, explored whether the tragedy in Darfur merited the term. His conclusion: stop talking about words, start thinking about action. Full text of original essay (January/February 2005)
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	Invitation Attention Subscribers: Join Foreign Affairs editor James F. Hoge, Jr. as he interviews some of the brightest minds in foreign policy at the 92nd St. Y in New York City. Speakers Include: Bob Woodruff, October 21 Madeleine Albright, January 20 Fareed Zakaria, May 7 To purchase tickets or for more information, click here
	Previously in Background on the News
	Blackwatergate October 3, 2007 The private security firm Blackwater has come under intense scrutiny after a September 16 shootout that left at least 11 Iraqi civilians dead. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has demanded that Blackwater cease operating in Iraq and Congress is raising questions about the accountability of the 160,000 private military contractors working there, a force that exceeds the number of uniformed soldiers in the country. . . . Read more

	The Summer of Pakistan's Discontent September 20, 2007 Pakistan has seen its share of crises over the past four months, from the storming of Islamabad's Red Mosque to clashes with militants along Afghanistan's border, the dismissal and reinstatement of Pakistan's chief justice, and the recent deportation of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. . . . Read more

	Can the Surge Succeed? September 5, 2007 The debate on Iraq is reaching a crucial juncture as the nation prepares for next week's congressional testimony by General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the possibility of troop reductions looms on the horizon. . . .Read more

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Foreign Affairs
Bestsellers

The topselling books on international affairs based on national sales at Barnes & Noble stores and barnesandnoble.com during September/October 2007.

At the Center of the Storm
George Tenet
The World Is Flat
Thomas L. Friedman
Nixon and Kissinger
Robert Dallek

Complete list