Topics

Economics

Snapshot,
Barbara Elias

Beyond the current debate about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan lie more fundamental questions of who the Taliban are, how they are organized, what they want, and whether they can be separated from al Qaeda.

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Comment, Nov/Dec 2009
Mitchel B. Wallerstein

Strict export restrictions are making U.S. businesses less competitive and the country less secure. Policymakers must craft new regulations to help, rather than harm, U.S. interests.

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Essay, Nov/Dec 2009
Andrei Lankov

By exposing them to the truth about their impoverishment and about the prosperity of their South Korean cousins, the United States can encourage North Koreans to change the regime in Pyongyang.

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Environment

Author Interview,
Edward L. Morse

Next week, Edward Morse will answer reader questions about the price of oil and what it means for oil-producing states and U.S. foreign policy. Submit a question

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Essay, Sep/Oct 2009
Joel Kurtzman

The free market has eliminated environmental hazards in the past, from leaded gas to acid rain, and it can solve the problem of climate change today. A cap-and-trade system offers the best hope for reducing pollution and encouraging green growth.

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Essay, Sep/Oct 2009
Jessica Seddon Wallack and Veerabhadran Ramanathan

Most initiatives to slow global warming involve reducing carbon dioxide emissions. Little attention has been given to reducing emissions of the light-absorbing particles known as "black carbon" or the gases that form ozone--even though doing so would be easier and cheaper and have a more immediate effect.

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Security

Snapshot,
James Dobbins

With the cancellation of Afghanistan's runoff election, Washington is left with Hamid Karzai as its partner in Kabul. How did Karzai come to power in the first place, and what might that say about his ability to rule?

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Snapshot,
Barbara Elias

Beyond the current debate about U.S. strategy in Afghanistan lie more fundamental questions of who the Taliban are, how they are organized, what they want, and whether they can be separated from al Qaeda.

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Comment, Nov/Dec 2009
Wesley K. Clark and Peter L. Levin

Cyberwarfare is not an abstract future threat. The United States’ electronic defenses are vulnerable and Washington must act quickly to secure computer networks, software, and hardware before it is too late.

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Law & Institutions

Essay, Nov/Dec 2009
Dmitri Trenin

Today, Russia has more to gain by cooperating with the world's major powers than by opposing them. It should craft a foreign policy that turns relations with the European Union, the United States, and others, into domestic economic and political transformation.

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Postscript,
Michael O'Hanlon

The Obama administration's cancellation of a missile-defense network in Europe is not a sign of misguided weakness, but rather the result of a prudent reexamination of U.S. priorities. But what will come in its place?

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Essay, Sep/Oct 2009
Zbigniew Brzezinski

In the course of its 60 years, NATO has united the West, secured Europe, and ended the Cold War. What next?

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Politics & Society

Comment, Nov/Dec 2009
Mitchel B. Wallerstein

Strict export restrictions are making U.S. businesses less competitive and the country less secure. Policymakers must craft new regulations to help, rather than harm, U.S. interests.

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Comment, Nov/Dec 2009
Wesley K. Clark and Peter L. Levin

Cyberwarfare is not an abstract future threat. The United States’ electronic defenses are vulnerable and Washington must act quickly to secure computer networks, software, and hardware before it is too late.

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Essay, Nov/Dec 2009
Bronwyn Bruton

Washington's repeated attempts to bring peace to Somalia with state-building initiatives have failed, even backfired. It should renounce political intervention and encourage local development without trying to improve governance

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U.S. Policy

Comment, Nov/Dec 2009
Mitchel B. Wallerstein

Strict export restrictions are making U.S. businesses less competitive and the country less secure. Policymakers must craft new regulations to help, rather than harm, U.S. interests.

Read
Comment, Nov/Dec 2009
Wesley K. Clark and Peter L. Levin

Cyberwarfare is not an abstract future threat. The United States’ electronic defenses are vulnerable and Washington must act quickly to secure computer networks, software, and hardware before it is too late.

Read
Essay, Nov/Dec 2009
Christopher S. Bond and Lewis M. Simons

U.S. policymakers can no longer afford to ignore Southeast Asia. The United States should use trade, aid, and education to alleviate poverty and prevent terrorism in the region.

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