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Ian Bremmer On the War Between States and Corporations

Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer discusses the political and economic impacts of the economic recession, as well as rising economic powers.

Charles Kupchan On How Nations Make Peace

Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Charles Kupchan explains the value of engagement with our enemies and the hard work and years of effort needed to make peace.

James K. Glassman on Strategic Communications and U.S. Policy Toward Iran

Glassman argued that Iran is an ideal place for strategic communications and said that everything we do and everything we say should be coordinated to meet the goal of changing the character of the Iranian leadership.

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Hillary Clinton Watch

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Saturday, Feb 19 2011, 3:35PM

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In a program that ran this morning, I spoke to Michele Kelemen of National Public Radio about Hillary Clinton's approach to foreign policy and reflected a bit on her policy and personnel choices.

And recently, I also reflected on Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State thus far in a major profile written by CNN's Elise Labott.

More soon.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by sanitychecker, Feb 20, 3:53PM This is OT but I hope the TWN will let it through its moderation screen. Harlan Ullman wrote here a few days ago: "As an accredit... read more
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Smartest Man in US Senate to Retire

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Friday, Feb 18 2011, 3:10PM

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Jeff Bingaman.jpg

In just about 20 minutes, at 3:30 pm EST and 1:30 pm in New Mexico, Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, is going to announce on KOAT that he will not run for his Senate seat again.

Jeff Bingaman was my former boss in a good chunk of the 1990s, and I'm very sad to see him leaving the Senate. He was in my estimation the most intelligent and deeply analytical US Senator in the lot. He hated media, and part of my job was to gin up policy stuff he was working on and get media for it -- and force him to smile.

Bingaman knows the inside and out nuts and bolts of technology policy, innovation dynamics, health care policy issues, nuclear energy and weapons issues, actually everything. He's so smart, has a wry wit, runs everyday.

He really is the living embodiment of Jimmy Stewart's "Mr. Smith", in all of the good ways and without the whining and theatrics.

Congratulations to Jeff Bingaman on this decision -- but as a friend, former employee, and long time observer of his work -- the Senate is losing someone who let lots of others take the credit while he did some of the only serious thinking.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by Cee, Feb 20, 4:27PM Carroll, Like now with the new events in China. Citizens were urged to shout: 'We want food, we want work, we want housing, we w... read more
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Eva Peron Wins: The Pretension of a "Savings Lottery"

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Thursday, Feb 17 2011, 5:56PM

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lotteryticket.jpgPeter Orszag, now a new vice-chairman of global banking at Citigroup and former US Office of Management and Budget under Barack Obama, has written a provocative and (with all due respect Peter) wrong-headed Financial Times oped proposing that the way to promote savings among America's low-income workers is to attach the prospect of winning millions to them scurrying away a few dollars here and there -- sort of a lottery ticket that goes into their savings rather than into state coffers to help subsidize education or to the profits of the local milk and cigarette stand.

At the New America Foundation, I have colleagues who are most likely the world's leading experts on generating savings among the underclass, or "banking the unbanked" as New America's Reid Cramer or Ray Boshara would say. But suggesting that America's savings problem be solved by establishing an Eva Peron style lottery incentivizing those with little to save doesn't understand the dynamics at play in the American economy today.

American growth, indeed global growth, this past decade was moving upward at a fast clip in part because household consumption was surging well beyond normal patterns. Whether it was inflated 401k values or bubble-driven home prices, working families had confidence that they lived safely in a "just-in-time money, just-in-time jobs world."

In other words, credit was easy, trust in America's financial health was high, a job lost could easily be filled by a job or two gained. Just-in-time income is a sign of hyper-confidence that the inflow and outflow of funds will be manageable -- sort of like Toyota's just-in-time production system in which it doesn't warehouse materials and supplies but brings together all of its componentry in a just-in-time assembly process.

The trust is gone. The US government and Wall Street managed to not only inject fear and uncertainty deep into the American market and household sector -- but also managed to export toxic financial products to the rest of the world, undermining global trust in US economic leadership.

dollars pic.jpgWhen households are stressed out about the future, fear losing jobs or unemployment insurance, or see an economy that is not producing enough jobs to keep pace with those coming into the workforce, people save -- and that is what is happening today. People are saving as Orszag notes in his article, writing that savings has risen from 1.4% of income in 2005 to 5.8% in 2010. While he properly notes that a further dramatic rise in savings would hurt the economy and constrain a return to badly needed consumption in the short term, he argues that America needs more savings in the long run -- and then says that a lottery for poor folks is the way to get there.

First of all, in many states, working class and lower class/non-working Americans are already the bulk of lottery ticket buyers -- which is essentially a tax on them to support parts of the state education infrastructure. I suppose to draw them away from one lottery-incentivized behavior to support their own savings interests, it could make sense to generate yet another lottery-incentivized behavior. But then who would pick up the newly neglected education tab?

But more importantly, the savings and investment ratios in the United States are a function of another kind of faulty logic -- one that says that America as a whole should "trust" the international system to provide unlimited financing for unlimited gluttony (i.e. consumption from China and elsewhere) and that the working middle class need not fear off-shoring of jobs to China and Southeast and South Asia because this is moving America up the value chain and that new, high wage jobs and opportunities will be created out of the churn. The selling point from firms like Citibank is "trust" the international economic order to provide alternatives for what is taken away -- just in time manufacturing jobs, just in time financing, just in time opportunity.

But the rest of the world doesn't operate it. Martin Wolf of the Financial Times once told me that the self-interested, strategic economic behaviors of other major economic stakeholders in the international system required a "patsy" -- someone who would believe in the "just in time" security of give and take trade and give and take finance and jobs even when its competitors didn't. That is the United States. (To be fair, when I told Martin Wolf that he had said that to me, he said it was impossible because the word "patsy" was not one that fell easily from his lexicon -- but he said that the concept was basically right, and I suggested that "sucker" or "chump" might be just as good, to which he nodded.)

My recommendation to leading economic officials is to get back to the real issue here -- not whether one can create gimmicks to nudge poor people to become the savings backbone of a newly re-energized American economy, but rather to realize that the nation itself can only re-earn real trust from its citizens and respect in the international system if it reinvests in itself, in its innovative sectors, in infrastructure, and creates incentives for surplus nations in the world like China, Germany, and Japan to invest in high value added manufacturing operations inside the United States.

A non-defense discretionary spending freeze for 5 years, which Barack Obama has proposed, is not a trust-building budget that conveys that America will be more innovative in the future and on a higher growth path. It is a flounder-in-place budget while China and India leapfrog forward.

A major national infrastructure investment push could be a serious event in US history at this point -- and would keep working, low-income Americans on track, investing in themselves when they need to, saving when they need to, borrowing when they need to -- in order to try and secure a better set of opportunities for themselves and their children in the long term.

Eva Peron style lotteries are just another gimmick of social engineering -- that just builds on the short term sorts of thinking that we have seen coming for years from the big financial houses in Wall Street and from their agents and proteges in Republican and Democratic administrations.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by questions, Feb 20, 12:58PM h/t Yves Smith/nakedcapitalism http://www.foreignpolicy.c... read more
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The Coarsening of a Country

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Thursday, Feb 17 2011, 9:35AM

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This is a guest post by Jeffrey Stacey, an international engagement officer on contract with the Office of the Secretary's Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization at the U.S. Department of State. Previously Stacey taught Political Science at Tulane University, Fordham University, and Columbia University, where he obtained his Ph.D. He has also worked for the British Parliament, the European Parliament, and the Open Society Institute and is author of "Integrating Europe" by Oxford University Press.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of State or the U.S. Government.

The Coarsening of a Country

jeffrey stacey twn.jpgRecently in Washington we memorialized a legend no longer living, the great Richard Holbrooke, diplomat extraordinaire and larger than life to the end, when heart failure took him from us. He was that rare breed who not only thought big thoughts but did big things, all on the grandest of international stages. The man who ended a war and brought peace to Bosnia--saving thousands of lives in the process--was indefatigably working for peace in Afghanistan when death came knocking. He was passionately, unswervingly committed to using American power for good, for restoring faith in our diplomacy, for John Wesley-like doing all the good that he could, as long as he could, whenever and wherever he could.

But who within our country is making a Herculean-Holbrookian commitment to restoring honor and civility to our political discourse. Who will stand up fearlessly and call out demagogues for their hateful speech? Who will go to the wall for what is best in America and stand on it til what is worst gets altered, transformed, or utterly spurned by the great mass of American citizenry? Who has the character, the mettle, the fire in the belly to be a socially responsible citizen and effect a changed America, down the block or up on Capitol Hill?

Because while this is the America we love, those whose love is true know its soul is torn. And that making it whole again will take more than points of light in the thousands. What is now required will involve nothing less than leading lights to embrace the humility of Copeland's fanfare, and struggle to bring to fruition what Martin saw from the mountaintop.
We have been poorly served by this generation of leaders, too many of whom countenance a four-star general bad mouthing the commander-in-chief, a member of Congress crying out "You lie" during the State of the Union, a Supreme Court justice crossing the sacred political line, a senator calling for the President's Waterloo, a vice presidential candidate coming close to inciting violence in her campaign speeches, and on-air bloviators in triplicate calling the sitting President everything under the sun but a nigger. Normally the Rubicon gets crossed only once in living memory, but the crossings of late have been too numerous to enumerate.

Continue reading this article

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by Paul Norheim, Feb 19, 4:25PM "The idea that the level of political discourse today is worse than it once was is just not true. Stacey's idea that there is an... read more
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Hickory Dog is Best in Show

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Wednesday, Feb 16 2011, 11:56AM

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hickory dog 2.pngHickory Dog Best in Show.png

A Scottish deerhound named "Hickory Wind" has taken best-in-show at Westminster.

Carson Ranger, a regular at TWN, let us know the news -- and yes, we do like all the pups, even the ones who don't win ribbons and are in the rescue batches out there.

But the ones who win prizes can also be fun.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by Cee, Feb 19, 10:06PM I went on a search <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Libya-arrests-Arab-network-for-destabilising-cou... read more
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Russ Feingold Emerges with Progressives United

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Wednesday, Feb 16 2011, 10:39AM

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I like Russ Feingold, a lot. His successor in the US Senate actually said in the campaign that he didn't believe US Senators should speak out publicly on matters of war and peace and should rather communicate their views privately and discreetly to the White House.

I'm not kidding. I wrote about it here.

But Feingold has emerged and has launched a new group called "Progressives United."

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by WigWag, Feb 17, 10:07PM It is also interesting to note the similarities between the demonstrations at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968 and the... read more
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The US Will Not Become Messianic Regime Change Fanatic

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Wednesday, Feb 16 2011, 8:33AM

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In this segment above, NPR's White House Correspondent Ari Shapiro spoke with the Carnegie Endowment's Michelle Dunne and me about the Obama administration's evolving position on Egypt and the broader Middle East region.

I suggest that the administration is now attempting to maintain a focus on the core principles it pushed during the Egypt protests -- while not wanting to appear as if the US has become a Messianic regime change fanatic.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by Cee, Feb 18, 6:07PM Matthew, Perhaps you aren't the only one who wonders about US decline. In sharp reversal, U.S. agrees to rebuke Israel in Securi... read more
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Obama's Stock of Power Gets an Uptick

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Tuesday, Feb 15 2011, 9:02AM

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obama distinguished.jpg

Recently, through no fault of the correspondent but unfortunately through context-removing snips by an editor, I was misquoted in the Wall Street Journal. Various conservatives then grabbed my comment to try and score a gotcha point against President Obama and his team.

The quote by me that appeared in this Wall Street Journal article (and was used as the title in some online cases though not in the newspaper itself) was:

The mystique of America's superpower status has been shattered.

This has been a phrase I have used many times to refer to the many limits the US has exposed militarily, economically, morally, and institutionally over the years. The George W. Bush administration, particularly because of the Iraq invasion, exposed most of these limits. The current account deficit skyrocketing from just below 2% of GDP under Clinton to nearly 7% was another mystique shaker during that administration.

Obama started with a bad hand when he came into office and he's doing a lot to turn America's low stock of power into some gains.

The quote above sounds as if I was saying that "Egypt" was shattering the mystique of America's superpower status, and that is far from the truth and not what I conveyed. The reason that I raised the issue is that fifteen or so days into the standoff with Mubarak, it was interesting to note how Egypt's President was standing strong despite the headwinds coming at him.

Ten or fifteen years ago, I don't believe that this would have been the case -- and to some degree the perception of US power is a factor. That's not President Obama's fault. A whopping trade deficit, wobbly economy, the exporting of poisonous financial products to the rest of the world, military overextension -- all well in place before Obama got the keys to the White House is what has undermined the perception of American power -- not Egypt.

So, I don't fault Fox News, Peter Feaver, or Barry Rubin from jumping on the quote as it ran, but this is a signal to them that it would be inappropriate to further use my phrasing in their critiques of the Obama White House.

If instead they want to go after the administrations of George W. Bush or Bill Clinton, feel free. Search on this blog under "superpower" and "mystique" and one will find a lot of references that may help them and their readers see both how botched America's national security and economic portfolios became under Bush -- and how steep a hill Obama has had to climb these last couple of years.

Lastly, from my vantage point, what has unfolded in Egypt -- even though there were some zigs and zags and that affairs inside that country were in the Egyptian public's hands and not up to the US -- has enhanced Barack Obama's stock of power.

I think Mubarak thought he was going to survive the uprisings and shrug off Obama and the international community. After all, he has seen Netanyahu get away (thus far) with a number of wins in wrestling matches with the Obama White House.

But in the end, Mubarak was shoved aside by a military that recognized that the key principles that Egypt's citizens were calling for -- and which Obama was highlighting -- were OK to support and that the army's future depended on supporting at least for the time being this people power movement.

This nudge-from-behind and focus-on-principles-up-front approach -- which worked -- gets Obama some uptick in his power pack. Now the trick is to get some momentum on other problems where America can move the needle.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by PissedOffAmerican, Feb 17, 7:58PM There are two alarming possibilities about Powell here. Either he was remarkably uninformed and naive, to the point of gross incom... read more
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Comments Back: Moderation is Key

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Tuesday, Feb 15 2011, 8:18AM

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moderation-is-key.american-apparel-unisex-fitted-tee.lemon.w760h760.jpgOK. The comments are coming back -- but they will be moderated.

I've noticed that some folks who comment think that there is this enormous operation behind The Washington Note that can screen people, block some, and let others through -- and generally ascribe to a single individual's world view in giving a thumbs up or thumbs down to others. This is not the case.

I have always been clear to some of the most active commenters here -- including Nadine, POA, WigWag, Paul Norheim, questions, Carroll, and others -- that I enjoy the debate and have learned something from every one of them. But the ease with which some regularly fell into attacks of innuendo and incredibly misinformed assaults on others can't be tolerated here. I get email from some of you incredibly certain that Nadine is an agent paid to harrass folks on the blog, or that POA is some sort of well, I won't go there. The fact is that Nadine is a very decent, smart person with passionate views. I know who she is and know who POA and many others are. But that doesn't excuse for a moment the level of animosity and rage you vent at each other -- and occasionally me -- in completely intolerable and inexcusable doses.

I've tried over the last many years to cultivate civil debate here, dissent from my own views, and some very high profile commenters have indeed developed here -- some constructive, and some apparently unable to curb tendencies to attack others on any number of fronts. I won't have it and simply won't debate the rules with folks.

Everyone is welcome back. Comments appearing here will be permitted through entirely based on their constructive contribution to discussion -- or their ability to provide resources for others -- or their lightheartedness or passion or anger constructively written.

This is my blog. My rules. Civility is required. Agreement is not.

So, we are going to try to get a regime in place that moderates all comments as they go up. I imagine that this process is going to be spotty at the beginning and ask your patience. We will try to improve as things move along.

Thanks much for understanding. I like the T-Shirt noted above. If you want to buy one, here is the link.

Best regards to all.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by PissedOffAmerican, Feb 18, 3:41AM "Anyone know more?" The Jessica Lynch fairy tale and the Tillman skit might not give us fodder for "knowledge" about what actuall... read more
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History Says Mubarak Clan Likely to Return

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Monday, Feb 14 2011, 4:54PM

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GamalMubarak.jpeg2_.jpgNorthwestern University's Jeffrey Winters has just published at HuffPost a provocative, historically informed essay in which he outlines how those close to Suharto are now back in power in Indonesia; family members of Ferdinand Marcos are now back in government roles in the Philippines; and that most likely -- at some point down the road -- members of the Mubarak "franchise" will be back in some leading capacity in Egypt.

History doesn't work in straight lines, and the emotion people feel today will become distant memories for some -- and the tenaciousness that some in the Mubarak world will exhibit to reclaim what they feel is theirs shouldn't be underestimated.

Happens with less drama in the US, but family dynasties wherever they may be -- some of them -- have a way of coming back and back and back again.

-- Steve Clemons


Needing Egypt Less?

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Monday, Feb 14 2011, 1:10PM

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Amjad Atallah above in this Bloggingheads exchange with Robert Wright suggests that if Arab states and Israel had been able to deliver on a two-state outcome hatching a State of Palestine the US would not have to be so fearful of falling afoul of Mubarak and siding with protesters.

In other words, in a world where Israel and Palestine find a way forward, normalization with a big chug of states with Israel decreases the significance of Egypt, or Jordan, or any other anomalous Middle Easter anchor of peace with Israel today.

I think Atallah has a point. This doesn't change the fact that the US has vital interests throughout the region, including Israel's security, and reality doesn't allow deal-making exclusively with democracies. We've got a mixed bag to deal with.

-- Steve Clemons


Comments on the Blog

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Monday, Feb 14 2011, 12:05PM

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Rules I have established for those commenting on this blog are being flagrantly violated. I am shutting down comments for a period of time.

I am notifying a few commenters that they are banned. I will not tolerate ad hominem attacks on anyone and the regular escalations that take place here. If folks want to communicate on policy issues, feel free to write to me privately.

I regret having to take this action but some consistent commenters are regularly out of line -- and they are contributing to a climate here that I refuse to support and be part of. I don't care what other value they bring in other commentary.

I will decide when to bring comments back -- but these commenters will not be welcome until I receive notes from them outlining how they will contribute to discourse here and what they will do to curb their tendency to escalate beyond tolerable limits.

-- Steve Clemons


Egypt-US Relations: The Uncomfortable Hypothetical

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Monday, Feb 14 2011, 10:40AM

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egypt dove freedom.jpgWhen big shifts occur in the world, like the successful revolution (thus far) in Egypt, Americans like to race toward ideological frames that fit the moment and which should be applied to every nation in a similar circumstance, perhaps to Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, Yemen, even Saudi Arabia.

Politico's Ben Smith has a good piece of analysis on what appears to him as an "Obama Freedom Agenda" that has been constructed from the themes of Obama's earlier calls for principle-driven global framework, as in his famous Cairo remarks, and made up on the fly. Others like National Public Radio's Ari Shapiro are working on stories about the administration surfing a "freedom wave." Helene Cooper and Mark Landler have put forward a thesis that Obama's progressive realist team -- particularly Denis McDonough and Ben Rhodes -- knocked back Hillary Clinton's acolytes in a struggle over what the soul of US foreign policy should be, replaying their tensions during the Democratic Party primary race.

While I think that there is a solid realist track for having supported the protesters in the street against the Mubarak franchise (and I did support them), an uncomfortable hypothetical to consider is what US policy should be if Mubarak had cracked down and he and his son, Gamal Mubarak, had essentially prevailed.

The answer is that after a period of time of icy relations and distance, America and the Egyptian political order would have had to start dealing with each other again. There are too many other issues that matter to the United States to leave Egypt walled off from the US or permanently on the outs.

Frankly, I think that the high level of engagement between the US and the rest of the world with Egypt is what kept Mubarak from using the full force of the state against the protesters -- and that rather than keeping them at arm's length and beyond, nations like Iran, Syria, Cuba and the like ought to be ones that we seriously engage and try to get thoroughfares of exchange and people to people contact as this could in some cases be a constraint on some forms of violence against their citizens.

After Tiananmen, Brent Scowcroft made the secret trip to China during the George H.W. Bush administration to nudge US-China contacts back in a generally constructive direction. The people power effort inside China had failed, but the US -- while I think largely supportive and hopeful of what China's youth were trying to achieve -- needed to make sure that America's interests on other fronts were going to be secure.

I agree with this approach -- one that understands and appreciates the importance of self-determination and citizen empowerment -- but that also doesn't undermine the fundamental national security interests of the US.

Thus, if Mubarak and his son had prevailed -- the likelihood is that the US would have had to find a way back to engaging with that Egypt as uncomfortable as that would have been.

-- Steve Clemons


It's Time to Chart a New Course on Afghanistan

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Monday, Feb 14 2011, 9:45AM

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This "It's Time" ad will be running on various CNN slots this week to push for reduction of forces in Afghanistan. The ad is more assertive and emotional than I am on these issues. I'm not a pacifist and there are times when war and the deployment of force are important, vital tools.

But I do believe that the White House needs to remind the Pentagon who is running the show -- and that very few of the benchmarks that the military said were reachable if the surge in forces was granted by the President have been met.

The reason that "it's time" to reduce the US military footprint in Afghanistan is that we are seeing the containment of American power -- not the leveraging of it. The longer we stay tied down in the mess there, the more current allies will not count on the US as much as they used to, and the more other foes around the world will try to expedite their agendas.

And spending $119 billion in FY2011 in Afghanistan in a country with $14 billion GDP -- while the rest of the country is going through such pain in the forthcoming budget slashing wars makes no sense.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by questions, Feb 14, 12:17PM Pardon my not having an answer to this at hand, but when you say "spending 119 billion dollars" what are we spending the money on ... read more
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Palestine Papers Take Down Saeb Erekat

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Saturday, Feb 12 2011, 4:37PM

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There are a number of tragedies here -- but the biggest is that it is unlikely that a Palestinian government in the future will make the robust set of offers that Saeb Erekat put before the Israeli government.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by jdledell, Feb 14, 10:48AM "If at the end of the day, Israeli national suicide is demanded as the prerequisite for peace, then there won't be peace." Nadin... read more
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Tom Donilon Calls Out Iran's Hypocrisy on Egypt and Itself

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Saturday, Feb 12 2011, 3:40PM

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donilon obama oval office.jpg

The statement below was just released by Obama National Security Advisor Tom Donilon regarding Iran blocking coverage of Egypt's protests and its statements that it will not allow opposition protests inside Iran.

Statement by National Security Advisor Tom Donilon on Iran

By announcing that they will not allow opposition protests, the Iranian government has declared illegal for Iranians what it claimed was noble for Egyptians.

We call on the government of Iran to allow the Iranian people the universal right to peacefully assemble, demonstrate and communicate that's being exercised in Cairo.

It would be a principled thing if the Muslim Brotherhood and other affiliated groups in the region issued statements similar to Donilon's -- supporting those inside Iran who prefer a more representative government that addresses their economic, political, and human needs.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by questions, Feb 14, 12:47PM One comment space left here for a worthy link: <a href="http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/02/mark-thoma-on-the-rhetoric-of-socia... read more
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Wurmser & Clemons Discuss Egypt & Implications for US Foreign Policy

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Saturday, Feb 12 2011, 3:28PM

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David Wurmser, Vice President Cheney's Middle East Adviser during the George W. Bush Administration, and I had an interesting discussion about developments in Egypt and implications for US foreign policy on BBC Radio 4.

The five minute clip can be listened to here.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by Cee, Feb 14, 12:51PM Paul, I would imagine that Mubarak thoughts of being tortured in the manner that others were on HIS ORDERS wore on him a bit. ... read more
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What Does the Egyptian Revolution Mean For Palestine?

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Friday, Feb 11 2011, 1:35PM

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This is a guest post by Amjad Atallah, the Executive Consulting Editor for the Palestine Note, where the post originally appeared. He is also Director of the Middle East Task Force at the New America Foundation and an editor for the Middle East Channel at ForeignPolicy.com.

If you live in Washington, DC, the question of what does the Egyptian Revolution mean for Palestine might seem like a strange question. The question du jour here is what does the Egyptian Revolution mean for Israel? The subtext to that second question is what does the Egyptian Revolution mean for Israel's continued occupation and its denial of equality to non-Jewish citizens and residents. Of course, both questions show an Israel/Palestine-centric view of the world. Yes, the denial of Palestinian freedom has been an iconic issue of concern not only for Arabs and the larger Muslim world, but also for the Global South and persons of conscience around the world. And once upon a time, the Palestinian struggle for their rights did symbolize the heroism of a people demanding justice for themselves.

But today that mantle lies with the Egyptian and Tunisian peoples. Today, they are the teachers and the rest of us are the pupils. Today, the Arab people of Egypt and Tunisia, and those demonstrating for the same goals throughout the Arab world are providing all of us, including Americans, with hard fought lessons that decades of useless peace-processing and support for authoritarian leaders have let us forget. Here are at least four lessons that have been thrown in our face:

Continue reading this article

-- Andrew Lebovich


Posted by PissedOffAmerican, Feb 12, 8:04PM Carroll, Feb 12 2011, 4:25PM ...... Says quite a bit that these alpha dogs feel they need to hand out food allotments to the less... read more
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The Last Pharaoh?

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Friday, Feb 11 2011, 11:38AM

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Mubarak has given up his powers to the military. In the eyes of the Egyptian public, this counts as resignation. Now the tough part really begins.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by Paul Norheim, Feb 11, 11:34PM I did, and I read the article. Events unfold so fast now that it's difficult to analyze them. I'm not sure, but it looks like Sul... read more
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Getting Over the Political Islam Allergy

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Thursday, Feb 10 2011, 8:37AM

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political islam.jpgJames Goldgeier has just published a smart, short piece that outlines the structural differences between the revolutions that brought down totalitarian regimes in 1989 and what is now unfolding in 2011. In particular, he notes substantial differences in the outreach of the US and Europe to opposition groups in Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe and the build-out of a comprehensive security architecture that was attractive to these states.

In contrast, the failure to secure the Arab Peace Plan in the region that would have led to normalization between Israel and 57 other Arab and Muslim nations has also preempted security infrastructure discussions along the lines of an ASEAN Regional Forum for the Middle East. There has been a serious cost to the paralyzed Israel-Arab peace process.

James Goldgeier writes:

In 2011, the United States does not have the same standing in the Arab world with opposition movements that it did in 1989 in Europe, nor do these countries seek to join Western institutions.

The West has not promoted a Helsinki-type process in the Middle East that might have built ties with opposition forces, nor fostered a broader regional security framework that could promote peace. Although Hosni Mubarak won't be around past September, President Obama doesn't have the kinds of carrots for reform that his predecessors had in the 1990s. And even if Egypt makes a peaceful transition to democracy with a supportive, rather than oppressive, military, it is not inevitable that other Arab countries follow suit.

Secondly, as Goldgeier indicates, we have a weak record of reaching out to and even knowing the political opposition in these countries. We should know all sides of the equation -- and yes, including the Muslim Brotherhood who themselves in many parts of the Middle East are the biggest advocates for democratic practice and principle.

It's time that the US deal with all groups in these regions -- and at least have interaction with and communications with key leaders. The Muslim Brotherhood is automatically part of that list, and it is in American interests -- as well as in the interests of Israel and Arab states in the region -- to begin to normalize discussions about democratic political norms with the rising political Islam movement.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by Henri, Feb 14, 12:18AM I think a lot of people the world over would be relieved if the new Egypt included something like the following in their new const... read more
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Streaming Live Today: Anwar Ibrahim on Democracy in the Islamic World

Share / Recommend - Comment - Permanent Link - Print - Thursday, Feb 10 2011, 8:01AM

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anwar ibrahim.jpgThis afternoon at 5 pm EST, I'll be chairing a session with former Malaysia Deputy Prime Minister and current Leader of the Opposition in the Malaysian Parliament Anwar Ibrahim.

telhami.jpgWe will be discussing democracy in the Islamic World -- and joining us will also be public opinion experts Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland and Brookings Saban Center and George Washington University's Nathan Brown.

We'll be running the session live here at The Washington Note at 5 pm EST. For those of you who want to attend in DC, there is no charge but you must register here.

-- Steve Clemons


Posted by Cee, Feb 10, 4:13PM I wish I had more advanced notice of this. Do you post a schedule? I was just in your area. Had I known about this I would have ... read more
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