World Politics Review

The release last week of a European Commission report highly critical of Bulgaria's and Romania's progress in their efforts against corruption serves as a useful reminder that both Brussels and Ankara should exercise patience while negotiating Turkey's European Union bid. The Bulgarian and Romanian cases demonstrate that both Europe and its potential members are best served by an exhaustive, deliberate accession process.

Once upon a time, there was a grand and influential foreign policy doctrine. It was based on some traditional notions about U.S. statecraft that placed severe constraints on when America went to war. It asserted that when the United States used military force, it must do so in overwhelming fashion and only in the service of vital national interests. For any military action, it counseled the dispassionate weighing of costs and benefits, recommended that policymakers have clear, realistic and achievable political objectives, and called for the

President Barack Obama's historic address to the Muslim world in Cairo tomorrow offers a prime opportunity to outline a new U.S. vision for democracy and human rights in the region. To accomplish this goal, Obama must firmly reject the notion that safeguarding America's strategic interests in the Middle East somehow runs counter to the goal of advancing political reform. Instead he must craft a balanced message that recognizes that reform is synonymous with U.S. interests in the region.

Dambisa Moyo's new book, "Dead Aid ," is a prime example of an old idea wrapped up in new packaging. As a Harvard-educated child of Africa (Zambia), with stints at Goldman Sachs and the World Bank, Moyo makes for an appealing messenger. However, the idea on which her book is based -- that foreign assistance for Africa hasn't worked -- is hardly an original one to most aid practitioners.

Parag Khanna argues that in many places, "America is no longer viewed as a provider of security but rather of insecurity," which allows China and Europe to ...

... Yemen and Colombia -- that routinely violate human rights, the nonpartisan think-tank, New America Foundation, said in a report released last week. ...

...The Bush administration's military buildup, the largest since World War II, "may be starting to wind down despite the ongoing costs of Iraq and Afghanistan," according to a current report by the New America Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative...LINK

Even those in America who call for a more humble American foreign policy and recognize the need to listen to foreign populations and global public opinion persist in deploying at every possible moment the most patronizing of monikers in describing their preferred allies: "moderate."

Over the past eight years, the condescending label of moderate has been applied to a variety of potential interlocutors in regional conflicts -- with never a positive result. Negotiations with so-called "moderate Taliban" proved a failure; Taliban… more