PROSPECT

Here Comes the Second World

Ron Tang — Thu, 01 May 2008 09:42:00 -0400

This article is adapted from Parag Khanna's book The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order.

The term "second world" has fallen out of use. It used to mean countries of the socialist world; today I use the phrase to refer to those countries in eastern Europe and central Asia, Latin America, the middle east and southeast Asia which are both rich and poor, developed and underdeveloped, postmodern and pre-modern, cosmopolitan and tribal -- all at the same time. This is not a temporary state between third world and first, but a permanent condition in which… more

America Still Works

Ron Tang — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Anyone who reads the serious press about the condition of the US might be excused for believing that the country is headed towards a series of deep crises. This impression is exacerbated by economic slowdown and by the presidential primaries, in which candidates announce bold plans to rescue the country from disaster. But even in more normal times there are three ubiquitous myths about America that make the country seem weaker and more chaotic than it really is. The first myth, which is mainly a conservative one, is that racial and ethnic rivalries are tearing America apart. The second myth,… more

Dangerous History

Articles — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 11:59:00 -0400

Robert Kagan is one of a small group of neoconservative authors who are read because of their influence on the Bush administration. The son of Donald Kagan, a Yale classics scholar and prominent older neoconservative, Robert is the brother of Frederick Kagan, who is credited as one of the architects of Bush’s "surge" in Iraq. Robert has penned various manifestos in favour of unilateral US world domination with William Kristol, editor of Rupert Murdoch’s Weekly Standard and son of Irving Kristol, "godfather of neoconservatism." Like George W Bush, the son of a president, neoconservatives preach democracy while practicing nepotism.

In… more

Back to Bhutto?

Articles — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:21:00 -0400

One of the nice things about Pakistan at the moment is that it makes me feel young again. I first went there in 1988 as a stringer for the Times to cover the aftermath of General Zia's assassination and the military-managed "transition to democracy." The inheritors of government were Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan People’s party (PPP), but the military was careful to balance her electoral victory by keeping an ally of theirs, Mian Nawaz Sharif, as chief minister of the most populous province, Punjab.

Nineteen years have passed, the Soviet Union has fallen, the US has invaded and occupied… more

The World After Bush

Articles — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 16:15:00 -0500

On 20th January 2009, George W Bush, barring his death, resignation or impeachment, will be succeeded by the 44th US president. Whether Republican or Democrat, the next president will not only inherit a number of crises, but will be in a considerably weaker position to deal with them.

Much of America’s weakness will be the result of self-inflicted wounds: the unnecessary invasion of Iraq, along with the Bush administration’s gratuitous insults to allies, its arrogant unilateralism and its hostility to international law. But as tempting as it may be to put all of the blame on the Bush administration, the truth… more

What Were the Causes of 9/11?

Articles — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 11:28:00 -0400

No event in recent times has produced as many explanations as the 11th September attacks five years ago. Within the space of an hour, al Qaeda inflicted more direct damage on the US than the Soviet Union had done throughout the cold war, a cataclysm seen by more people than any other event in history. Yet it took only 19 men armed with small knives to destroy the World Trade Centre, demolish a wing of the Pentagon and kill 3,000 people. This mismatch has led some -- especially in the Muslim world -- to seek a deus ex machina to… more

Bipartisan Disaster

Articles — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 20:21:00 -0400

The foreign and security strategy of the Bush administration lies in ruins. The battering of the Lebanese state by Israel, with US support, came only months after US leaders vowed to support and defend that country as a beacon of democracy and progress in the middle east. The doublethink in US policy does not relate only to the contrast between the language of democracy and the disasters in Iraq and Lebanon. Even more striking is that this public rhetoric is diametrically opposed to America’s actual strategy in the middle east, admitted privately by many officials, which is a reversion to… more

The Cuba Connection

Articles — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 08:26:00 -0400

Fidel Castro’s recent intestinal surgery led to a level of coverage in the US media usually reserved for rock stars and champion athletes. What is this fascination with the ruler of a small island nation? Is it the tempestuous cold war history, Cuba’s close proximity to Florida, memories of the Elián González custody battle of 2000?

Certainly all of these are important. But when it comes to America’s political leaders’ obsession, the answer is more fundamental. Simply put, Fidel has a major role to play in who gets elected president of the United States. This may sound strange, but it’s true.… more

A Long Voyage

Articles — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 00:00:00 -0500

The Bush administration is, for once, correct when it says that Europe needs to be much more serious about combating terrorism. Europe is in much more danger than the US. Its vulnerability is vastly increased by the presence of large and disaffected Muslim minorities. The decision of several European countries to support US actions in the Middle East inevitably makes them targets. In fact, there is a good chance that the US and Israel will eventually plunge into conflict with much of the Muslim world, and that Europe will serve as one of the chief battlefields.

Equally, fear and suspicion… more

Buckley at 80

Articles — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 00:00:00 -0500

If, as Carlyle believed, "The history of the world is but the biography of great men," then William F Buckley--80 in November--rates a place in the history of our time. Fifty years ago, Buckley, the New York city-born heir to a Texas oil fortune, started a magazine with the express purpose of making his historical mark. In the first issue of National Review, dated 19th November 1955, he declared that his new publication "stands athwart history, yelling Stop." Today, at a time when the left extols the virtues of competition and even privatisation, it's a challenge to think back to… more