Tuesday, June 30, 2009
What is This, 1981?
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Interview With Tony Woods
When it was first implemented, the policy was allegedly supposed to preserve morale and unit cohesion. How does that fit in with your experience in Iraq?
The thing that soldiers care about is, is their leader competent and does he or she care about them. And if they had a choice between a straight superior who was not very good at their job or a gay superior who was very good at their job, I think they would choose the one who's going to help ensure that they come home to their families.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Guest Post: Double-Dutch Diplomacy
- 24 June- President Obama reinstates the U.S. Ambassador to Syria—A post that has been strategically vacant for four years.
- 25 June- The White House rescinds its invitation to Iranian diplomats to attend Fourth of July celebrations worldwide (presumably held at American Embassies).
- 26 June- Ahmadinejad publicly demands an apology from President Obama for interfering in Iranian affairs of state.
The United States is in a heated diplomatic playoff with Iran. We know this. President Obama’s strategic reinstatement of the American Ambassador to Syria on Wednesday was a straight-steal. As the Post reported, “The loss of U.S. diplomatic leverage in the region,” caused by the American response to the Syrian government’s complicity in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, “has left a vacuum filled in large part by Iran.” It is no coincidence that because politics has forced President Obama to be careful regarding the contentious Iranian election, we’re trying to regain some diplomatic high-ground by climbing up the backside of the hill. The problem is we’re doing so clumsily.
Yesterday, the State department “disinvited” Iranian envoys from partaking in its Independence Day dissipation—a diplomatic disaster akin to taking your baseball and going home because they made you play right field. A tantrum only amplified by the White House’s self-deprecating quip, "July 4th allows us to celebrate the freedom and the liberty we enjoy…Freedom of speech. Freedom of religion. Freedom to assemble peacefully. Freedom of the press. So I don't think it's surprising that nobody's signed up to come."
Even if extending invitations to celebrate our (and the rest of the world’s) freedom is standard diplomatic practice, American diplomacy operates best when we’re calling the pitches. As George Orwell espoused as his sixth and final rule of writing, we should have broken any of these rules before doing anything outright barbarous. By offering up our most sacred regalia to a base body politic, we undercut our axiomatic authority. Remember, we’re dealing with no less than half of the official state sponsors of terrorism. I’m all for extending an open hand, but you don’t invite vegans to a bull roast.
Let’s hope the President regains his diplomatic rhythm and finds his double-dutch dexterity. We need to be playing by American league rules; especially on Independence Day.
Keep an Eye on Iran Today
Now Get to Work!
Obama's nominee to be under secretary of state for arms control and international security, Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-CA), and his pick to be assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Kurt Campbell, were confirmed tonight in a unanimous consent motion, a congressional source relays.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
What on Earth is Bruce Riedel Thinking?
A jihadist victory is neither imminent nor inevitable, but it is now a real possibility in the foreseeable future. This essay presumes (though does not predict) an Islamic-militant victory in Pakistan, examining how the country’s creation of and collusion with extremist groups has left Islamabad vulnerable to an Islamist coup.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Another CNAS Policy Win
Twitter on Zardari
Monday, June 22, 2009
Another Truly Impressive Obama Skill
Cricket the Uniter!
Trials and Tribulations in Afghanistan
News Flash: Zardari Blames Others; Asks for (More) Money
- The Taliban and al-Qaeda are a threat to the entire world and indeed civilization itself! -- a threat it took Pakistan years to take seriously and even now has not fully committed to fighting (and expects someone else to pay for, while financing the build-up of equipment aimed at fighting India as well).
- Benazir Bhutto (his wife) is by far the best leader Pakistan has ever had, perhaps one of the best the world has ever known -- one who was removed from power twice for corruption.
- Democracy MUST succeed in Paksitan -- as long as "Mr. 10%" is re-elected.
- The United States committed $1.5 billion per year to Pakistan for at least five years (on top of significant aid to the military) -- and Pakistan is holding out its other hand and saying "where's the rest?"
SIM-candidate
Friday, June 19, 2009
Walking the Iranian Balance Beam
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Guest Post: The Politics Behind the Acoustics
The show was organized and advertised in under two weeks.The tickets were sold out in under twenty minutes.Dispatch, a world famous yet eternally philanthropic college band from Vermont, has been broken up for five years, but was playing a reunion concert in the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. I came into two coveted tickets by a cosmic stroke of luck. The evening performance coincided with Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangirai’s eminently diplomatic visit with President Barack Obama that afternoon. The entire set was played acoustically, the Prime Minister himself spoke eloquently, without notes, and the proceeds went directly to the starving people of Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe’s government exists today, as it has for four months, as a two-headed snake. The unlikely ‘unity’ or ‘power-sharing’ system has precariously empowered two heads of state—the inexorable Robert Mugabe and the ineluctable Morgan Tsvangirai—each the illustrious champion of his party.
For the impoverished people of Zimbabwe, caught between the pestle and the mortar, it’s midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Depending upon the political leadership in the country and which man best leverages the power of the government ministries he controls (in general, Tsvangirai controls the treasury and Mugabe controls the secret police), determines whose political will be done. As the Post’s Michael Gerson wrote today in his op-ed Taking Meetings with a Murderer,
His [Tsvangirai] intention is to fight arbitrary and personal rule with the weapons of process—a Madisonian response to a Neronian dictator…If Tsvangirai fails, he will be just another victim of Mugabe’s charming ruthlessness. But if the prime minister succeeds, he will be an exceptional statesman who set aside his own claims of justice for the peace and progress of his country.
For the citizenry, the cessation of despotism, the economic prosperity of the country, the existence of sustainable democracy, and so many more basic human and civil rights hang in the balance.
Last Friday, the United States tipped the scale towards Tsvangirai. The Obama Administration devoted $73 million in foreign aid to the people of Zimbabwe—a salvational humanitarian effort that will, however, require an international political end-around. The Obama Administration will mete out millions of dollars for medicine bottles, bread loaves, and text books through NGOs and charities—effectively circumnavigating the graft of the Mugabe machine. The Dispatch Foundation, and the proceeds from their small but sold-out acoustic evening in the Kennedy Center, is one such charity. The amount of U.S. aid to ease the suffering and promote the suffrage of Zimbabweans just went up to $73,022,000. Now, we’ll watch and hope—as Obama remarked during his meeting with Tsvangirai—that concrete things solidify and enable the Prime Minister’s commitment to concrete improvement in day-to-day life in Zimbabwe.
I was lucky to get two tickets to see my favorite band reunited. But from what I saw on Friday night, the Zimbabwean people are even luckier to have the immanent resolve of PM Tsvangirai and the attention and aid of the United States.
Promising Pakistani Prognostications
- The U.S. House of Representatives passed the aid bill for Pakistan and Afghanistan last week.
- The European Union pledged $100 million in aid to Pakistan and will hold a meeting on EU-Pakistan relations in the near future.
- Pakistani authorities caught at least one of the terrorists who attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.
- Prime Minister Singh and President Zardari met in Russia at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, and the back-channel negotiations, primarily on Kashmir, are likely to resume soon.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Piecing Together the Story From Iran
Monday, June 15, 2009
Known Knowns
The Genius of The Economist
Thursday, June 11, 2009
CNAS Conference Round-Up
- How much can we trust Pakistan's government? What leverage do we have for increasing accountability and governance in Pakistan? What metrics should we use for how responsive and cooperative Pakistan's government is, and can we tie aid to those metrics?
- Lots of organizations are writing reports about how climate change and natural security are related to national security. Of course they are. These groups are great at saying "you think that's bad, let me paint an even worse scenario for you." I get that it's bad. How about some solutions or policy prescriptions. I already drive a hybrid car, but I want something on a bigger scale. CNAS' project is just getting started, so hopefully they can come up with some answers.
- One reason China may be reluctant to get tough with North Korea, or allow us to really tighten the screws, is that they fear a humanitarian crisis and refugees flooding across their border if North Korea really goes downhill. What can we (the United States or the international community) do to lessen that possibility, in order to enable China to take action? The panel said that South Korea is even more worried about refugees than China. Fine, I get that, but what can we do?
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Taliban's Questionable Tactics
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Obama's Bulletin Board Cairo Speech
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Cybersecurity is Useless...
One Armed Economist...
Define "Win"
Onward Pakistan
(image from Dawn.com, "Locals walk past an army check point, lifting up their shirts to show they are not wearing suicide jackets.")