Foreign Policy News and Commentary Update January 31, 2008

Foreign Policy News and Commentary Update January 31, 2008


Official: U.S. enemies 'eating our lunch' online - Charley Keyes (CNN, January 30): The man nominated to head public diplomacy at the State Department, James Glassman, said Wednesday that al Qaeda is doing a better job than the Bush administration in winning friends over the Internet. Glassman's comments Wednesday echoed a November speech by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in which he said the United States needs more speed, agility and cultural relevance in its communications.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/30/internet.pr.failure/

Is Bad PR Really the Problem? Charles Peña (antiwar.com, January 30): Sadly, more than four years later, it would seem that we haven't made much -- if any -- progress in how to wage the war of ideas. It's still more about style over substance.
http://www.antiwar.com/pena/?articleid=12282

Rumsfeld: "Can we talk?" Philip Carter (Intel Dump, January 26): http://www.intel-dump.com/posts/1201357073.shtml

Donald Rumsfeld's soft side: The former defence secretary isn't known for believing in public diplomacy. So why is he calling for a new US information agency? http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/john_brown/2008/01/rummy_resurfaces_announced_a_w.html

Al-Qaeda's Propaganda Advantage and How to Counter It - Brigitte L. Nacos (Perspectives on Terrorism, issue 4, 2007; posted at International Military Forums, January 30): Washington has not found effective communication strategies to counter terrorist propaganda from al-Qaeda and like-minded groups and individuals. http://www.military-quotes.com/forum/al-qaeda-s-propaganda-advantage-t52787.html

The War Against Jihadism: Why can't we call the enemy by its name? We're going to have to in order to win - George Weigel (Newsweek, January 26): http://www.newsweek.com/id/105583/output/print

Presentation of Final Report of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on Transformational Diplomacy - (U.S. Department of State, January 29): Secretary Rice: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2008/01/99822.htm

Better U.S. image abroad: how to attain it? Presidential candidates cite intent to improve US stature, but retooling policies is complicated - Howard LaFranchi (Christian Science Monitor, January 30): http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0130/p03s01-usfp.html

NATO can help in enhancing region's stability, says official Peninsula (January 30): "NATO can work closely with the nations of the [Middle East] region. It does not intend to impose anything but to develop knowledge, common training and being able to bring much more for peace and stability," NATO Assistant Secretary General, Public Diplomacy, Jean-Francois Bureau said.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?'

American Democracy is Riveting ? Roger Cohen (International Herald Tribune, January 30): A reason why the world is addicted to this US campaign with nine months still to go is "Obamania," now in overdrive with the Kennedy endorsemen. .
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/01/30/opinion/edcohen.php

Vaudeville: Ten years after Monica, the Democratic presidential race is all about theatrics - Bernard-Henri Lévy (New Republic, January 29): http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=1206c0c9-cf9e-4282-9c38-e7d53d0a9013

The Man Who Learned Too Little: In his final State of the Union, Bush makes more empty promises - Fred Kaplan (Slate, January 28): "America is a force for hope in the world because we are a compassionate people," Bush said toward the end of his State of the Union address. We know this to be true, at least in principle. It will take another president to demonstrate it.
http://www.slate.com/id/2182951/

Out of Gas - Dan Froomkin (washingtonpost.com, January 29): In his final State of the Union address, nothing President Bush said will undo the damage he has done to American interests abroad.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/01/29/BL2008012901447_pf.html

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela - Amar C. Bakshi (washingtonpost.com, January 27): "Hanging off buildings are numerous photos of President Chavez in a red shirt inaugurating new bureaucracies to aid the poor. Despite much official signage and (un)official murals, I see no overt anti-American images."
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2008/01/the_bolivarian_republic_venezuela.html?nav=rss_blog

Arming the Middle East Stephen Zunes (Foreign Policy in Focus, January 29; Common Dreams): The strongest anti-American sentiment that results may come as a consequence of U.S.-supplied weapons systems and ordinance that are never actually used in combat.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/29/6700/

When is a War Not a War? Defining & Achieving Victory in Iraq - Todd Keister (American Diplomacy, January 29): The author calls for ruthless neutralization of the enemy, after which hearts and minds can be more readily won.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/item/2008/0103/keis/keister_whenis.html

One Million Iraqis Killed; Humanitarian Crisis of Vast Proportions; 6 Bombings in Baghdad Juan Cole (Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion, January 31): A new professional poll carried out by a British firm in Iraq concludes that excess deaths from violence since March 19, 2003 through summer 2007 came to just over 1 million. Bush signed a law forbidding him from spending money to make permanent bases in Iraq but at the same time issued a signing statement making clear he had no intention of paying any attention to that or several other provisions in the legislation.
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/one-million-iraqis-killed-humanitarian.html

Tomgram: Bombs Away Over Iraq; Looking Up: Normalizing Air War from Guernica to Arab Jabour - Tom Engelhardt (TomDispatch, January 29): Maybe, sooner or later, American mainstream journalists in Iraq (and editors back in the U.S.) will actually look up, notice those contrails in the skies, register those "precision" bombs and missiles landing, and consider whether it really is a ho-hum, no-news period when the U.S. Air Force looses 100,000 pounds of explosives on a farming district on the edge of Baghdad. http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/174887/bombs_away_over_iraq

Return to Fallujah, Part Two: "The Americans Bring Us Only Destruction" - Patrick Cockburn (CounterPunch, January 29)
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick01292008.html
for part one, see
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick01282008.html

Choices at the End of the Surge - William M. Arkin (washingtonpost.com, January 31): The surge is over -- congratulations -- but the war is not.
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2008/01/with_the_end_of_the_surge_come.html#more

The Next Iraq Phase - David Ignatius (Washington Post, January 30): The Iraqis want a restoration of full sovereignty, and they aren't likely to tolerate for much longer the American-run prisons or U.S. soldiers kicking down doors. Unless the planners take that political reality into account -- and reassure Iraqis and Americans alike that most U.S. troops will gradually be coming home -- they may be creating a new version of Mission Impossible.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012902726_pf.html

A Report From Iraq: Nearly five years into the war, our correspondent, a former marine and assistant secretary of defense, surveys the battlefield and looks at what the year ahead has in store Bing West (atlantic.com, January 30): Petraeus called his campaign "the Anaconda Strategy," a reference to General Ulysses S. Grant's strategy in the closing stages of the Civil War. Similarly, Iraq will take years to sort out and settle down, requiring American steadfastness with progressively fewer American troops.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801u/iraq-update

Partisan Retreat: Our inevitable withdrawal from Iraq could poison American politics for a generation - Jonathan Rauch (Atlantic Monthly, January/February ): The crucial decision the next president will make is not whether to withdraw forces from Iraq -- that is baked in the cake -- but how.
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200801/partisan-retreat

Iraq: Making It Someone Else's Problem Editorial (Brattleboro Reformer, January 29; Common Dreams): Iraq remains a basket case. Committing our soldiers to stay in Iraq for decades to come will not change this picture.
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/29/6710/'

More Neo-Con Military Advice (Lobelog.com, January 27): The pace of the Iraq drawdown would appear to be the next big battle between the hawks and the ?realists? over Iraq (and Iran), and the neo-cons are trying to get their licks in against the 'realists' as early as possible.
http://www.ips.org/blog/jimlobe/?p=99


Lebanon held hostage: Syria's efforts to block an assassination inquiry have produced a political stalemate Editorial (Los Angeles Times, January 30): Lebanon is in a state of full political paralysis, a stalemate engineered and enforced by its overlord, Syria. It has been without a president since Nov. 24. US, UN, French and now Arab League diplomats have failed to broker a solution.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-lebanon30jan30,0,6618053.story

Calls grow for shift in Afghan policy - David R. Sands (Washington Times, January 31): The Bush administration faces increasing pressure to make a major policy course correction on Afghanistan, shifting the focus from Iraq to fight a resurgent terrorist threat and build up the faltering government in Kabul.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131/FOREIGN/913898879/1001&template=printart

Warning light on Kosovo - John Bolton, Lawrence Eagleburger, and Peter Rodman (Washington Times, January 31): An imposed settlement of the Kosovo question and seeking to partition Serbia's sovereign territory without its consent is not in the interest of the United States.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131/COMMENTARY/288472699/1012&template=printart

Kicking Democracy's Corpse in Russia - Editorial (New York Times, January 30): Very little remains of the democracy that struggled to be born in Russia after Communism's fall. The least Western democrats can do for their thwarted Russian counterparts is to frankly acknowledge this painful truth.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/opinion/30wed4.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

Who Lost Ukraine? It's not too soon to start asking - Reuben F. Johnson (Weekly Standard, January 30): About this time next year people may very well be asking "who lost Ukraine," by which time the train will have left the station a long time back, so to speak. American and EU officials need to be spending time worrying about -- and acting on -- this issue now, rather than listening to the happy talk of the Russian delegation from Davos.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/661ijuog.asp

Shattered Hopes: As Pakistan's parliamentary elections approach, the PPP's future is uncertain - Daveed Gartenstein-Ross & Nick Grace (Weekly Standard, January 30): Since the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is Pakistan's only secular opposition party with true national reach, its weakening is significant for U.S. strategic interests.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/662vtwnq.asp

Terror threat hitting home in Pakistan: Attacks aren't just a US concern, more Pakistanis say - Mark Sappenfield (Christian Science Monitor, January 30)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0130/p01s04-wosc.html

Al Qaeda Loves Bush: Thanks for the Free Advertising - William M. Arkin (washingtonpost.com, January 29): By framing a bigger battle between healthy nations and a marginal terrorist organization, the president is mightily adding to the al Qaeda mystique. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2008/01/al_qaeda_loves_bush_thanks_for.html#more

The 'War on Terror' Licenses a New Stupidity in Geopolitics: The language loved by Bush and Musharraf has translated into a global disaster bringing death and misery to millions Simon Jenkins (Guardian, January 30; Common Dreams)
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/30/6732/'

9/11 defines my generation - Christopher D. Geisel (Jerusalem Post, January 30): According to a 2007 Zogby poll, the vast majority of Americans consider the 9/11 terrorist attacks to be the most significant historical event of their lifetimes.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201523787416&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Don't Even Think About It : The war against "homegrown terrorism" is on. Enter the thought police - James Ridgeway and Jean Casella (Mother Jones, January 23)
http://www.motherjones.com/cgi-bin/print_article.pl?url=http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2008/01/homegrown-terrorism.html

Bush's much-maligned climate talks could yet help global-warming treaty: At the meeting of the world's biggest polluters in Hawaii this week, host US has a chance to show it is serious about action on climate change - Peter N. Spotts (Christian Science Monitor, January 30)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0130/p02s01-wogi.html