Foreign Policy News and Commentary Update November 21, 2007

The World Through Bush-Color Glasses
http://www.236.com/video/?bcpid=1272014315&bclid=1125909605&bctid=1304990175

Oprah's Favorite Things: The Over-The-Top Crowd Reaction
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/11/20/oprahs-favorite-things-_n_73588.html

MTV LAUNCHES NEW ARABIC SERVICE BBC NEWS (NOVEMBER 18): The music and youth lifestyle channel MTV has launched an Arabic service it hopes can tap into a booming appetite for Western-influenced culture. MTV says it hopes to respect local culture without diluting its brand. The MTV Arabia service will screen Arab music videos, talent shows, and international programmes like Pimp My Ride adapted for Arab audiences. It says it hopes the channel can act as a cultural unifying force in a region known for political tension.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7100252.stm

LEBANON'S HIP-HOP STRUGGLE - AMAR C. BAKSHI (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 20): Lynn Fattouh, a.k.a. MC Lix, a.k.a. Malikah ("The Queen") is one of seven top Arab rappers, hand-picked by MTV Arabiya, a new cable channel that began broadcasting over the weekend. She is grateful to American hip-hop musicians for creating a ?diverse culture? that accepted her immediately and provided her with a platform to counter the negative images of Arab people around the world, and to demand change from her leaders in the Middle East. But it also convinced her that Americans had a lot to be grateful for, and a lot to learn.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/postglobal/america/2007/11/hip_hop_lebanon.html
SEE ALSO
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/orlando-lima/in-offense-of-hiphop_b_73531.html

YOUNG BROTHERS IN CYBERSPACE - MARC LYNCH (MIDDLE EAST REPORT): The bloggers of the Muslim Brothers represent a growing intellectual and political force within the movement that could, over time, help tip it in a reformist direction. But they face considerable challenges.
http://merip.org/mer/mer245/lynch.html

COLLATERAL DAMAGE - ANNE APPLEBAUM (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 20): The collateral damage inflicted by the war in Iraq on America's relationships with the rest of the world is a lot deeper and broader than most Americans have realized. It isn't just that the war invigorated the anti-Americanism that has always been latent pretty much everywhere. What's worse is the fact that -- however it all comes out in the end, however successful Iraqi democracy is a decade from now -- our conduct of the war has disillusioned our natural friends and supporters and thrown a lasting shadow over our military and political competence. However it all comes out, the price we've paid is too high.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/19/AR2007111901185_pf.html

U.S. WILL NOT HAVE TO ORDER DIPLOMATS TO IRAQ ? REUTERS (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 19): The State Department said on Monday it had now found enough volunteers to serve in Iraq and would not have to force diplomats to go there. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said all of the posts had now been filled by volunteers and there would be no need for "directed" assignments to the war zone. He said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would send a cable to employees congratulating them on meeting the staffing challenge in Baghdad.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-iraq-usa-diplomats.html?pagewanted=print
SEE ALSO
http://wonkette.com/politics/iraqembassyidontwannago_gate/sissybitch-diplomats-no-longer-forced-to-iraq-324972.php

IRAQ: TOWARD NATIONAL RECONCILIATION, OR A WARLORD STATE? JIM LOBE (ANTIWAR.COM, NOVEMBER 21): While the vast majority of analysts agree that sectarian violence in Iraq has declined sharply from pre-"surge" levels one year ago, a major debate has broken out as to whether the achievement of the surge's strategic objective -- national reconciliation -- is closer or more distant than ever.
http://www.antiwar.com/lobe/?articleid=11941

GIVING THANKS INSIDE THE BUBBLE - DAN FROOMKIN (WASHINGTONPOST.COM, NOVEMBER 20): Critics of the war -- i.e. about two thirds of Americans -- generally agree that the problem is precisely that our troops in Iraq aren't fighting "extremists and radicals who would do us more harm," but instead are trying to tamp down a civil war that has nothing to do with our security interests.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/11/20/BL2007112000871.html

PETRAEUS'S IRAQ - ROBERT H. SCALES (WALL STREET JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 21): Gens. Petraeus and Ray Odierno have achieved success on the ground at an unprecedented speed in the history of counterinsurgency warfare. Now it's time to apply the same sense of urgency and commitment to the task of reuniting the tragically fractured nation and bring it back from the brink of annihilation.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119561420715700178.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
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DEBATING IRAQ'S TRANSITION - THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 21): It?s clear that the surge by U.S. troops has really dampened violence in Iraq. So don?t we now need a surge in diplomacy to finish the job?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/opinion/21friedman.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

IRAQ'S SAVAGE IRONIES: ADAPTABILITY, SELF-CRITIQUE, AND PERSISTENCE WILL PREVAIL - VICTOR DAVIS HANSON (NATIONAL REVIEW, NOVEMBER 21): Nothing is for certain in any war -- as the savage ironies of Iraq have shown the last four years. Few envisioned the initial brilliant three-week war, and the utter and rapid defeat of Saddam. Fewer foresaw the ensuing bloody four-year occupation. And the fewest of all anticipated that out of that mess, the present chance at stability and a real reconciliation under a constitutional framework could come.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NWZiZTg5YWYyNjY1ZWU1ZDRjM2Q5YWI3NDUzNjUzM2I=

IN IRAQ, SIGNS OF HOPE AND PERIL - DAVID IGNATIUS (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 21): Al-Qaeda's mistakes and Iran's tactical retreat don't diminish the importance of what Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. forces are accomplishing. But the hard work of building a stable Iraqi state is still ahead.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/20/AR2007112001648_pf.html

THE BIG PICTURE IN IRAQ - MICHAEL BARONE (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 20): We have been looking at Iraq in micro-timeframes -- or, for many who oppose the war, frozen in the time frame of late 2006. A better picture of the micro-timeframe is that we achieved considerable success this year.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/COMMENTARY/111200004/1012&template=printart

IRAQIS JOINING INSURGENCY LESS FOR CAUSE THAN CASH - AMIT R. PALEY (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 20): US military commanders say that insurgents across the country are increasingly motivated more by money than ideology and that a growing number of insurgent cells, struggling to pay recruits, are turning to gangster-style racketeering operations. US military officials have responded by launching a major campaign to disrupt al-Qaeda in Iraq's financial networks and spread propaganda that portrays its leaders as greedy thugs, an effort the officials describe as a key factor in their recent success beating down the insurgency.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/19/AR2007111902022_pf.html

IN IRAQ, WHERE DOES ALL OUR MONEY GO? - WILLIAM M. ARKIN (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 20): For all of Congress's battles about funding the Iraq war, where's the basic oversight over what's already been spent? Isn't it time that we start asking ourselves how it is that we can spend so much and get so little? Isn't it time we ask who is really benefiting financially?
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2007/11/in_iraq_where_does_all_our_mon.html?nav=rss_blog

RUMORS OF (MORE) WAR: LIKELIHOOD OF IRAN ATTACK GAINS CREDENCE - DAVE LINDORFF (COUNTERPUNCH, NOVEMBER 20)
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff11202007.html

BROKERING MIDEAST PEACE - TULIN DALOGLU (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 20): Turkey is showing that it is determined to retain its strategic partnership with the United States and Israel.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/EDITORIAL/111200010/1013/editorial&template=printart

A POWDER KEG IN LEBANON: DEADLOCK OVER A NEW LEADER COULD SET OFF A CIVIL WAR AND FUEL MIDEAST VOLATILITY - MILTON VIORST (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 21): It is no secret that Hezbollah's arms and money come chiefly from Shiite Iran, with help from Syria. Hezbollah denies that it is beholden to either country. It is motivated, Hezbollah says, purely by Lebanese nationalism. But the U.S. -- insisting that Hezbollah is an Iranian-Syrian pawn and a collaborator in global terrorism -- strongly backs its rivals. The US position doesn't carry much weight with the Lebanese these days -- mostly because of its role in Israel's invasion last year, when American officials did little or nothing to stop the incursion.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-viorst21nov21,0,7917308.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

STATICIDAL ZEALOTRY - FRANK J. GAFFNEY JR. (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 20): Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice behaves like a zealot. In her ever-rasher pursuit of a Palestinian state, she exhibits the syndrome defined by the philosopher George Santana as one who redoubles her efforts upon losing sight of the objective.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/COMMENTARY03/111200006/1012&template=printart

MOMENTUM BUILDS FOR MIDEAST PEACE SUMMIT: BUT ISRAELIS, PALESTINIANS HAVE NO BLUEPRINT YET FOR TALKS TO BEGIN TUESDAY - ILENE R. PRUSHER (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NOVEMBER 21)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1121/p01s04-wome.html

DOUBTS CLOUD U.S. TALKS SET ON MIDEAST: ABBAS AND OLMERT WILL MEET WITH BUSH NEXT WEEK, BUT WHO ELSE WILL ATTEND IS UNCERTAIN, AS IS THE AGENDA - PAUL RICHTER (LOS ANGELES TIMES, NOVEMBER 21)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mideast21nov21,0,3408307,print.story?coll=la-home-center

BUSH PULLS FINANCIAL, DIPLOMATIC LEVERS TO CHECK IRAN - GERALD F. SEIB (WALL STREET JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 19): When the U.S. convenes a Middle East peace summit in the next few weeks in Maryland, here's what to watch: Do the Syrians choose to attend, or are they at least made to feel uncomfortably isolated in the Arab world if they don't?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119551558865898495.html?mod=hps_us_inside_today
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THE ANNAPOLIS FIASCO BRET STEPHENS (WALL STREET JOURNAL NOVEMBER 20): Henry Kissinger once observed that "when enough prestige has been invested in a policy it is easier to see it fail than abandon it." At the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., next week, the current secretary of state will illustrate her predecessor's point.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119552055178498587.html?mod=opinion_main_featured_stories_hs
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THE PERILS OF ENGAGEMENT - JEFF ROBBINS (WALL STREET JOURNAL, NOVEMBER 21): It is past time for those who complain most about the lack of American "engagement" in the Middle East to begin providing some.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119561473851800203.html
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GEN. MUSHARRAF IS THE PROBLEM: AN END TO PAKISTAN'S POLITICAL CRISIS IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH HIS PERSONAL AMBITIONS EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 20): Pakistan?s best interest, and that of the United States, lies in restoring the constitution, reinstating and strengthening an independent judiciary, reopening independent media without restrictions, and holding free and fair elections in which all Pakistani parties are able to participate. As Gen. Musharraf himself has recognized, he cannot survive in office under those conditions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/19/AR2007111901197.html

WHERE WE WENT WRONG IN PAKISTAN - MICHAEL GERSON (WASHINGTON POST, NOVEMBER 21): It would make sense to cut aid to Pakistan if Musharraf does not back off from emergency rule -- not humanitarian aid, or even counterterrorism aid, but military aid not directly tied to the fight against terrorists. This would give the army a stake in Pakistan's return to democracy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/20/AR2007112001650_pf.html

THE PAKISTAN PROBLEM -- AND THE WRONG SOLUTION - BILL ROGGIO (WEEKLY STANDARD, NOVEMBER 21): The United States must get its counterinsurgency strategy in Pakistan right the first time, lest it risk the annihilation of any potential allies that remain in the region. More, not less, direct support from the United States military will be necessary for such a strategy to have any chance of success.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/014/383wutvv.asp

FREE KOSOVO WITHOUT A FIGHT: THE US MUST PERSUADE OTHERS TO BACK KOSOVO'S INDEPENDENCE - NIK STEINBERG (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NOVEMBER 21)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1121/p09s01-coop.html

GLOBAL SPREAD OF DEMOCRACY STALLED: PUTIN AND CHÁVEZ ARE USING OIL MONEY TO CREATE OTHER MODELS, WHILE OTHERS JUST STEP BACK - PETER GRIER (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, NOVEMBER 21)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1121/p01s02-usgn.html

RENOUNCING EMPIRE - BRUCE FEIN (WASHINGTON TIMES, NOVEMBER 20): In substance, Mr. Bush asserted that God had appointed the United States as knight-errant to destroy all nondemocratic dispensations in the Milky Way to prevent the nation's crucifixion.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071120/COMMENTARY02/111200002/1012&template=printart

RICE REACHES FOR LEGACY IN MIDEAST TALKS - ASSOCIATED PRESS (NEW YORK TIMES, NOVEMBER 20): Rice has a mixed record as the nation's top diplomat. Rice has completed no peace treaties or other major foreign policy pacts in her nearly three years on the job, although some deals are in the works. She's hired a personal photographer who accompanied her on her last two trips to Jerusalem and the West Bank. The pictures will become part of Rice's archive at the State Department, and some will appear on an expanded bells-and-whistles department Web site that Rice considers an accomplishment. S
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Rice-Legacy.html?pagewanted=print