Foreign Policy News and Commentary Update January 22, 2008

The Case for Non-Violence Against Terrorists - Lionel Beehner (Huffington Post, January 21): Public diplomacy efforts have an abysmal track record in the Muslim world. If locals are not fond of American foreign policy, no amount of cultural exchanges is going to sway them. Rather the best policy is one of restraint that seeks to win over locals by integrating them into the fabric of the state socioeconomically, culturally, and politically.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lionel-beehner/the-case-for-nonviolence_b_82485.html

One party can't defeat jihadism - George Weigel (USA Today, January 22): The war against jihadism must be fought on many non-military fronts. Bipartisan agreement on a radical reform of the U.S. intelligence community and its capacities to get "inside" the worlds that produce jihadist terrorism is imperative. Then there is public diplomacy, the effort to explain our view of the just society to Muslim audiences. Surely, there can be bipartisan agreement that spending tax dollars broadcasting Britney Spears into the Middle East is a waste of money. It's also a diversion from what we ought to be doing, which is demonstrating by radio and TV programming for the Islamic world that robust political debate is good for society and can lead to agreement, not chaos. Then there is the Internet. Has anyone begun to think through a comprehensive strategy for countering the jihadist propaganda (and worse) readily available online? Sputnik scared Americans into taking math and science seriously in elementary and secondary education; why hasn't 9/11 spurred a similar revolution in the way we teach and learn languages, at all levels of the educational system?
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2008/01/one-party-cant.html

Alliance of the elite - Anjum Niaz (News - International, Pakistan, January 22): "[The] Bush administration after 9/11 when it began a battle for the 'hearts and minds' of the Muslims. A new [sic] post of under-secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs was created in the state department to "engage" the Muslims. President Bush naively thought he could stop religious extremism by lecturing to them that America stood for freedom, justice, opportunity and respect for all. But, since when have empty platitudes changed people's way of thinking? Never."
http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=92241

The Reader's Digest, "Dangerous Leaders," And The Little Man Who Wasn't There - Sherwood Ross (OpEdNews.com, January 20): http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_sherwood_080120_the_reader_s_digest_2c.htm

Cyber-Warfare: The Gathering Storm (The Discerning Texan, January 21): The cyber-Jihad comes at a time when the American concept of public diplomacy is still focused on scheduling interviews on talk shows. The true beneficiaries of revolutionary technology may be those who were free of the weight of the old.
http://discerningtexan.blogspot.com/2008/01/cyber-warfare-gathering-storm.html

'Missing No Blows' In Moscow - Masha Lipman (Washington Post, January 21): The stepped-up harassment of the British Council in recent days signals a new low in Russia's post-Cold-War relations with the West and a further slide toward Soviet-style isolationism.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012002273_pf.html

Two-Year Colleges Go Courtin' Overseas: U.S. community colleges are reaching out -- way out -- and students from around the world are rolling in - Jane Porter (Business Week, January 17): Foreign students pay anywhere from 2 to 10 times more per credit than locals because they are from out of state. That's big money for cash-strapped community colleges at a time when many states are cutting funding.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_04/b4068065102668.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_business+schools

Make art loans, not war: Ownership issues aside, Greece, Italy and other countries can afford to share the wealth - Lee Rosenbaum (Los Angeles Times, January 21): Aside from being magnanimous lenders, source countries should allow some legally excavated antiquities to be bought and sold.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rosenbaum21jan21,0,3267772.story?coll=la-opinion-rightrail

Bush officials narrow foreign horizons: In the final year, Bush administration officials are scaling back ambitious diplomatic goals, and appear more intent on managing crises than on reaching legacy milestones - Paul Richter (Los Angeles Times, January 21): http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-backtrack21jan21,0,1098439,print.story?coll=la-home-center

Asylum Program Falls Short For Iraqis Aiding U.S. Forces - Walter Pincus (Washington Post, January 22): Denmark's rapid handling of its Iraqi employees and their families -- 364 people -- contrasts with the fate of thousands of Iraqis who have worked, or are working, for the U.S. government or its contractors in Iraq and who also wish to leave the country.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/21/AR2008012102170_pf.html

Papers Paint New Portrait of Iraq's Foreign Insurgents - Karen DeYoung (Washington Post, January 21): US military officials in Iraq said they now think that nine out of 10 suicide bombers have been foreigners, compared with earlier estimates of 75 percent. Similarly, they assess that 90 percent of foreign fighters entering Iraq during the one-year period ending in August came via Syria, a greater proportion than previously believed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012002609_pf.html

'What remains is a negative objective, stopping the war from spilling over, within Iraq but also outside it' - Fareed Zakaria (Newsweek, January 19): While it is all well and good to say that the United States should not be policing a civil war, the fact is that we are, and were we to leave, it would likely start up again.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/96371/output/print

2 US Troops Killed; 20 Injured in School Blast; Assassination Attempt Kills 18; Weekend Cult Casualty toll 278 - Juan Cole (Informed Comment: Thoughts on the Middle East, History, and Religion, January 22): What is clear is that Iraq is extremely violent and unstable and that there is no discernible political progress.
http://www.juancole.com/2008/01/2-us-troops-killed-20-injured-in-school.html

Hope in Iraq Ivan Eland (antiwar.com, January 21): http://www.antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=12239

Future of Iraq uncertain - Tulin Daloglu (Washington Times, January 22): There seems to be no real solution to making things right in Iraq. Both staying or withdrawing bring their own sets of issues. Staying or withdrawing does not address the root problems. Pandora's Box has already been opened.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/EDITORIAL/587007107/1013&template=printart

An American in Iran - Max Rodenbeck (New York Review of Books, January 17): Aside from the bad things they learned in school about American support for the Shah, and for Saddam Hussein during the "Iraq-Imposed War," what most Iranians had actually experienced of America, before its invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, was the racy Persian pop videos beamed from expat satellite stations in Los Angeles. Sadly, it is not clear, so far, that the Bush administration is ready to pursue direct negotiations with Tehran.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20930

Mission unaccomplished - Arnaud de Borchgrave (Washington Times, January 22): http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080122/COMMENTARY/633207689/1012&template=printart

Enough U.S. help for Afghanistan? Deployment of 3,200 marines will help, analysts say, but will not provide the kind of counterinsurgency now needed there - Gordon Lubold (Christian Science Monitor, January 22): A proper counterinsurgency would include more attention to political, economic, and other nonmilitary issues, some say.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0122/p02s02-usmi.html

The Boomerang Effect - Editorial (New York Times, January 22): News that Pakistan's ISI, or Inter-Services Intelligence, has lost control of some Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked networks further confirms the failings of President Pervez Musharraf's government in fighting extremists, despite $10 billion in American aid since 9/11.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/opinion/22tue1.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

Regime collapse in Pyongyang - Daniel L. Davis (Washington Times,
January 21): We must surely now begin serious international planning for the prospect of a no-notice post-Kim Jong-il North Korea. If we fail in this case, the economic and humanitarian disaster that would likely result will dwarf Katrina and Iraq combined.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080121/EDITORIAL/178481658/1013&template=printart

Helsinki, Redux? Review & Outlook (Wall Street Journal, Janaury 21): http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120086759363103871.html

Tough Calls, Good Calls - J.D. Crouch Ii And Robert Joseph (Wall Street Journal, January 22): Cooperation with key allies on missile defense is at an all-time high, and we are finally able to cooperate in ways that protect both American and allied territory.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120096291059405091.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries

Is administration covering up torture? - Nat Hentoff (Washington Times, January 21): Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, strongly objects to torture and could introduce a bill leading to a probe of the administration's practices of torture.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080121/EDITORIAL07/359139427/1013/EDITORIAL&template=printart

Canada removes Israel, U.S. from watchlist (JTA Breaking News, January 20): Canada removed Israel and the United States from a list of countries suspected of using torture. Canadian Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said Saturday that an internal government torture watch list naming Israel and the United States had been amended to omit them.
http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/106489.html

U.S. Soldiers and Shoppers Hit the Wall - Roger Cohen (New York Times, January 21): A weak dollar, outsized personal debt, a massive current account deficit, cash-strapped banks and Asian governments purchasing U.S. Treasury bonds to finance the national debt are not signs of American strength. Nor are they necessarily signs of American decline, because inherent U.S. vitality remains enormous.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/21/opinion/21cohen.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

Islamofascism's ill political wind - James Carroll (Boston Globe, January 21): The United States cannot have a constructive foreign policy in religiously enflamed regions like the Middle East, northern Africa or South Asia if the American presence in such conflicts is itself religiously enflaming.
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/01/21/islamofascisms_ill_political_wind?mode=PF

Staying Innocent about Iraq - David Bromwich (Huffington Post, January 21): The hero of Moshin Hamid's disturbing novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist falls in love with an American but loses his love for America in these years: "No country inflicts death so readily upon the inhabitants of other countries, frightens so many people so far away, as America." We very much want this to be false; and it may help our spirits to say it is false. But we had better be asking why many sane people thousands of miles away are coming to think it true.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-bromwich/staying-innocent-about-ir_b_82452.html

Non-Western Modernization Challenges Davos Man - Nathan Gardels (Tribune Media Services, January 15; posted at Alteta Sa Radu, Principe de Hohenzollern-Veringen ): http://www.princeradublog.ro/?p=1393

General Dynamics Wins Passport Bid - William Welsh (Washington Post, January 21): General Dynamics Information Technology of Fairfax has won a five-year, $72.7 million contract from the State Department to support the production of passport cards for U.S. citizens. Designed as a cheaper alternative to the traditional passport, the cards are part of a joint effort by the departments of State and Homeland Security to tighten identification requirements for U.S. citizens and reduce wait times at borders.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/20/AR2008012002207_pf.html

Stone and Brolin to make Bush film: Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone is to direct a film about the life and presidency of George W Bush, with Josh Brolin set to play the lead role (RTE Entertainment, January 21)
http://www.rte.ie/arts/2008/0121/stoneo.html