Foreign Policy News and Commentary Update January 28, 2008

Final State: Rather than review a troubled record, President Bush aims for some last-year achievements Editorial (Washington Post, January 29): Mr. Bush does have the opportunity to finish with a flourish in foreign affairs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/28/AR2008012802807_pf.html

Bush's End Game ? Review & Outlook (Wall Street Journal, January 29): Even a lame duck President has more power to influence events than anyone else on the planet. That's especially true on foreign policy, where he can do much in the next year to aid his successor.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120156526290123709.html

The State of the Union Editorial (New York Times, January 29): After six years of promises unkept or insincerely made and blunders of historic proportions, the United States is now fighting two wars and the civilized world still faces horrifying dangers ? and it has far less sympathy and respect for the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/29/opinion/29tue1.html?ref=opinion&pagewanted=print

The Seven-Year Slide - Rahm Emanuel (Washington Post, January 28): Bush inherited a nation that was respected on the international stage; he will leave behind one reviled by many around the world. A Pew poll of 10 nations found that in 2001, 58 percent of respondents viewed America favorably; today, that number is 39 percent. Our foreign policy should include a diplomatic offensive to win back the international goodwill that has been squandered over the past seven years.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012701615_pf.html

Oprah Goes Arab - Pierre Tristam (Pierre's Middle East Issues Blog, January 25): http://middleeast.about.com/b/2008/01/24/oprah-goes-arab.htm

Latin anti-Americanism a concern - Mike Leonard (HeraldTimesOnline.com, January 27)
http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/2008/01/27/column.qp-6928516.sto

Subprime stakes and globaloney - Arnaud de Borchgrave (Washington Times, January 28): The world is flat for some, flat broke for many more. America's predatory lenders, subprime mortgage brokers, various and sundry con artists, combined forces to blind America's monetary sentinels, rip off the world, and give America's democratic capitalism a bad name.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080128/COMMENTARY/874218430/1012&template=printart

Don't Open a Third Front in Pakistan William M. Arkin (washingtonpost.com, January 28): "The more conventional military might we threw at Iraq and Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa and elsewhere -- the more forces we stuffed into the region in the Gulf states and the Caucasus - the more we activated latent forces of discontent and hatred. U.S. military forces now "occupy" a half dozen Muslim countries in the region, and I can't help but think what many see are uniforms of subjugation and killing."
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/earlywarning/2008/01/dont_open_a_third_front_in_pak.html#more

From Hoover Press: Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem, by Russell A. Berman (Business Wire, January 23): Anti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem (Hoover Press, 2008) is being released by the Hoover Institution as part of its new Hoover Classics series. http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080123006435&newsLang=en

What You Didn?t Know About This Woman - Joel Hilliker (trumpet.com, March): Pakistan is a nuclear-armed incubator of Islamism. Of its four provinces, the two bordering Afghanistan
Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province are out-and-out ruled independently by Islamists. Passionate anti-Americanism is virtually the state religion, faithfully practiced by both politician and peasant.
http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=4748.0.102.0

Rising Anti-Americanism in Russia - Alastair Gee (US World & News Report, January 18)
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2008/01/18/rising-anti-americanism-in-russia.html

Russia Center to Study Western Democracy - Associated Press (New York Times, January 28): The Kremlin is tired of Western criticisms -- that Russia is becoming more authoritarian, human rights are violated, journalists are at risk and elections are rigged. Now the Kremlin is trying to turn the tables on the West, setting up a think tank its founders say will expose the flaws of Western democracies. With offices in New York and Paris, the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation will study democracy and human rights in Europe and the United States.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Russia-Critiquing-Democracies.html?sq=&pagewanted=print

A Cold War redux is seen on the horizon: Though the U.S. plays down tensions, some observers say Russia sees advantages to being an enemy - Paul Richter (Los Angeles Times, January 29): Although U.S. officials are publicly playing down the rising tension, a series of conflicts has prompted some within the Bush administration to conclude that, for domestic and geopolitical reasons, Russia is now more comfortable with the U.S. as an enemy than an ally.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usrussia29jan29,0,3965848.story

Gates calls for bipartisan work on Iraq: The Defense secretary says presidential candidates should be thinking ahead about the war on terrorism - Peter Spiegel (Los Angeles Times, January 28): Gates' search for a post-Sept. 11 version of the Cold War consensus shows that while he is a member of the Bush administration, he also considers himself a part of the larger U.S. foreign policy establishment. Many of his policy initiatives -- including his call for additional funding for the State Department and other instruments of U.S. "soft power" -- are unlikely to be resolved any time soon.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-gates28jan28,1,1684724.story

A Cynical Effort to Save Bush's Legacy Ivan Eland (antiwar.com, January 28): No matter what Bush's successor does -- continue to hold his or her finger in the dike (the most likely scenario) or withdraw U.S. forces -- Iraq is likely to face a full-blown civil war down the road.
http://www.antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=12274

Iraq's No. 1 problem: Bush may have to withdraw his support for Nouri Maliki if the prime minister continues to slow progress - Bing West and Max Boot (Los Angeles Times, January 28): Bush should not repeat in Iraq the mistake he has already made in Russia and Pakistan: overly personalizing relations with another country. The U.S. should support democracy in Iraq, not Maliki per se.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-boot28jan28,0,6909999.story

Gulf provocations: What to do - James Lyons (Washington Times, January 29): With the recent incidents in the Gulf, it appears a similar set of rules and regulations incorporated in the U.S.-Soviet "Incidents at Sea Treaty" could be applied as modified for naval operations in the Gulf.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080129/COMMENTARY/444667562/1012/commentary&template=printart

No More Coups: What Bush Must Tell Musharraf - Jackson Diehl (Washington Post, January 28): The problem lies in a shrinking group of administration officials -- including President Bush -- who refuse to abandon Musharraf.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012701614_pf.html

A European Climate Plan: An intriguing approach that meshes well with bills on Capitol Hill ? Editorial (Washington Post, January 28): The world is looking to the United States for leadership on global warming. Without it, developing nations such as China and India have no reason to be a part of the solution.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/27/AR2008012701591_pf.html

McDonald's to Grow China Business - Mei Fond Wall Street Journal, January 29): Fast-food giant McDonald's Corp. plans to accelerate its growth in China by opening 125 new outlets in the country this year, 18% more than in 2007, senior executives said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120160431662225095.html?mod=hps_us_whats_news

New global report: Freedom is on the march -- backward Edward M. Gomez (SF Gate, January 28): In different regions of the world, democracy is on the march -- but not necessarily in a promising, hopeful, forward direction. That's the news from Freedom House, a U.S.-based think tank with offices in Washington, D.C., and New York.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15&entry_id=23779

Torturing Syntax: Spin vs Propaganda Cyrano 2 (Cyrano's Journal: Thomas Paine Corner, January 28): For George Bush and his government to continue to deny that waterboarding is 'torture' is not just an egregious abuse of media spin. It is an outright lie.
http://www.bestcyrano.org/THOMASPAINE/?p=571

Global-Market Woes Are More Personality Than Nationality - Jared Sandberg (Wall Street Journal, January 29): The biggest challenge to Americans is recognizing that in many corners of the world, people put relationships before business, says Frank Acuff, who has had to update his book, "How to Negotiate Anything with Anyone Anywhere Around the World" because customs are moving targets.
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB120154446240322785.html

The Stallone Factor - Chris Suellentrop (New York Times, January 29: Is the fourth
'Rambo' movie a film-length argument for a hawkish, McCain-like foreign policy?
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/the-stallone-factor/index.html?ref=opinion

Condoleezza Dream Team: McCain and Rice '08! - Peter Huestis (Wonkette, January 28): Condi's been a gal-on-the-go, a veritable Mary Tyler Moore of the diplotaunte circuit. She traipsed from Switzerland to Germany and then all the way to Colombia and back again. More importantly, using advanced Wonkette Shoe Identification Technology, we can reveal the shocking news that Madame Secretary has shifted her footwear allegiance from Ferragamo to Manolo.
http://wonkette.com/349387/condoleezza-dream-team-mccain-and-rice-08