Foreign Policy News and Commentary Update February 3, 2008

Obama initiatives embody spirit of Gonzaga mission - Mark Ludeking (Gonzaga Bulletin, February 1): "In talking to many Jesuits over the past four years I have heard many say that they wish learning a foreign language was a requirement for graduation. Obama has an American Voice Initiative that would expand opportunities for fluent speakers to go to other countries and serve. This service will come in public diplomacy and include engineers, doctors and teachers. I mention this not only because many Gonzaga students are interested in spending time overseas helping other nations by doing what the world needs most, but because the last seven years have been devastating for our relations around the world."
http://media.www.gonzagabulletin.com/media/storage/paper375/news/2008/02/01/Opinion/Obama.Initiatives.Embody.Spirit.Of.Gonzaga.Mission-3181743.shtml

Now That Edwards, Kucinich, Richardson And Other Progressives Have Abandoned The Race, I Will Now Run For President - Alone (OpEDNews, February 2): Public diplomacy and lower cost products like shooting simple laser beams at satellites are cheaper than what the U.S. defense program has been trying to do -- i.e. try and outspend (militarily) all other competing countries around the planet year after year.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_alone_080201__22now_that__edwards_2c_.htm


Public Diplomacy: Reinvigorating America's Strategic Communications Policy (Heritage Foundation; posted at James' DC Event Feed, February 1): This panel will address the efficacy of the current administration's strategy and give recommendations for the next administration, whether it is Democrat or Republican. Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2008. Time: 12:00 - 1:30 PM. Location: The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium.
http://districteventfeed.blogspot.com/2008/02/public-diplomacy-reinvigorating.html


It's torture; it's illegal: The attorney general's evasions on waterboarding are repugnant, and set a dangerous global precedent Editorial (Los Angeles Times, February 2): The attorney general of the United States, Michael B. Mukasey, testified this week that he would consider waterboarding to be torture if it were done to him, but that he cannot say it's always illegal. Such repugnant equivocation will be mimicked and distorted in dark corners around the world, and will make it more likely that waterboarding and other forms of torture will be used against U.S. soldiers and civilians.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-ed-mukasey2feb02,0,7921898.story

Tortured Testimony: Mr. Mukasey shows why Congress needs to intervene Editorial (Washington Post, February 1): The Bush administration's use of torture and continued use of extreme interrogation techniques have done untold damage to the moral standing of the United States. Having the attorney general state flatly that the technique is illegal could help the country begin to rehabilitate its image in the eyes of the world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/29/AR2008012902723_pf.html

Mukasey's confession: Is waterboarding torture? It it's done to him, it is; if it's someone else, uh, he's not sure - Tim Rutten (Los Angeles Times, February 2): We have suffered terrible casualties in the war with the Islamic terrorists, but the only real victory they've achieved was the one the Bush administration handed them when it replaced law with vengeance and sanctioned torture.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-rutten2feb02,0,6941133.story

Torture or Mystery? Waterboarding - William Loren Katz (CounterPunch, January 31): Isn't it time to come clean about torture -- and about the adherence to law and democracy we expect from our leaders?
http://www.counterpunch.org/katz01312008.html

126 Reporters Have Been Killed in Iraq Since the Start of the War: The Most Dangerous Country in the World for Journalists - Patrick Cockburn (CounterPunch, February 1)
http://www.counterpunch.org/patrick02012008.html

Fear of Looking Weak - Dan Froomkin (washingtonpost.com, February 1): How would it look to the world if we left Iraq now? President Bush and Vice President Cheney both expressed concern yesterday that it would make the United States look weak.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/02/01/BL2008020101486_pf.html

Why the Surge Worked - Michael Duffy (Times, January 31): One year and 937 U.S. fatalities later, the surge is a fragile and limited success, an operation that has helped stabilize the capital and its surroundings but has yet to spark the political gains that could set the stage for a larger American withdrawal.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1708843,00.html

The NATO Emerging in Afghanistan - Victoria Nuland (Washington Post, February 1): Despite some dire headlines, there were major successes in the past year for the Afghans and their 40 international security partners, including all members of NATO. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013102545_pf.html

Talibanization and nukes - Arnaud de Borchgrave (Washington Times, February 1): NATO allies are already tiring of the Afghan campaign. NATO's future is now clearly at stake in the Pakistani-Afghan mess.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080201/COMMENTARY/941131447/1012&template=printart

US Faces Unraveling Afghan Mission IslamOnline (February 2)
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1199280074336&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout

A Pair of Allies, Self-Destructing - Jim Hoagland (Washington Post, February 3): The United States still has a chance to save Karzai and Musharraf from the extremists. Washington has no chance, however, of saving them from themselves. That task belongs to them.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/01/AR2008020102665_pf.html

Pakistani P.R. - Editorial (New York Times, February 1): Successfully moving Pakistan from military rule to civilian-run democracy is essential to combating extremism. Mr. Musharraf has a major role in making this happen. The United States and its allies must keep reinforcing that message.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/opinion/01fri1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

In North Korea, Process Over Progress - Michael Gerson (Washington Post, February 1): Having begun the path of negotiations, the State Department has consistently moved the goal posts closer to keep North Korea at the table.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013102628_pf.html

Sarkozy and Kerviel chase a French-American dream - Paul Betts (Financial Times, February 1): For all the fear and loathing of capitalism in France and its criticisms of the US system, the country is not only becoming more American but has always embraced the American dream.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3406dc12-d0d2-11dc-953a-0000779fd2ac.html

Losing Belgrade: Russia's gain - Jason Epstein (National Review, February 2): Washington became a reckless cheerleader for Kosovo's independence. In the process, a resurgent and less than amiable Russia exploited Serbia's quest for diplomatic support to regain its sphere of influence in the Balkans. American foreign policy toward Serbia needs an adjustment.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MTcxYzlhOGMyZTYzYmI5NjMzYzM1NmI3Nzg1MTQyODM=&w=MA==

Rights Group Faults U.S. for Support of Autocrats - Nora Boustany (Washington Post, February 1): In its latest report, Human Rights Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, delivers a harsh critique of the Bush administration, suggesting that by accommodating autocratic allies in the fight against terrorism, it has failed to meet its declared goal of promoting democratic values.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013103575_pf.html

New human-rights report: Around the world, "sham democracies" thrive ? Edward M. Gomez (World View, SF Gate, February 1)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=15&entry_id=23916

Athens or Rome: which will it be? Patricia H. Kushlis (Whirled View, February 1): Americans too forget that one size, or model, doesn't fit all and that 'Rome wasn't built in a day.' Neither are democracies. http://whirledview.typepad.com/whirledview/2008/02/athens-or-rome.html

Francis Fukuyama and Michael McFaul, "Should Democracy be Promoted or Demoted?" The Washington Quarterly, Winter 2007-08, 23-43. Fukuyama (Johns Hopkins, SAIS) and McFaul (Stanford) review moves toward greater autocracy in many countries, increasing skepticism toward the democracy agenda in U.S. foreign policy, and deficiencies in the Bush administration's efforts to promote democracy. The authors systematically engage the central arguments against democracy promotion and call for a more sustainable strategy in achieving it. Key elements: restoring the U.S. example, improved public diplomacy, diplomatic engagement with autocracies, ambitious reorganization of U.S. programs (including a new cabinet level Department of International Development), a firewall between U.S. assistance to states and to NGOs, and enhanced international institutions.
http://www.twq.com/08winter/docs/08winter_fukuyama.pdf

Robert M. Gates. "Landon Lecture," Remarks of the Secretary of Defense, Manhattan, Kansas, November 26, 2007. Secretary Gates makes "the case for strengthening our capacity to use 'soft' power and for better integrating it with 'hard' power." His recommendations include: increased national capacity in economic development, institution building, rule of law, good governance, and strategic communication; greater use of expertise in America's universities; and "a dramatic increase in spending on the civilian instruments of national security -- diplomacy, strategic communications, foreign assistance, civic action, and economic reconstruction and development." The Secretary stated that the "way to institutionalize these capabilities is probably not to recreate or repopulate institutions of the past such as AID or USIA." The U.S. needs new thinking on how to integrate government capabilities with the private sector, universities, non-governmental organizations, and allies and friends.
http://www.defenselink.mil/speeches/speech.aspx?speechid=1199