WPR Articles 23 Feb 2013 - 01 Mar 2013 Strategic Horizons: The Strategy Behind U.S. Drone Strikes By: Steven Metz | Column No topic in American security inspires more heated debate these days than the Obama administration's use of drone strikes against armed militants and terrorists. Much of the criticism of this approach is badly misguided, often mistaking the use of drones as America's strategy itself. Without seeing the big picture, it is difficult to understand how drone strikes fit in and why they are the least bad option. Global Insights: South Korea Does Not Need Nuclear Weapons By: Richard Weitz | Column Newly inaugurated South Korean President Park Geun-hye will need to address the demands from a faction of her own party for either the United States to return tactical nuclear weapons to the South or for Seoul to develop its own nuclear arsenal. In light of the Feb. 12 North Korean nuclear test, this faction believes that Seoul needs a nuclear capability to deter potential North Korean military threats. But that simply isn't true. Djibouti’s Guelleh Attempts a Managed Opening By: Catherine Cheney | Trend Lines On Friday, authoritarian president Ismail Omar Guelleh and his Union for the Presidential Majority claimed to have won 49 out of 65 seats in the National Assembly in an election the opposition has rejected as flawed. Mexico’s Pena Nieto Faces Tough Choices on Trade By: Sean Goforth | Briefing Mexico relies more than most countries on free trade to fuel economic development. With trade making up more than 60 percent of Mexico’s economy, no Mexican president can do without a clear strategy for fostering better access to foreign markets. But while President Enrique Pena Nieto claims the economy is his highest priority, his administration has yet to spell out how Mexico will trade with the world. The Realist Prism: Can Kerry Salvage the Russia Reset? By: Nikolas Gvosdev | Column While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov achieved no major breakthroughs on any of the contentious issues in the U.S.-Russia bilateral relationship during their first face-to-face meeting, the two men seemed to establish the basis for a good working relationship. This will be important if any vestige of the Obama administration's Russia reset is to endure.

More Crime-Terror Nexus Requires Integrated Security Approaches By: Johan Bergenas , Esha Mufti | Briefing Governments are beginning to acknowledge the symbiotic nature of terrorism and organized crime, and to recognize that today’s security challenges are too interconnected, transnational and vast for states to confront one at a time. Institutional integration will be needed to combat these threats, and while change will not come easily, there are signs that key stakeholders are moving in the right direction. Diplomatic Fallout: Will Ban Ki-moon Leave Any Legacy at the United Nations? By: Richard Gowan | Column It might seem premature to consider Ban Ki-moon’s legacy as U.N. secretary-general, given that he has nearly four years to go in his second term. Yet, a U.N. secretary-general’s schedule is consumed by a mix of urgent crises and hollow diplomatic rituals. If Ban wants to focus on a small number of strategic priorities, he needs to seize them now and stick to them despite the distractions that lie ahead. Global Insider: U.K. Defense Cuts Sharpen Tradeoff Between Conventional and Nuclear Capabilities By: The Editors | Trend Lines In an email interview, Malcolm Chalmers, research director and director of U.K. defense policy studies at Royal United Services Institute, explained U.K. defense priorities in the context of shrinking budgets. Inter-Korean Relations Unlikely to Improve Soon Under South Korea’s Park By: Steven Borowiec | Briefing Park Geun-hye’s term as South Korean president begins at a time of serious tension on the Korean Peninsula, following North Korea’s nuclear test earlier this month. Despite Park’s campaign promises to mend ties with Pyongyang, which have deteriorated, North Korea’s third nuclear test, a general climate of discord and the composition of Park’s government will make an improvement in relations unlikely. Global Insider: China May Move Toward Water-Sharing Agreements By: The Editors | Trend Lines In an email interview, Scott Moore, a doctoral research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School of Government researching sustainable energy development in China, explained the context and possible consequences of China's plan to invest billions in water infrastructure. Global Insider: Thailand’s Southern Insurgents Raise the Heat Before Talks By: The Editors | Trend Lines Jeff Moore, an expert on Thailand’s insurgencies, explained the context of an insurgent attack on a Thai military base and the government’s prospects for peace talks in an email interview. Kenya Nears Elections With Trepidation By: Richard Downie | Briefing When Kenyans vote in the country’s elections March 4, they will have the chance to distance themselves from the traumatic elections of December 2007, when more than 1,000 people were killed. Much has changed since then, a lot of it for the better. But the main causes of the violence remain unaddressed. The 2013 election is thus fraught with hazard, and a mood of trepidation has characterized the campaign period. Mexico’s Arrest of Teachers Union Head Part of a Much Bigger Story By: Catherine Cheney | Trend Lines Elba Esther Gordillo, the leader of the most powerful teachers union in Mexico, was arrested earlier this week on suspicion of embezzling millions in union funds for personal expenses, a day after President Enrique Peña Nieto signed a sweeping legislation reform. Thailand Under Yingluck: Part I By: Pongphisoot Busbarat | Briefing Though often dismissed as the puppet of her exiled brother, Yingluck Shinawatra has survived several challenges since become Thailand’s first female prime minister in 2011. Yet despite initial hopes for reform, the past year and a half have demonstrated that the Yingluck government’s ultimate goal is to maintain its grip on power, and that Yingluck’s successes do not necessarily mean democratic progress. World Citizen: Israel’s Netanyahu Outplayed by His Rivals By: Frida Ghitis | Column With the clock ticking on the deadline to form a governing coalition following Israel’s Jan. 22 elections, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is struggling to put together an alliance that would add up to a majority in the new parliament. There is little doubt that he will ultimately succeed and remain prime minister, but the process has been a humbling one for a man not known for modesty. Thailand Under Yingluck: Part II By: Pongphisoot Busbarat | Briefing Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s foreign policy positions have seemed to mirror those of her brother, exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, indicating a certain amount of continuity generally lacking in Thai diplomacy. But Yingluck’s government has struggled to strike a balance between regional powers, and its performance in foreign affairs has proved to be a mixed bag of success and failure.