MemeStreams | What questions are you asking yourself?

George Soros argues that the heedless assertion of American power in the world resembles a financial bubble -- and the moment of truth may be here.
... A recent CFR publication sketches out three alternative national-security strategies ... [including one that] would have the US lead a cooperative effort to improve the world by engaging in preventive actions of a constructive character. It is not advocated by any group of significance, although President Bush pays lip service to it. That is the policy I stand for.

... I propose replacing the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive military action with preventive action of a constructive and affirmative nature.

Introducing Soros the contrarian with an interesting counterpoint to Bush's recent 'democracy' speech. And in contrast to Al Gore's idle ranting, Soros is about to spend millions putting his message into action.

The Bubble of American Supremacy

America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy | Brookings Review

Topic: International Relations

5:07 pm EST, Nov 11, 2003

During his first 30 months in office, the man from Midland had started a foreign policy revolution. He had discarded many of the constraints that had bound the United States to its allies and redefined key principles that had governed American engagement in the world for more than half a century.
Like most revolutions, Bush's had numerous critics. Yet he now traveled through Europe and the Middle East not as a penitent making amends but as a leader commanding respect. America unbound was remaking the course of international politics. Bush was the rare revolutionary who had succeeded.

Or had he?

This article, which appears in the Fall 2003 issue of Brookings Review, is an introduction to a new book by the same name.

America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy | Brookings Review

New Priorities in South Asia [PDF]

Topic: International Relations

1:35 pm EST, Nov 11, 2003

After half a century mainly on the periphery, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan have become far more important for US national security interests. South Asia may be halfway around the globe from the United States, but in the age of the Internet and globalization, what happens there can affect all Americans.
The challenge to US policy over the medium term (through 2010) is to design and implement a stable and sustained approach that will solidify bilateral ties with these key countries and give the United States an opportunity to influence major regional developments.

This report assesses the strengths and weaknesses of India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan and recommends how U.S. policy can best take advantage of the opportunities while addressing the dangers that they present. Success in dealing with South Asia will require sustained and high-level attention, sensitive diplomacy, a realistic view of what is possible, and, especially with Pakistan and Afghanistan, investment of substantial resources.

New Priorities in South Asia [PDF]

America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy

Topic: International Relations

1:29 pm EST, Nov 11, 2003

George W. Bush has launched a revolution in American foreign policy. He has redefined how America engages the world, shedding the constraints that friends, allies, and international institutions impose on its freedom of action. He has insisted that an America unbound is a more secure America.

About this book, Daniel Shorr had this to say: "I would not have imagined that two former Clinton staffers could write such a detached and richly textured book about Bush foreign policy. America Unbound is refreshingly original and it makes the case for President Bush as the master of his own unilateralist revolution. Future examinations of Bush foreign policy will be measured against this authoritative book."

America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy

The End of the West?

Topic: International Relations

5:12 pm EST, Nov 2, 2003

Tom Friedman's column appears in the Sunday New York Times.

Well, the numbers are in and the numbers don't lie.

The more I hear ... the more I wonder whether we are witnessing something much larger ...

Are we witnessing the beginning of the end of "the West" as we have known it ...?

I am not alone in thinking this.

So, if in fact we are not at the end of history, then perhaps Tom is on to something here.

It's less about the individual governments and more about the connections between them, or lack thereof.

Welcome to the Network Society.

The End of the West?

The Breaking of Nations

Topic: International Relations

1:21 am EDT, Oct 26, 2003

The United States has Fukuyama, Huntington, and Kagan as its prophets of the coming world order.
Who does Europe have? The answer is Robert Cooper.
"Two revolutionary forces are transforming international relations: the breakdown of state control over violence, and the rise of a stable, peaceful order in Europe. The system of nation-states and power politics is being undermined by a postmodern Europe and a premodern world of failed states and post-imperial chaos.

The growing threat of terrorism necessitates new forms of cooperation and a reconstructed international order that goes beyond the balance of power or hegemony. Stable order in the new age must be built on legitimate authority and more inclusive political identities."

This book is on sale through Amazon.co.uk. The New Republic calls it "an original and controversial analysis of power and violence by the foremost commentator on the strategic issues of our age."

The Breaking of Nations

Does America Need an Empire?

Topic: International Relations

11:04 pm EST, Mar 27, 2003

This invited lecture, part of the Nimitz lecture series, took place Wednesday evening, March 12, 2003 in 105 Boalt Hall at UC Berkeley. View the event in streaming video.
Max Boot is Olin Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and a contributing editor to The Weekly Standard.
His last book, The Savage Wars of Peace: Small Wars and the Rise of American Power (Basic Books) was selected as one of the best books of 2002 by The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and The Christian Science Monitor.

He is now writing his next book, a history of military technology revolutions over the past 500 years, War Made New: Four Great Revolutions That Changed the Face of Battle, which will be published by Gotham Books, an imprint of Penguin publishing.

Does America Need an Empire?

The Man Who Would Be President

Topic: International Relations

11:51 am EST, Mar 15, 2003

Intelligence experts attached to the army of occupation will find the missing people, places and records. They will identify, with dollar figures, just who sold contraband to Mr. Hussein and how shipment was arranged -- a prospect bound to worry some people in Europe and Asia.

The "files" will open up the secret history of the Middle East like a field of sunflowers.

Could this be the reason why some nations so vehemently oppose military action, or seek to postpone it indefinitely?

The Man Who Would Be President

Peking Duct Tape, and Web Logs as Weapons

Topic: International Relations

12:25 pm EST, Feb 17, 2003

There has always been a World of Disorder, but what makes it more dangerous today is that in a networked universe, with widely diffused technologies, open borders and a highly integrated global financial and Internet system, very small groups of people can amass huge amounts of power to disrupt the World of Order. Individuals can become super-empowered.

Maybe Google was thinking, "Let's buy now -- we may soon find web logs added to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) list!"

Peking Duct Tape, and Web Logs as Weapons

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