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The announcement that the United States, North Korea and China will hold talks next week in Beijing over North Korea's nuclear program is a welcome development and an apparent victory for the Bush administration's decision to oppose direct, one-on-one talks with Pyongyang.
Syria is one of several states in the Middle East, including Israel and Egypt, that has pursued a chemical and biological weapons program. Syria's program began in 1973 with the transfer of chemical weapons equipment and supplies from Egypt shortly before the October 1973 War with Israel. We provide a brief assessment of Syria's chemical and biological weapons capabilities, followed by an overview of the weapons programs of other relevant countries drawn from <i>Deadly Arsenals</i>.
The record of past U.S. experience in democratic nation building is daunting. The low rate of success is a sobering reminder that these are among the most difficult foreign policy ventures for the U.S. Unilateral nation building by the U.S. has had an even rougher time-perhaps because unilateralism has led to surrogate regimes and direct U.S. administration during the post-conflict period.
President Bush described the dangers from Iraq's weapons of mass destruction that he hoped to eliminate in his State of the Union speech on January 28, 3003. "The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it.The United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin -- enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure. He hadn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it."
If faced with the choice between a genuinely representative new Iraqi government that shows itself to be resistant to Washington's policy commands and an unrepresentative but compliant one, many in Washington will be tempted by the latter. But haven't we already discovered in other Middle East countries the problems with that choice?
Increasing oil production in Iraq will not alleviate the potential problems in other important oil producing regions, including West Africa, Latin America, and new producers in the Caspian region. The United States must anticipate energy security threats from these regions and prepare for them in advance.
A freer flow of information and a more critical media in China would help sustain economic growth and strengthen prospects for democracy. The global spread of SARS shows that they could also help to save lives - both in China and abroad.
The Bush administration believes that a regime change in Iraq will revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. In his speech at the American Enterprise Institute, George W. Bush argued that toppling Saddam Hussein will deprive Palestinian suicide bombers of a wealthy patron, which will alleviate the threat of terrorism in Israel and allow for the rise of a democratic Palestinian government that strives for peace. The president promises "to seize every opportunity in pursuit of peace. And the end of the present regime in Iraq would create such an opportunity." He would be wise to start now.
The United States must hand over power to Iraqis sooner rather than later, helping them rebuild their nation without imposing leaders or ideologies. A democratic Iraq will probably have a strong Islamic and Arab nationalist character. But efforts to dilute Iraq's Arab or Islamic identity would risk an extremist backlash.
Ukraine has proceeded far in its post-Communist economic transformation. Access to foreign export markets has become a key question for Ukraine's economic future. Trade policy has gained such importance for Ukraine's aspiration's for accelerated growth and reaching its Millenium Development Goals that it should be Ukraine's predominant economic policy and international policy priority.
The administration seems to be establishing a new corporate model for post-war reconstruction efforts. There has been some talk about involving the United Nations in these efforts. But the administration is putting their money in a very different place. "At least to start, we intend to handle the big jobs ourselves," a senior administration official said. They have put almost all the emphasis and funding for humanitarian relief and reconstruction efforts in corporate hands: $1.5 billion in contracts to private companies, while only $50 million has gone to a small number of non-governmental groups. Officials intend to use Iraq's oil revenues and funds seized from Saddam Hussien's bank accounts to fund these corporate contracts.