Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Looking ahead to the Bush-Putin summit, it is important to address the contrasts between Russia's remarkable economic improvements and its continued political repression and how this dichotomy impacts both sides' expectations.
Business leaders, government officials and military planners fret over China's potential to wreak havoc in the world. These anxieties are based on China's growing power; but the real threats it poses will spring from its weaknesses, not its strengths.
Among the variegated arguments made by the Bush administration for war with Iraq was the suggestion that it would somehow lead to an Israeli-Palestinian peace. This was not wholly insincere. US Secretary of State Colin Powell is genuinely committed to the peace process and for a few months after the fall of Baghdad it seemed that President George W. Bush, too, had been won over to this conviction.
Even during the depths of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union often worked together to halt the spread of nuclear weapons to new countries. Unfortunately, the approaches being pursued by both countries will do nothing to slow Iran's ability to produce nuclear weapons, and a new approach and better coordination is desperately needed before it is too late.
Jessica Mathews discusses post-war Iraq with Fouad Ajami on The Charlie Rose Show.
The U.S. Congress needs to examine the methods and process of environmental reviews under the Trade Act of 2002, which explicitly gives Congress the power to determine whether environmental issues are effectively incorporated into U.S. trade negotiations, to ensure they are used to inform trade negotiations in a timely manner.