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Last summer, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russian strategic flights would permanently resume with the mission of protecting Russia. Protect it from whom? Although Putin has never identified the enemy that sparked the resumption of these flights after a fifteen-year hiatus, implicitly the antagonist is the only other country with a similar air capability—the United States.
It would have been fine, of course, for a political scientist or a journalist to make the observation that Hillary Clinton stood little chance in the South Carolina Democratic primary running against a black candidate. And it would have raised no eyebrows if he or she drew comparisons between Barack Obama's win and Jesse Jackson's 1988 victory. But Bill Clinton is a master politician who calibrates the exact effect of his words upon an audience. And as Clinton well knew, linking an opponent to Jackson, as former North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms used to do rdifficultegularly in his campaigns, is a surefire way to stir some white voters up against him.
The biggest economic threat from China isn't its dominance of manufacturing or its artificially pegged currency. It's that the world's soon-to-be third-largest economy is being fueled by financial markets that remain essentially--and dangerously--lawless.
Carnegie's Karim Sadjadpour compares the turmoil in Pakistan to conditions that led to the 1979 fall of the Shah and the Islamic Revolution in Iran, in a Project Syndicate article. "Once again, a 'pro-American' autocrat seems to be rapidly losing his grip on power, with his U.S. ally only half-heartedly standing by him."
Since communism failed as an economic system, Russia and China have had to embrace free markets. But hopes that reform of communist economies would produce western-style democracies have been shaken.
Although most of the world sees U.S. behavior under President Bush as "an unmitigated disaster," China has benefited dramatically from declining U.S. influence, meaning Chinese leaders are quite satisfied with U.S.-China relations. Below the top levels of government, Chinese views of America are more ambivilent, falling into three categories: the sophisticated realists, the conservative nationalists, and the cosmopolitan elite.
In testimony before the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, Ashley J. Tellis emphasized that the United States should focus its efforts in Pakistan on ensuring a credible and legitimate electoral process whose outcome is acceptable to the Pakistani people, and not on securing political outcomes that favor Musharraf.
Normally known for his grandiose statements and public flourishes, two weeks ago Fidel Castro made a momentous announcement relatively quietly. In a letter read on state media, Fidel, who in the summer of 2006 had handed caretaker power to his brother Raul while battling a serious (and still not fully identified) illness, wrote that "my basic duty is not to cling to office, and even less to obstruct the path of younger people." For many longtime Cuba-watchers, this was Fidel's final admission that he would never return to power.
For the next several years, world politics will be reshaped by a strong yearning for American leadership. This trend will be as unexpected as it is inevitable: unexpected given the powerful anti-American sentiments around the globe, and inevitable given the vacuums that only the United States can fill.
America’s relationship with the world is in disrepair. Anger, resentment, and fear have replaced the respect the United States once enjoyed. The next U.S. president should improve relations with Syria, and the mullahs in Tehran may be willing to shelve their nuclear plans permanently in exchange for a little face time with the United States.
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