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An assessment of the degree to which Washington and Beijing are willing or able to implement crisis management principles like maintaining direct channels of communication and preserving military flexibility.
China's rapid economic and military expansion has redefined how many countries in the region view it, but all agree that the United States must maintain an active role in Asia to help maintain stability.
The Obama administration should pressure Pakistan to bring the LeT leadership responsible for the Mumbai attacks to justice, and to eliminate the organization's terror infrastructure to prevent it from threatening U.S. and NATO operations in Afghanistan.
Despite Treasury Tim Geitner's recent comments that China is manipulating its currency, it is difficult to assess China's monetary policies because its economy is in such flux.
The debate in Washington and European capitals has recently centered on how many more troops will be sent to Afghanistan in 2009 as part of a military surge. The real question, however, is how combat troops should be used - to pursue the Taliban, or secure key areas to allow institutions to develop. The main policy objective must be the development of a government that can survive U.S. withdrawal.
Though Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton laid out some basic policy positions in her confirmation hearings – the Obama administration will engage directly with Iran and will close Guantanamo, for example – the details of how the administration will pursue these objectives remain unclear.
The first public examination of open-source data shows that the U.S. spent at least $52.4 billion on nuclear weapons and programs in 2008; yet despite growing concern about the prospect of a nuclear 9/11 only 10 percent of that went toward proliferation prevention. The U.S. must devote less funding to upgrading its arsenal and more to securing and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons.
The United States spent over $52 billion on nuclear weapons and related programs in fiscal year 2008, but only 10 percent of that went toward preventing a nuclear attack through slowing and reversing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology.
Stephen I. Schwartz and Deepti Choubey have determined for the first time that the United States spent over $52 billion on nuclear weapons and related programs in fiscal year 2008, figures that even the government does not compile because there is no official nuclear security budget.
Most of the items on the foreign policy agenda awaiting President Obama require global cooperation, including climate change, nonproliferation, and the war in Afghanistan. History suggests, however, that nations are less cooperative during times of upheaval, and the economic crisis – itself a problem requiring multinational action – may hinder the new administration’s ability to find solutions.
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