The Bush administration is preparing to launch a "Greater Middle East Initiative" at the G-8 summit meeting in June. The time is indeed opportune for engagement on regional reform, but as planned, the initiative fails to establish a basis for genuine partnership and does little to address the real challenges of Arab democratization.
NAFTA has produced a disappointingly small net gain in jobs in Mexico. Mexican agriculture has been a net loser in trade with the United States, and employment in the sector has declined sharply. Real wages for most Mexicans today are lower than when NAFTA took effect.
The coming years will witness the creation of new political structures and parties on the liberal and leftist flanks in Russia. A "total re-arranging of the old political blocs" is in progress. Expelling Russia from international groups such as the G-8 to encourage domestic change is a bad idea, because "totalitarian, authoritarian regimes flourish in isolation."
This report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace examines the impact of NAFTA after ten years.