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The Statesmen's Debate

Jorge G. Castañeda, Richard N. Haass and Michel Rocard

In a series of monthly commentaries by leading statesmen Jorge Castañeda, Richard Haass and Michel Rocard, Project Syndicate offers a truly global perspective on some of today's most divisive issues - from terrorism and preemptive war, to protectionism and the role of cultural and religious values.

RECENT COMMENTARIES

FEATURED COMMENTARIES

Answering Iran

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2012-01-26

Iran’s nuclear activities confront the world with difficult choices – acquiescence, military intervention, or ever-tighter economic sanctions. None is costless or risk-free, and neither the costs nor the risks are possible to calculate with precision.... read

Comments: 6 Recommended: 0 Read: 8700

Good Times Down Latin America’s Way

Jorge G. Castañeda Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2011-12-27

For Latin America, 2011 was, in Frank Sinatra’s terms, a very good year – and 2012 doesn’t look like being so bad either. But, while the region should count its blessings, it should also remember that nothing lasts forever.... read

Comments: 2 Recommended: 0 Read: 10297

Re-Orienting America

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2011-11-14

After the Cold War ended, the US became preoccupied with Europe, and then, after the 9/11 attacks, shifted its focus to the Middle East. Now US foreign policy is beginning to catch up to the importance of the Asia-Pacific region – and not a moment too soon.... read

Comments: 4 Recommended: 0 Read: 18177

Palestine’s Time

Michel Rocard Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2011-10-27

With its refusal to negotiate for a realistic peace, Israel is effectively demanding the disappearance of Palestinian identity. The rest of the world should not tolerate that effort, even if the US does.... read

Comments: 5 Recommended: 0 Read: 12647

Thick as BRICS

Jorge G. Castañeda Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2011-09-26

On the UN resolution establishing a no-fly zone and civilian protection in Libya, Brazil, along with three of the other “BRICS” (and world power wannabes) – Russia, India, and China – abstained. Now Brazil and other large Latin American countries are showing a similar lack of leadership on the question of statehood for Palestine.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 11916

9/11 in Perspective

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2011-08-31

Ten years after the 9/11 attacks in the US, we still want to find ways to make ourselves less vulnerable and terrorists more so. But what may be most important, particularly in the Arab and Islamic communities, is to end any acceptance of terrorism.... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 14235

The Storm after the Calm

Michel Rocard Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2011-07-28

Could the financial crisis of 2007-2008 happen again? Since the crisis erupted, there has been no shortage of opportunities – in the form of inadequate conclusions and decisions by officials – to nurture one’s anxiety about that prospect.... read

Comments: 3 Recommended: 0 Read: 14015

The Andean Engagé

Jorge G. Castañeda Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2011-06-20

The politically committed intellectual may be a dying breed in much of the world, but not in Latin America. Indeed, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Mario Vargas Llosa may well have played a decisive role in Peru's recent presidential election.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 13697

Beyond Bin Laden

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2011-05-03

The killing of Osama Bin Laden by US Special Forces constitutes a significant victory over global terrorism. But it is a milestone, not a turning point, in what remains an ongoing struggle that still has no foreseeable end.... read

Comments: 3 Recommended: 0 Read: 17345

The Return of the French?	Michel Rocard
Tunisia has been independent for 55 years, and Côte d’Ivoire for 51 years, yet France is once more playing a decisive role in these countries – and in Libya. Naturally, many Africans are unconvinced that France is not acting in its own economic and strategic interests.... read

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Reflections on the Revolution in Egypt

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2011-02-13

Revolutions happen for a reason, and in Egypt, there are several reasons. Indeed, Egypt was ripe for dramatic change, which would have come at some point in the next few years, even absent the spark of Tunisia or the existence of social media.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 23414

Learning from the Cold War

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2009-11-18

The Cold War was won as a result of military "containment" of Soviet expansion, the Soviet bloc's own internal weaknesses, and efforts to provoke a crisis of confidence among communist leaders. The same combination of factors should be considered when confronting regimes like those in Iran and North Korea.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 27476

The Revolution Reborn

Jorge G. Castañeda Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2009-03-18

In El Salvador, for the first time ever in Latin America, a former guerilla organization has achieved its aims through the ballot box. For the FMLN's leaders, unlike even Nicaragua's Sandinistas, remain largely allied with the region's "revolutionary" left, with no moderate faction to balance them.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 28050

The Obama Surprise

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2009-01-19

Now that George W. Bush is gone, other countries will find that genuine multilateralism requires their willingness and ability to commit resources to deal with pressing challenges. Obama is likely to be more diplomatic than Bush, but he is also likely to be more demanding.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 26226

What to Expect From the 44th President

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2008-10-17

Much attention is focused on foreign policy differences between John McCain and Barack Obama. But there are also key similarities between them, in part because some of their disagreements are not as pronounced as they seem, and in part because the constraints that the next US president will face are certain to limit what either man could do in office.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 30145

Marriage Counseling for America and Europe

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2004-07-01

Disputes between the United States and Europe are nothing new, as past tensions over Korea, Suez, and Vietnam demonstrate. But these earlier disputes occurred within a very different geopolitical context – the Cold War – and the bygone intellectual and political framework of containment. This context and framework disciplined transatlantic ties. Europeans and Americans alike recognized the need to limit and manage their differences in order to conserve their ability to deter and, if necessary, to defeat the Soviet Union.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 38350

The Chávez Challenge

Jorge G. Castañeda Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2005-12-07

Venezuela’s recent legislative elections confirmed trends that have repeatedly brought the country into the headlines in recent years. President Hugo Chávez showed once again that he enjoys broad support among the nation’s poor and desperate, and that he is miles ahead of his opposition in terms of political skill, cunning, and ruthlessness. Yet at the same time voter turnout is declining with each passing election under Chávez, and the questionable fairness of the electoral process has grown increasingly apparent.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 38255

The Sleeping Volcano of Global Finance

Michel Rocard Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2005-08-12

The rejection of the European Union’s Constitutional Treaty by French and Dutch voters was, according to all evidence, more a rejection of unregulated globalization than it was a rejection of Europe. The general instability of social relations – most importantly, but not only, of employment – is slowly becoming intolerable for a growing part of the population in many developed countries, not just in Europe. And there cannot be a stable economic order – at least not in democratic countries – if electorates reject its underpinnings.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 38255

Russian Realities

Richard N. Haass Series: The Statesmen's Debate

2005-10-17

At first glance, Russia bears many of the hallmarks of a great power. It possesses a large arsenal of nuclear weapons, a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, enormous reserves of oil and other minerals, a recent record of robust economic growth, and more territory than any other country despite being only three-fourths the size of the former Soviet Union.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 0 Read: 38206

Stopping Latin America’s Budding Arms Race	Jorge G. Castañeda
In recent weeks, many observers of the Latin American military situation have detected what could be the beginning of a new arms race in the region. Brazilian President Luis Inacio “Lula” da Silva was photographed boarding the Tikuna, his country’s first conventional, domestically built submarine. He used the opportunity to highlight his support for the Brazilian military. ... read
Latin America’s Two Lefts	Jorge G. Castañeda
A perception has been growing over the last few years – and picking up strength in recent months – that Latin America is swinging back to the left. The unimpressive – and sometimes dismal – results of economic reform seem to have generated a backlash that has elected leftist presidents across the continent, starting with Hugo Chávez’s victory in Venezuela at the end of the 1990’s, and continuing with those of Ricardo Lagos in Chile and Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, and more recently that of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Tabaré Vázquez in Uruguay. More left-wing victories seem to be in store in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. ... read

AUTHOR INFO

Jorge G. Castañeda

Jorge G. Castañeda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico (2000-2003), is Global Distinguished Professor of Politics and Latin American Studies at New York University.

Richard N. Haass

Richard N. Haass, formerly Director of Policy Planning in the US State Department, is President of The Council on Foreign Relations.

Michel Rocard

Michel Rocard is a former prime minister of France and a former leader of the Socialist Party.

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