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An Indirect Route to a Palestinian State?

Daoud Kuttab

The indirect Israeli-Palestinian talks now being launched are unlikely to produce any tangible result on the borders of the Palestinian state. Nevertheless, for both sides, the process can be as important as the results.

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A Reset in the Caucasus

Vartan Oskanian Series: The World in Words

2010-03-08

This is Turkey’s moment of truth. Will the current domestic turmoil between Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdoğan and the country’s powerful army complicate and delay the country’s boldest diplomatic initiatives in years – the moves to address decades-old tensions with both Armenians and Kurds?... read

Comments: 2 Recommended: 0 Read: 1853

Turkey’s Coup that Failed

Ibrahim Kalin Series: The World in Words

2010-03-05

The exposure of senior military officials’ plan – called “Operation Sledgehammer” – to destabilize Turkey’s government, and the subsequent arrest of high-ranking officers, demonstrates the growing strength of Turkey’s democracy. Yet some observers still insist on reducing the latest coup plot to the simplistic formula of "secularists" versus "Islamists."... read

Comments: 1 Recommended: 0 Read: 4317

Jinnah’s Labyrinth

Jaswant Singh Series: The World in Words

2010-03-03

There is cruel irony in the observation that in Pakistan, founded in the name of Islam by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Islam itself should now constitute the principal challenge to the state. It is no less ironic that Pakistan, once seen as the protector of Western interests in South Asia, has become the central challenge to those interests.... read

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Europe’s Contested Neighborhood

Ronald Asmus Series: The World in Words

2010-02-24

The most important source of disagreement today between Russia and the West is not the issues most often in the news – Iran or Afghanistan. It is Europe’s contested neighborhood – the future of those countries between the eastern borders of NATO and the EU and Russia.... read

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The Greek Crisis and Beyond

Ian Bremmer and Jon Levy Series: The World in Words

2010-02-12

As euro-zone leaders face growing uncertainty in financial markets about the public finances of Greece and other member countries, their statements, albeit somewhat vague, underscore a much larger story – one that will force firms and investors to question their assumptions about Europe’s economic, financial, and political environment.... read

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The Libya Option In Iran

Bennett Ramberg Series: The World in Words

2010-02-12

A key concern surrounding efforts to curtail Iran's nuclear ambitions is that, despite the pain they impose, economic sanctions historically have a poor record of prompting countries to change fundamental policy. But there is a notable exception to this pattern: Libya’s decision in December 2003 to abandon its nuclear weapons program.... read

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A Solution Now for Cyprus

Ban Ki-moon Series: The World in Words

2010-02-11

Cyprus is at a critical juncture, with the Greek Cypriot leader, Demetirs Christofias, and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, Mehmet Ali Talat, working hard to reach an agreement to overcome more than 45 years of conflict and division. But a solution, while overwhelmingly in the interests of all Cypriots, will elude them without a further concerted push.... read

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Ukrainian Democracy and Its Cynics

Nina L. Khrushcheva Series: The World in Words

2010-02-02

Because Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004 turned out to be a seeming unending series of disappointments, most Western leaders are acting as if it makes no difference whether Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko or her rival, Viktor Yanukovich, wins on February 7. They are wrong: a victory for Yanukovich now may be the last free vote Ukraine sees for a long time.... read

Comments: 11 Recommended: 1 Read: 4869

The Treason of the Magistrates

Guy Sorman Series: The World in Words

2010-02-02

Justice in democratic countries is supposed to be independent, but some prosecutors and investigating magistrates conveniently forget this. Indeed many among them are deeply enmeshed in politics, pursuing agendas – and vendettas – of their own. ... read

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A Chinese Champion of Peace and Freedom

Václav Havel et al Series: The World in Words

2010-01-18

On Christmas Day last year, one of China’s best-known human rights activists, Liu Xiaobo, was condemned to 11 years in prison. For his bravery and clarity of thought about China’s future, Liu deserves the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.... read

Comments: 16 Recommended: 1 Read: 8745

Rescuing Yemen

Mai Yamani Series: The World in Words

2010-01-18

Following Al Qaeda's failed Christmas Day attack on a Detroit-bound airliner, Barack Obama and Gordon Brown jointly proposed a conference in London to propose solutions for the previously overlooked crises in Yemen. But, unless they grasp the fact that Yemen’s problems go well beyond Al Qaeda’s presence in the country, the conference will do more harm than good.... read

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No Time to Slacken

Kofi A. Annan, Amartya Sen and Michel Camdessus Series: The World in Words

2009-09-23

PITTSBURGH – Almost six months ago, at a moment of great alarm about the global financial and economic crisis, G-20 leaders met for a historic summit in London. Their collective commitments to stimulate, regulate and restructure global economic activity helped to calm nerves around the world.... read

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A Japanese Metamorphosis?

Masahiro Matsumura Series: The World in Words

2009-08-30

Yesterday’s landslide general-election victory by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) terminated the one-party-dominated system that the catch-all Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has controlled almost without interruption since 1955. But the real question is whether the DPJ will be able to overcome the entrenched power of the Japanese state's permanent bureaucracy.... read

Comments: 0 Recommended: 1 Read: 8302

Breaking the Climate Deadlock

Tony Blair Series: The World in Words

2009-07-02

On July 9, the leaders of the world’s largest economies, which account for three-quarters of the world's carbon emissions will meet in L’Aquila, Italy, at the Major Economies Forum to discuss progress towards a new global climate agreement. While reaching an agreement requires sufficient political will, leaders should also know that meeting ambitious targets is technically feasible.... read

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Barack Obama, Israel’s True Friend

A.B. Yehoshua Series: The World in Words

2009-06-16

Barack Obama is not merely interested in improving America’s image in the eyes of the Muslim world. By appealing clearly and directly to Israel's government to halt construction of settlements on the West Bank, he is also proving his profound friendship for the Jewish state.... read

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The Ghost of Appeasement

Vaclav Havel Series: The World in Words

2009-06-12

One of the fundamental pillars of Europe’s political architecture is a strong and enduring belief in the universal validity of equal, universal, and inalienable human rights. European leaders should bear that in mind when the European Union’s General Affairs and External Relations Council meets this week to discuss once more relations between the EU and Cuba.... read

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The Real Danger of Global Warming

Vaclav Klaus Series: The World in Words

2009-04-29

Nowadays it is fashionable to argue that "green" policies like cap-and-trade, government mandates, and subsidies for renewable energy can actually benefit an economy. But this is a fantasy: the companies that provide higher-priced “green” energy may do well, but everyone else will have less money to spend on other things.... read

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North Korea’s Missile Tantrum

Sung-chul Yang Series: The World in Words

2009-04-01

Once again, tension is rising across Asia over North Korea’s missile program, as the North’s government prepares to launch a “satellite” sometime between April 4 and 8. The question for the world now is not whether the North Korean regime will launch its missile, but what happens afterward.... read

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France’s Fourth Moment	Yuliya Tymoshenko
Since World War II’s end, France has consistently risen to the challenge of restructuring Europe in times of crisis. With Russo-German relations threatening to shift the EU's orientation, it is now vital that France assumes a leadership role in the process of institutionalizing Russia’s role within Europe.... read
Is Mexico Disintegrating?	David Rieff
Mexico is in freefall, with drug cartels posing the gravest threat to its state institutions since at least the Cristero Uprising of the late 1920’s and possibly since the Mexican Revolution of 1910. While the Obama administration is aware of what obviously is happening, the threat simply does not command the attention that its gravity requires.... read

The Islamist Identity

Nilüfer Göle Series: The World in Words

2003-09-26

Everywhere you look nowadays, Islam is used (and misused) as a political force. Some Muslims employ it as a call to action; many in the West (and elsewhere) perceive it as an "other" demanding containment and exclusion. As a Turk, I feel both sides of this debate directly. ... read

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Making or Breaking Europe

Ian Davidson Series: The World in Words

2003-09-17

Sweden's thumbs down to the Euro strips bare the fundamental choice now facing Europe. Slowly, very slowly, the European Union is approaching the moment of truth when its members must decide what kind of a Union they want. Do they want a politically integrated Union, perhaps developing eventually into a true federation? Or do they want a loose economic club, based essentially on a single economic market, with a few optional add-ons of a political nature? ... read

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A New World Architecture

George Soros Series: The World in Words

2009-11-04

The world is facing a choice between two fundamentally different forms of organization: internationalist liberal capitalism and authoritarian state capitalism. The former, represented by the United States, has broken down, and the latter, represented by China, is on the rise.... read

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Europe and Asia’s Arms Race

Per Ahlmark Series: The World in Words

2005-03-22

When European unification was launched, it was thought that “ever closer union” would establish a community that would protect Europeans from political blackmail. Now we see – though the lifting of the Union’s arms embargo may now be delayed thanks to US pressure and Chinese aggressiveness – that the European Union has become merely a tool for corruption when France and China draw up joint action plans.... read

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China’s Victimization Syndrome

Orville Schell Series: The World in Words

2005-04-22

A contest for China’s soul is now underway in that giant country, pitting two powerful forces and two very different stances toward the outside world against each other. The outcome will have a major impact on whether China succeeds in becoming a nation capable of having truly constructive and durable relations with the outside world.... read

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Keep Europe’s Commitments to Turkey

Albert Rohan, Martti Ahtisaari and Michel Rocard Series: The World in Words

2004-12-09

The moment of truth has come. The European Union must decide on December 17 whether to open accession talks with Turkey. Is today’s Union prepared to reverse a course first charted by such titans as Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer four decades ago?... read

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The Swedenization of Europe

Per Ahlmark Series: The World in Words

2004-06-08

Anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and anti-Americanism are becoming linked and ever more rabid in today's Europe. They arise from a kind of blindness, combined with a strange mixture of alienation, guilt, and fear toward both Israel and America.... read

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Russia’s Economic Imperialism

Vladimer Papava and Frederick Starr Series: The World in Words

2006-01-17

Russia’s use of natural gas to exert economic and political pressure on Ukraine has caused grave concern in the West. But Russia’s pressure on Georgia has been even heavier – and has scarcely been noticed.... read

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Iran’s Nuclear Zealot

Kenneth R. Timmerman Series: The World in Words

2005-12-27

With negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program looming once again, understanding Iran’s new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is critically important. Perhaps the best place to start is the moment the world first gained a glimpse of Ahmadinejad’s character and hardline program.... read

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The Media War on Terror	Donald H. Rumsfeld
“More than half of this battle is taking place on the battlefield of the media, [for] we are in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of [Muslims].” The speaker was not some public relations executive, but Osama bin Laden’s chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri. ... read
Back to Afghanistan	George Soros
While the unremitting violence in Iraq grabs the world’s headlines, Afghanistan still struggles for peace. The country’s parliament is packed with warlords, the drug trade is thriving, and violence is on the rise.... read

FEATURED COMMENTARY

Ukrainian Democracy and Its Cynics
Nina L. Khrushcheva
Series: The World in Words

Comments: 11
Recommended: 1
Read: 4869

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