Let’s be clear: the United States cannot single-handedly ensure the advance of freedom and democracy around the world. But, notwithstanding all too much conventional wisdom of late, America retains enormous diplomatic, economic, and other capacities to influence the course of events. So, it’s no coincidence that, as Freedom House reported late last week, freedom declined …
Continue reading “Freedom’s decline and U.S. silence move in tandem”
WASHINGTON — America’s top foreign policy to-do’s in 2014 include preventing Iran from reaching the nuclear threshold, addressing the humanitarian disaster in Syria, containing an expansionist Russia, managing a rising China and reclaiming its own voice on human rights. Let’s take these one at a time. Preventing a nuclear Iran: The global agreement over Iran’s …
Continue reading “Unwavering democratic doctrines will let US shape events again”
Nearly a decade ago, President Bush provided important moral support to Ukraine’s “Orange Revolution,” criticizing the government after a fraudulent presidential election and pressuring officials to replace it with a fair one. President Obama, the quintessential anti-Bush, has generally eschewed the public promotion of human rights at moments of social ferment, believing the United States …
Continue reading “Washington reclaimed its voice at Kiev. Here’s hoping it doesn’t lose it again.”
The growing focus, at home and abroad, on a proposal under which Bashar al-Assad would subject his chemical weapons to international control seems an all-too-fitting next step in the clumsy U.S. effort to punish the Syrian strongman for using those weapons against his own people, killing more than 1,400 of them in late August. The …
Continue reading “New proposal for Syrian chemical weapons won’t produce anything good”