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A string of detonators cuts through the Middle East
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May 24, 2012 02:20 AM
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The Middle East sometimes resembles a string of detonators wired to explode together – and this seems especially true now of Syria and its neighbors. There is political instability nearby in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, as the Arab uprising moves through its second year. In each of these...
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Is the bubble about to burst on the so-called China Model?
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May 21, 2012 01:25 AM
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Perhaps when Chinese leaders began to speak over the last several years about a new “Beijing Consensus” and the triumph of the “China Model,” that was a warning the bubble was about to burst. And we’re seeing that hubris play out now, as China’s leaders struggle...
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Pakistan has blown a chance to control its badlands
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May 17, 2012 01:22 AM
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As America begins to pull back its troops from Afghanistan, there’s one consequence that gets little notice but is likely to have lasting impact: Pakistan is losing the best chance in its history to gain political control over all of its territory – including warlike tribal areas along...
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A framework exists for nuclear talks with Iran
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May 15, 2012 01:38 AM
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Let’s assume the signals from the White House and Tehran are reliable, and that Iran is serious about an agreement to remove its existing stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium from the country and stop producing more. What happens then? This question of “next steps” in the...
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Rare for a Democrat, Obama wins on foreign policy
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May 14, 2012 12:03 AM
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President Barack Obama begins his re-election campaign with something almost nobody would have predicted four years ago: a sense of success and political advantage in the foreign-policy areas that have often spelled trouble for Democrats. The tight, wary control that was often apparent when Obama...
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Why isn’t the CIA listening to its former employees?
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May 10, 2012 01:08 AM
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Whenever the CIA uncovers a new plot overseas, like Al-Qaeda’s latest scheme to blow up civilian aircraft using advanced, hard-to-detect explosives, people breathe a sigh of relief. But this is a multi-front war, and almost by definition, the attack that gets you is the one you didn’t...
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A U.S. in decline? Economic forecasts suggest otherwise
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May 07, 2012 08:05 AM
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With so much talk these days of America’s decline, it may sound strange to ponder the prospects for an American economic boom a decade or so from now. But that’s the thrust of two new studies, which have me thinking like Dr. Pangloss, Voltaire’s caricature of optimism. These...
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No longer covert, drone warfare imposes many questions
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May 04, 2012 01:54 AM
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During this week of retrospectives on the killing of Osama bin Laden, one of the most interesting public comments was White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan’s speech formally affirming that “the United States government conducts targeted strikes against specific Al-Qaeda...
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Bin Laden is dead, but has done better than we think
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April 30, 2012 12:08 AM
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In the year since Osama bin Laden’s death, it has been a comforting thought for Westerners to say that he failed. And that’s certainly true in terms of Al-Qaeda, whose scorched-earth jihad tactics alienated Muslims along with everyone else. But in terms of bin Laden’s broader...
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Divorce may not be the answer for a troubled eurozone
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April 26, 2012 01:24 AM
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With Socialist leader Francois Hollande likely to become the next president of France, Europe’s hot populist anger is about to confront the cold austerity measures required by the eurozone, with a predictable result: a storm that rattles the foundations of the European economic house....
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Just the tip of an iceberg of corruption
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April 23, 2012 01:09 AM
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The Bo Xilai affair offers a reality check for anyone who’s worried that a rising China will supplant the United States anytime soon: First, the Chinese know that the scandal is just the tip of an iceberg of corruption menacing the country; and second, the leadership in Beijing understands...
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A deal with Iran is possible, if no one muffs his lines
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April 19, 2012 01:14 AM
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The nuclear talks with Iran have just begun, but already the smart money in Tehran is betting on a deal. That piece of intelligence comes from the Tehran stock index, which on the day after the talks opened posted its largest daily rise in months and closed at a record high. Tehran investors may...
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What Kissinger can tell us about the Iran talks
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April 16, 2012 03:13 PM
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Nobody can predict where the process of negotiation with Iran, which began Friday, is headed. But here’s what I’d like to see: a broad dialogue that brings the rising power of Iran into a new security system in the Middle East in exchange for Iran’s commitment not to build...
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The priority in Afghanistan must be a political transition
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April 12, 2012 01:18 AM
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Americans are clamoring to speed up the 2014 security transition in Afghanistan so that U.S. troops can come home sooner. But the buzz in Kabul is about the political transition to a post-Karzai government – and whether that handover should be accelerated. Under the Afghan Constitution, a...
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Washington looks for a nuclear opening with Iran
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April 07, 2012 03:42 PM
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President Barack Obama has signaled Iran that the United States would accept an Iranian civilian nuclear program if Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei can back up his recent public claim that his nation “will never pursue nuclear weapons.” This verbal message was sent through Turkish Prime...
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