Articles by Foreign Policy In Focus
We found 155 results.
No, Really, the Sarin Attack Wasn’t Assad’s
Russ Wellen – Foreign Policy in Focus,
27 Jan 2014
A recent report by highly respected experts shows that it’s almost certain that the Assad regime wasn’t responsible for the sarin attack on the suburbs of Damascus.
→ read full articleNAFTA at 20: A Model for Corporate Rule
Manuel Perez-Rocha and Stuart Trew – Foreign Policy In Focus,
20 Jan 2014
NAFTA and treaties like it grant transnational companies total freedom of movement for capital, goods, and services, coupled with the ability to sue countries in secret courts when governments attempt to get in their way.
→ read full articleObama Ignores Morocco’s Illegal Occupation and Human Rights Abuses
Stephen Zunes – Foreign Policy in Focus,
23 Dec 2013
Defying a series of UN Security Council resolutions, a landmark World Court decision, and international mediation efforts, the Moroccans have continued to deny the people of the territory their right of self-determination through a UN-sponsored referendum. No country recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over the territory, and more than 80 nations, as well as the African Union, have formally recognized Western Sahara as an independent state.
→ read full articleSpineless in Bali
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy In Focus,
23 Dec 2013
Developed countries are still using the WTO to squeeze small farmers in the developing world–and developing world governments are going along with the charade.
→ read full articleThe M23 Surrenders: A Pyrrhic Victory in Eastern Congo
David Zarembka – Foreign Policy In Focus,
25 Nov 2013
Given the roots of the ongoing conflict in North Kivu, military victory amounts to exchanging one group of exploiters for another.
→ read full articleBranding Japan
Nancy Snow – Foreign Policy In Focus,
25 Nov 2013
Shinzo Abe is back as prime minister, along with his special brand of Abenomics and a whole new politics of hype. Thankfully Halloween arrived just in time for Fox TV in Japan to stage a “zombie walk” as a promotional tie-in for a new season of The Walking Dead. Casual observers could be forgiven for mistaking this publicity stunt for just another visual representation of Japanese politics.
→ read full articleIncreased American Military Presence May Undermine Good Governance Efforts in Africa
Hilary Matfess - Foreign Policy in Focus,
4 Nov 2013
Africa Is Front and Center Now for the Pentagon – Ironically, increased partnerships with the world’s foremost democracy may undermine the democratic process by reducing the importance of public opinion, increasing ‘rent seeking behavior’ in governments, and strengthening autocratic aspects of governments.
→ read full articleGMO Wars: The Global Battlefield
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy In Focus,
4 Nov 2013
The GMO wars escalated earlier this month [October] when the 2013 World Food Prize was awarded to three chemical company executives, including Monsanto executive VP and chief technology officer, Robert Fraley, responsible for development of genetically modified organisms.
→ read full articleAmerica’s Orphaned Diplomacy
Moritz Laurer – Foreign Policy In Focus,
28 Oct 2013
America’s money-soaked political system simultaneously bolsters the military-industrial complex and undermines diplomacy.
→ read full articleHumanitarian Intervention: Destroying Nations to Save Them
Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince – Foreign Policy in Focus,
21 Oct 2013
Humanitarian intervention and pre-emptive military strikes go together like a horse and carriage. The notion of “humanitarian intervention” by former imperialist and now neo-colonial powers is as old as the hills. One can trace such pretexts back far in modern history.
→ read full articleAt the UN, a Latin American Rebellion
Laura Carlsen – Foreign Policy in Focus,
14 Oct 2013
One after another, Latin American leaders came to the podium to denounce the U.S. government. Most criticism was directed at the espionage programs that made Mexico and Brazil marks for political and industrial spying. The other target for regional antipathy was the signature U.S. security policy: the drug war.
→ read full articleLet’s Give War a Chance [In English and Arabic]
Faiza Sultan – Foreign Policy in Focus,
14 Oct 2013
So that / Politicians can be tattooed / With dark blotches / On their foreheads / Of religiosity…
→ read full articleThe Real North Korean Threat
Emanuel Pastreich – Foreign Policy in Focus,
7 Oct 2013
In North Korea, the threat of desertification should be raised to the same level as nuclear nonproliferation. I refer to the spread of deserts and semi-desert regions in North Korea as a result of the reckless logging of forests, the misuse of soil, and irresponsible farming practices. These ecological dead zones, where few plants can survive, are spreading.
→ read full articleHow Syria Brought the U.S. and Iran Together
Richard Javad Heydarian – Foreign Policy in Focus,
7 Oct 2013
This year’s UN General Assembly may well be remembered as the beginning of the end for Washington’s decades-long standoff with Tehran. And none of it would have been possible if the Obama administration had gone ahead with its plan to attack Syria.
→ read full articleOn the Fence about Syria? Read This!
Peter Certo – Foreign Policy in Focus,
11 Sep 2013
A quick reader on why military intervention in Syria is a big mistake–and what we should be advocating instead.
→ read full articleThe Crisis of Humanitarian Intervention (Revisited)
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
11 Sep 2013
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Events in Libya and Syria have again brought to the forefront the question of armed humanitarian intervention or the “responsibility to protect.”
→ read full articleA Brewing Storm in the Western Pacific
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
26 Aug 2013
China’s aggressive territorial claims, Washington’s “pivot” to Asia, and Japan’s hawkish bluster add up to a volatile brew in the Asia-Pacific.
→ read full articleNSA Spying Leaves Washington Lonelier than Ever
Emma Lo – Foreign Policy in Focus,
26 Aug 2013
NSA spying is sullying Washington’s relationship with nearly every one of its global partners and competitors.
→ read full articleWashington and the Egyptian Tragedy
Stephen Zunes – Foreign Policy in Focus,
26 Aug 2013
As in El Salvador, Nicaragua, East Timor, Angola, Lebanon, and Gaza in previous years, the massive killing of civilians in Egypt is being done with U.S.-provided weapons by a U.S.-backed government. The last thing the United States should be doing is continuing to pour arms into this tragic and chaotic situation and rationalization for brutal repression.
→ read full articleTake Syria Seriously–And Stay Out
Saul Landau – Foreign Policy in Focus,
10 Jun 2013
Obama’s spin language on Syria referring to the use of chemical weapons (calling it a “red line” and “game changer)” sounds like a moral imperative, but it overlooks key facts: the U.S. military used phosphorous bombs in attacks on Fallujah during the Iraq War, and U.S. Air Force planes dropped tons of Agent Orange on Vietnam.
→ read full articleIt’s Time to Delist Cuba
Arturo Lopez-Levy – Foreign Policy in Focus,
10 Jun 2013
A man convicted of bombing a civilian airliner in Cuba lives freely in Miami, but the U.S. State Department calls Cuba the “state sponsor of terror.” What’s wrong with this picture?
→ read full articleI’ll Miss Hugo
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
18 Mar 2013
His was a life that was larger than life, from the Caracas riots against the IMF in 1989 to his failed coup in 1992, and from his victory in the 1998 presidential election to his reinstatement by the urban poor when the right removed him in a coup in 2002. Along with Nestor Kirchner in Argentina, Evo Morales in Bolivia, and Rafael Correa in Ecuador, Chavez put an end to the reign of neoliberal IMF policies that had impoverished the masses. Goodbye, Comandante Hugo. You were a class act, one impossible to follow. Wherever you are right now, give ’em hell.
→ read full articleThe Banal Militarism of Hollywood
Fouad Pervez – Foreign Policy in Focus,
18 Mar 2013
Appealing to jingoism is certainly easier than prompting national introspection, but is priming an audience for blood what we call art today?
→ read full articleWith Bus Segregation Israeli Apartheid Becomes More Blatant
Renee Lott – Foreign Policy in Focus,
18 Mar 2013
Israel seems to have fewer and fewer qualms about being branded apartheid. The continued disregard for Palestinians is yet again highlighted in Israel’s latest segregation of the region’s bus system—modern day apartheid at its finest. Especially problematic is the fact that the bus system is a public service and under law should employ nondiscriminatory practices.
→ read full articleWashington Debates the Pivot to Asia
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
25 Feb 2013
Over the last two years, the Obama administration has executed what the president has termed the “Pivot to Asia” strategy, whereby the United States’ global military force posture is being reconfigured to focus on the Asia-Pacific region as Washington’s central front. The truth of the matter is that, as in the Middle East and Latin America, there is more continuity with the Bush administration than rupture in the Obama administration’s approach toward Asia.
→ read full articleKorea: The Case for Withdrawal
Geoffrey Fattig – Foreign Policy In Focus,
25 Feb 2013
Withdrawing U.S. troops from the Korean peninsula could kickstart diplomatic progress in Northeast Asia and save billions of dollars to boot. How to wind down a war that’s lain dormant for nearly 60 years.
→ read full articleAttacks on First Responders Transform Criminality of Drone Strikes to Sadism
Russ Wellen – Foreign Policy in Focus,
26 Nov 2012
The term “double tapping” fails to do justice to a military tactic that’s arguably sociopathic. Attacking those coming to the assistance of the injured, which the military calls “double tapping” and doesn’t even attempt to hide, caught me off-guard with its cold-blooded cruelty. It’s not only used in helicopter attacks, but in drone strikes as well. A February article by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) provides more insight into this insidious practice.
→ read full articleIs the Cat Out of the Bag on Israel?
Emily Johanson – Foreign Policy in Focus,
26 Nov 2012
In his latest book, ‘Knowing Too Much: The American Jewish Romance with Israel is Coming to An End’, veteran activist Norman Finkelstein argues that the growing international awareness of the Israeli occupation has heralded a perceptible shift among the U.S. Jewish community away from a close identification with Israel. Criticism of Israeli policies from American Jews is growing far stronger than anything American politicians can muster.
→ read full articleChina’s Transformation: A Southeast Asian Perspective
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
26 Nov 2012
China’s once-in-a-decade leadership transition will have major implications for China’s neighbors in Southeast Asia. Given this, it might be worthwhile to review the changing understanding of the momentous developments in China on the part of people in our region, using my generation—the so-called “baby boomers”—as an example.
→ read full articleRaising the Stakes in Asia
Richard Javad Heydarian – Foreign Policy in Focus,
12 Nov 2012
The U.S. pivot to Asia is motivated and shaped by both economic and military-strategic factors. Essentially, it is still an ongoing process that will depend on the cooperation of regional allies as well as the evolving patterns of Sino-American relations. The growing U.S. military presence may have boosted the morale of allies such as the Philippines, but it is also shifting the focus away from diplomacy and dialogue towards brinkmanship and competitive alliance-building.
→ read full articleOsprey Outrage on Okinawa
Seamus Murphy – Foreign Policy in Focus,
12 Nov 2012
The outrage shows no signs of waning, with Okinawans claiming their government is treating them like second-class citizens, breaking a promise to remove the U.S. military presence at Futenma. With the pace of Osprey operations increasing, so too is the catastrophic disparity between the U.S. military and the people of Okinawa.
→ read full articleEconomic Crisis Shakes Old Paradigms
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
29 Oct 2012
Many of the same people who brought you the global financial crisis are also behind the global ecological crisis, observes Walden Bello. To find a common solution to both, we need to search for new models.
→ read full articleStaunching Syria’s Wounds
Wadlen Bello and Richard Javad Heydarian – Foreign Policy in Focus,
1 Oct 2012
There is hardly an “international community” to speak of as far as Syria is concerned. There are basically three camps: The first camp is composed of anti-Assad hawks, mainly NATO countries and Sunni powers like Saudi Arabia. The second camp is composed of Eastern powers and Syrian allies such as Russia, China, and Iran. The last camp, or the “third way,” is composed of developing countries, from India to Brazil, that are deeply disturbed by the ongoing violence in Syria.
→ read full articleIs the Threat of a “Mafia State” Real?
Michael Busch – Foreign Policy in Focus,
25 Jun 2012
Earlier this spring, Moisés Naím provocatively warned against an emerging menace facing our world today—the advent of what he terms the “mafia state.” Analyzing the role of transnational organized crime in the age of globalization has been Naím’s bailiwick for some years now, and familiar readers will find little that catches them off-guard.
→ read full articlePsychologists and Torture, Then and Now
Laura Melendez-Pallitto and Robert Pallitto – Foreign Policy in Focus,
5 Mar 2012
Psychologists’ involvement in torture has done damage to the reputation of the profession, and the boards’ unwillingness to act undermines the integrity of ethics rules. It is both unconscionable and absurd that a psychologist can lose his or her license for Medicaid fraud but not for involvement in torture.
→ read full articleThe Apple Connection
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
13 Feb 2012
Apple’s products are top of the line, distinguished by their superior design, engineering, and personality or “soul.” The iPad and iPhone are engineering masterpieces. But these commodities are not simply material. They also incarnate the social relations of production. They are the expression of the marriage between a demanding enterprise that has become the cutting edge corporation of our time and what Slavoj Zizek has called today’s “ideal capitalist state”: China, with the freedom it offers capital along with its unparalleled capacity to discipline labor.
→ read full articleThe Under-Examined Story of Fallujah
Hannah Gurman – Foreign Policy in Focus,
28 Nov 2011
Of the current problems in Fallujah, the most alarming is a mounting public health crisis. In the years since the invasion, doctors in Fallujah have reported drastic increases in the number of premature births, infant mortality, and birth defects – babies born without skulls, missing organs, or with stumps for arms and legs. But the crisis, and its possible connection to weapons deployed by the United States during the war, remains woefully under-examined.
→ read full articleDroning On
John Feffer – Foreign Policy in Focus,
28 Nov 2011
What’s happening today in Pakistan is beyond the law. It’s not even subject to the rules of war. The drone wars are conducted by the CIA. The spy agency doesn’t need to abide by the Geneva Conventions or acquire congressional approval for its actions. “The U.S. government simply cannot arrogate the right to wage an endless, global war against anyone it deems a threat to national security,” writes Paul Miller. “The prospect of such a war should trouble anyone who has the least acquaintance with history or political philosophy.” Miller was responsible for Afghanistan policy on the National Security council from 2007 to 2009. We thought that we would always be the hand on the joystick. But even in video games, tables turn, and the hunter becomes the hunted.
→ read full articleOf Bases and Budgets
Christine Ahn and Hyun Lee – Foreign Policy in Focus,
10 Oct 2011
Why, after 66 years, 28,500 U.S. troops remain on 87 bases and installations on the Korean peninsula and whose security they are safeguarding.
→ read full articleThe Crisis of Humanitarian Intervention
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
15 Aug 2011
Events in Libya and Syria have again brought to the forefront the question of armed humanitarian intervention or the “responsibility to protect.” Perhaps there is no better way to sum up the tragic odyssey of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention than by invoking the old saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
→ read full articleCapital Is a Fickle Lover
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
27 Jun 2011
“China is today the ideal capitalist state: freedom for capital, with the state doing the ‘dirty job’ of controlling the workers,” writes the prominent Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. “China as the emerging power of the twenty first century… seems to embody a new kind of capitalism: disregard for ecological consequences, disdain for workers’ rights, everything subordinated to the ruthless drive to develop and become the new world force.”
Capital, however, is a fickle lover.
After Osama: China?
John Feffer – Foreign Policy in Focus,
16 May 2011
But perhaps the only country in the world that has benefited from the last decade of war against al-Qaeda is China, and it has benefitted big time. Beijing has watched the United States spend more than $3 trillion on the war on terrorism, devote its military resources to the Middle East, and neglect pretty much every other part of the globe (except where al-Qaeda and its friends hang out). The United States is now mired in debt, stuck in a recession, and paralyzed by partisan politics.
→ read full articleThe Arab Revolutions and the Democratic Imagination
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
28 Mar 2011
Breaching the psychological barrier of fear was coupled with another feeling that ran through the crowds in both Tahrir Square and Manila: the sense that people were truly determining their destiny, that they were taking matters into their own hands. This was the primordial democratic moment, the pristine moment of self-rule that is so inadequately conveyed by theoretical treatises on democracy.
→ read full articleLessons of the Obama Debacle
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
18 Oct 2010
The key problem is the failure of progressives to translate their vision and values into a program that is convincing and connects with the people trapped in the terrible existential conditions created by the global financial crisis. This fluid process is preeminently political. It requires translating a strategic perspective into a tactical program that takes advantage of the opportunities, ambiguities, and contradictions of the present moment to construct a critical mass for progressive change from diverse class and social forces.
→ read full articleWhat You Will Not Hear About Iraq
Adil E. Shamoo – Foreign Policy in Focus,
30 Aug 2010
Iraq has between 25 and 50 percent unemployment, a dysfunctional parliament, rampant disease, an epidemic of mental illness, and sprawling slums. The killing of innocent people has become part of daily life. What a havoc the United States has wreaked in Iraq.
→ read full articleBlackwater: Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
Fouad Pervez – Foreign Policy in Focus,
9 Aug 2010
Blackwater (rebranded as Xe in an effort to escape the negative publicity associated with their former name), recently received a $100 million contract from the CIA to secure its bases in Afghanistan. The State Department also awarded them $120 million to provide security for new diplomatic buildings, including consulates outside Kabul, giving the firm a total of $220 million in new contracts in Afghanistan. This seems remarkable, given the extremely negative image Blackwater has throughout the world. That people even know about a private security company is a bad sign in itself. Not surprisingly, CIA Director Leon Panetta had to go on the offensive to defend the contracts.
→ read full articleJeju and a Naval Arms Race in Asia
Kyoungeun Cha – Foreign Policy in Focus,
21 Jun 2010
Jeju Island has long been a focus of strategic and security interests in Northeast Asia. During World War II, the Japanese used the island to defend Japan from American forces. There were supply bases on the island for 75,000 Japanese soldiers. The U.S. military later attempted to fortify the island after the fall of Japanese empire. And today, Jeju Island is again the focus of attention. But this time, it is the latest escalation in a naval arms race in Northeast Asia.
→ read full articleDEMOCRACY THWARTS U.S. BASE PLANS
Christine Ahn and Gwyn Kirk – Foreign Policy in Focus,
16 Feb 2010
This March, the Obamas will touch down in the U.S. territory of Guam, en route to Australia and Indonesia. It’s a big deal for this tiny Pacific island seven-and-a-half hours by plane from Hawaii and, according to airport placards, “where America’s day begins.” Two senators from Guam, Judith P. Guthertz and Rory J. Respicio, have […]
→ read full articleINVITE NORTH KOREA TO THE GLOBAL NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT
Jae-Jung Suh – Foreign Policy in Focus,
10 Feb 2010
Denuclearize North Korea or end the Korean War? Here’s a proposal for doing both at the same time.North Korea fired hundreds of artillery shells into waters near the disputed western sea border with the South last week, and the South Korean military returned warning shots, heightening the already high tension on the peninsula. The rising […]
→ read full articleA PATH FOR PEACE IN SOUTH ASIA
Zia Mian – Foreign Policy in Focus,
12 Jan 2010
It has been a grim start to the New Year and the new decade in South Asia. Vested interests, hardened obsessions, and old habits continue to push India and Pakistan in the direction of ruinous conflict. While military planners in both countries plan and prepare for the next war, politicians and diplomats remain determined not […]
→ read full articleLESSONS OF THE GAZA FREEDOM MARCH
Walden Bello – Foreign Policy in Focus,
9 Jan 2010
At 8 a.m., on Wednesday, December 30, I took my seat on a bus in downtown Cairo that was about to head for Gaza.The evening before, Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink, the central organization in the Gaza Freedom March (GFM), had asked me to be titular head of a 100-person delegation that represented the […]
→ read full articleA LESSON ON NONVIOLENCE FOR THE PRESIDENT
Eric Stoner – Foreign Policy in Focus,
19 Dec 2009
In Oslo last week, President Barack Obama ironically used his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize to deliver a lengthy defense of the "just war" theory and dismiss the idea that nonviolence is capable of addressing the world’s most pressing problems. After quoting Martin Luther King Jr. and giving his respects to Gandhi — […]
→ read full articleTHE CONVENTIONAL ARMS CONTROL CHALLENGE
Frida Berrigan – Foreign Policy in Focus,
18 Nov 2009
Massive ordnance penetrator. Sounds powerful, right? This bomb is also known by its initials: MOP.About a month ago, Congress gave $68 million to the Boeing Corporation to accelerate the purchase and development of 10-12 "massive ordnance penetrators." The Pentagon says that the MOP bombs are the "weapon of choice" for an "urgent operational need." While […]
→ read full articleTHE STRUGGLE AGAINST FREE TRADE CONTINUES
Gabriela Campos – Foreign Policy in Focus,
4 Nov 2009
On October 15th, La Mesa Nacional Frente a La Minería Metálica en El Salvador, also known as El Salvador’s National Roundtable on Mining, won the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award awarded by the Institute for Policy Studies for their fight against mining in El Salvador.As the international community’s attention is fixed on the coup and crisis […]
→ read full articleSTRATEGIC FOCUS: U.S. MILITARY FOOTPRINT
Foreign Policy in Focus,
1 Jul 2009
The United States maintains more than 700 bases around the world and is pushing to set up even more. What are these bases doing, how is the Pentagon rethinking their functions, and how can we reduce this military footprint? In The Other Guantanamo, David Vine looks at how the U.S. base on Diego Garcia quietly […]
→ read full article