Columbia International Affairs Online

CIAO DATE: 10/07

The National Interest

 

Number 89, May/June 2007

* - Denotes full text.

 

The Realist

• Priorities, Not Delusions*
  Dimitri K. Simes

  Opportunistic policies advocated on both sides of the political aisle won't address the real challenges that threaten the well-being of the United States.

Articles

• Beyond American Hegemony
  Michael Lind

  The United States should abandon its futile attempt to secure global hegemony in favor of a concert-of-power foreign-policy strategy.

• A Friend Indeed
  Robert D. Blackwill

  While U.S.-India strategic ties are coalescing, both nations will have to overcome stillformidable political obstacles to see this relationship through.

• Hope Over Experience
  Mitchell B. Reiss

  Mitchell Reiss' analysis of the six-party talks' potential to bolster American and northeast Asian security are pertinent amidst reports of some progress with Pyongyang.

• From the Shores of Tripoli
  Judith Miller

  The story of how Libya disarmed-and the lessons not learned for North Korea and Iran.

• Agreeing to Agree (and Disagree)
  Robert J. Art

  China's rise will inevitably increase Sino-American competition, but delineating common areas of agreement between Beijing and Washington could arrest tensions.

• China's ASEAN Invasion
  John Lee

  As long as the United States fails to understand what motivates Southeast Asian states, its influence will continue to diminish vis-à-vis China.

• Debating Delhi

  • The Dragon and the Elephant
    Pang Zhongying

    China's relationship with India need not be adversarial in the prc's quest for great-power status.

  • India's Ascending Path
    Leah Fenwick

    India is being courted by Russia, China and the United States. Heady stuff-as long as India's leaders don't forget they still have some pressing domestic challenges.

• Missed Connections
  Alexey K. Pushkov

  Americans think Russia is headed in the wrong direction, but perhaps they should hold the mirror up to themselves when assigning blame for the new chill in U.S.-Russia relations.

• Keeping the Lid On
  Daniel Byman and Kenneth Pollack

  The negative effects of an Iraqi civil war can be mitigated, even if the conflict itelf cannot be quelled.

• Family Feud: The Law in War and Peace
  David B. Rivkin, Jr. and Lee A. Casey

  American law treats terrorism like an act of war, not a crime. The fact that Europeans don't doesn't make their way better.

Reviews and Essays

• Field Marshal McNamara*
  Andrew J. Bacevich

  Managing the Pentagon and managing wars are two different things, a lesson Robert McNamara learned the hard way.

• Doctrinal Faith*
  Colin Dueck

  Unflinching loyalty to the Bush Doctrine leads Robert Kaufman astray in his study of American foreign policy-and Truman, Reagan and Bush do not make a three-of-kind.

• Losing Mythic Authority*
  Michael Vlahos

  As a result of America's misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, we have lost the global clout we derived from our role in World War II-for good.

Reporter-at-Large

• Levantine Labyrinths*
  Antony T. Sullivan

  Sectarian infighting and foreign intervention breed intrigue on the Lebanese political scene. Last summer's war had a devastating effect-but factional power politics and Hizballah's rising popularity threaten to make matters worse.