Paraguay: The Venezuelan angle | Transitions

Paraguay: The Venezuelan angle | Transitions to democracy from the outside seems to be the trend of the 21st century. From the American intervention of March 2003 in Iraq to the recent apparent Venezuelan intervention in Paraguay, we are in a new type of transition maybe marking the end of the Third Wave.

Talking a Great Game - By Christian Caryl | Foreign Policy

Talking a Great Game - By Christian Caryl | Foreign Policy, is a nice play on words as Secretary Clinton claims democracy to be an American Strategic Interest. This might play in the capitals of Mongolia, Laos and Vietnam, which the US Secretary visited this past week, however, everyone realizes that the Obama's Pivot to Asia is an American containment of China's ambition to create a blue-water navy and to counter the "string of pearls" policy.

What's Wrong with Pakistan? - By Robert D. Kaplan | Foreign Policy

What's Wrong with Pakistan? - By Robert D. Kaplan | Foreign Policy This very deterministic argument by Robert Kaplan has many arguable points, but it's certainly worth examining. The importance of geography can't be taken to be the only significant variable.

Global Economic Crisis and Parochialism

As the global economic crisis has raged since 2008, and as the crisis has moved from Wall Street and has festered on Main Street, there seem to be an increased parochialism. This is a dangerous condition especially in regards to international relations, as grand strategies are forged and crimes that are not immediate to us are committed. 


On one level the American "Pivot to Asia" and  Chinese "String of Pearls" policies are colliding with the backdrop of the Eurozone Crisis, while on another the atrocities against women in Sudan and Islamic monuments in Mali go without notice. The situation in Mali is another epic failure of the international community, that seems to be distracted by the economic crisis, which has led to even greater parochialism. Lost City - By Peter Chilson | Foreign Policy

How Flat is the World When it Comes to Women's Rights?

Two very disturbing incidents that I came across this morning, which points to how uneven and how erroneous the flat world argument is when it comes to women's rights. The shooting of the woman in Afghanistan by the Taliban multiple times is especially shocking in view of the ISAF mission and the American commitment since August of 2003.
Sudanese woman sentenced to stoning: Charges dismissed, Taliban shoot woman 9 times.

America the Absent - By Kati Suominen | Foreign Policy

America the Absent - By Kati Suominen | Foreign Policy is the latest in a series of recent articles and part of an ongoing discussion on the possible decline of American power and the effects on the international arena. Zbigniew Brzezinski's recent 8 Geopolitically Endangered Species makes the argument while Kati Suominen's argument is vis-a-vis the far reaching economic crisis.

The current issue of Foreign Affairs also features the debate with Robert Keohane's Hegemony and After, review essay.

The role of the United States seems to be in the forefront during this period which will be viewed historically as a watershed that begun with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September of 2008.

It's Payback Time!

Christine Lagarde, president of the IMF, in an interview in the Guardian, bluntly told the Greek people that "it's payback time and not to expect any sympathy."The real question in this looming "game of chicken" between financial interests and societies is who is going to pay the ultimate price? There is an abundance of recently produced documentaries and stories that point in the same general direction, namely that we are heading to the precipice in a "game of chicken," as societies are asked to account for decisions that political and economic leaders made, while playing a game of monopoly.
From Nick Dunbar's Goldman, Greece and a troubling tango to the more recent documentaries
Crisis Guide: The Global Economy – Council on Foreign Relations, The Financial Crisis Like Sangia? – Frontline Documentary,it is abundantly clear that a higher stakes game is afoot. Unfortunately, it appears that there will be payback, and if history is any indication the outcome will be disastrous for all. One doesn't have to search the annals of history as Peter Frankopan, New York Times, did with the Bankers at the Gates to understand the calamity ahead.