Thomas Lynch: A Plan for Pakistan Pakistani journalist and author Ahmed Rashid, long an astute commentator on matters involving Pakistan and South Asia security, wrote an important OpEd in the Washington Post this Sunday. As I did in "Afghan Dilemmas – Staying Power", Rashid highlights the pivotal role that the Pakistani Army must play in untangling the Gordian knot that has generated global sanctuary for al-Qaeda terrorists and... [read more]
Francis Fukuyama: Strong States and Liberty

The fiasco of the Olympic Torch Relay has focused attention on the condition of human rights in China.  What is the source of human rights abuses in that country today?  Many people assume the problem is that China remains a communist dictatorship, and that abuses occur because a strong centralized Chinese state ignores the rights of... [read more]

Francis Fukuyama: Benazir Bhutto, R.I.P. I find myself greatly saddened by the news of Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. I met her for the first time when we took a class together on Middle Eastern Politics at Harvard, while she was still an undergraduate. I saw her twice since then, both occasions on visits to Dehli in December 2003 and then again last March. The event in March was an India Today... [read more]
Francis Fukuyama: Two Elections I was in Warsaw, Poland, and Aarhus, Denmark last week on the heels of recent elections in both countries. The victory of Donald Tusk's Civic Platform party over the incumbent Law and Justice party in the Polish case was genuinely uplifting. Poland has been ruled for the past two years by a pair of identical twins, Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who served as President and... [read more]
in the current issue: More than six and a half years after 9/11, the so-called War on Terror shows clear signs of having developed into a popularly supported governmental perpetual motion machine. But Americans’ fear of domestic terrorism belies reality.
Felix K. Chang & Jonathan Goldman Deterring the Debt Weapon Potentially unfriendly states have amassed large U.S. dollar reserves. The strategic dangers of financial manipulation are real. AI
James Kelly Six-Party Tales What was negotiating with North Korea really like? An insider's review of The Peninsula Question, by Yoichi Funabashi.
Zbigniew Brzezinski: “I’d Do It Again” People who think that the rise of the Taliban is the result of U.S. anti-Soviet policy in Afghanistan need to learn some history.
Neil C. Hughes Handicapping the Next Superpower Comparisons of China and India tend to oversimplify the complex relationship between political change and economic growth. AI
Peter Berger Moral Certainty, Theological Doubt In a world riven by relativism and fundamentalism, the quest for a humble middle ground becomes critical. AI
Kurt M. Campbell McEmbassy China’s gargantuan new embassy in Washington, designed by I. M. Pei, tells us much about China's priorities. AI
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