Fred Kagan takes a lengthy, skeptical look at Barack Obama's foreign policy, which he views to some extent as Clinton redux.  Kagan points out several areas where Clinton was unsuccessful and hopes that Obama will adapt his policies accordingly.  Joseph Nye, the Harvard professor behind the idea of "soft power", says if voters are concerned with improving America's standing in the world, the choice ...

On the heels of an unsuccessful Taliban assault on the provincial capitol Lashkar Gah leaving 62 militants dead, an editorial in the Financial Times says the war in Afghanistan is militarily unwinnable, and NATO will have no choice but to seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis. On neighboring Iran, the Washington Post reports that Tehran is hinting that it would respond favorably to the opening of a U.S. interests section ...

Over at Post Global, Ghassan Michel Rubeiz says it's important to take a long-term perspective on U.S.-Muslim relations, recognizing that U.S.-Muslim engagement and cooperation will last well beyond the presidencies of either Barack Obama or John McCain.  However, there are a few issues that could have significant effects on U.S. interaction with the Muslim world--bringing stability and unity to Iraq, ending dependence on Middle East oil, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace ...

I was startled out of my debate-induced stupor last night with mention of the word "democracy" twice in quick succession. Both were by Senator Obama, and both related to Muslim countries outside the traditional Middle East, but nonetheless strategically vital--Pakistan and Afghanistan. Here are Obama's comments on Pakistan: "And the reason Pakistan -- the popular opinion of America had diminished in Pakistan was because we were supporting a dictator, Musharraf, had ...

There wasn't much attention paid to prospects or strategies for democracy in the Middle East during Thursday's VP debate. One thing I would note that I haven't seen any mention of in the post-debate commentary would be Biden's quickness to drop foreign assistance when the VP candidates were asked the same question that the presidential candidates were asked in the first debate--the about which campaign promises they might have to ...

Al-Jazeera English asked six ordinary people from around the world how they felt about Friday's debate between Barack Obama and John McCain.  A couple of the contributors from Indonesia and Pakistan reflect briefly on their experiences with and beliefs about America's attempt to promote democracy in their home countries and elsewhere in the world. Reuters did news analysis pieces last week on the two candidates' foreign policies. In the McCain piece, ...

In Friday night's debate, democracy promotion did make what will probably be an unfortunately brief cameo in the series of presidential debates as domestic issues are slated to take center stage at the third debate (and mostly like at the VP debate and the second presidential debate as well, given the current situation). It came in the context of Pakistan policy, and if you blinked you may have missed ...

In her now infamous interview on foreign policy with Katie Couric, Sarah Palin did sort of attempt to address democracy-related issues for the second time in her life week at the United Nations.  Unfortunately, this instance wasn't scripted beforehand. Couric inquired as to how Palin would specifically try to spread democracy throughout the world, which specifically yielded the following highly specific response also: "Specifically, we will make every effort possible to ...

We covered the online symposium over at Harvard's Middle East Strategy blog last week, but never got around to posting round 5.  So here it is. Philip Carl Salzman says Iraq is by far the most importance piece of the Middle East puzzle.  He discourages the next president from spending too much effort on the "minor problem" that is the Palestinian issue.  He recommends engaging India on Middle East issues and ...

Here are transcripts of the remarks made today by Barack Obama and John McCain at the Clinton Global Initiative.  Both candidates used the first half of their speeches to address the current economic crisis and proposed bailout plan, so if you've already read all about that, I can tell you right now you should just jump about halfway down each page. Neither candidate addresses democracy promotion directly (Obama grazes it ...

...if it hadn't been canceled shortly beforehand by rally organizers. It is for the most part a recitation of John McCain's already well-known positions on Iran, but to the campaign's credit it does contain more democracy-relevant rhetoric than we've seen lately from either campaign. The speech delves into the plight of Iranian citizens whose freedom to "live, work, and worship in peace" is often threatened by the regime. ...

Much has been made throughout the campaign about the supposed battle for John McCain's foreign policy soul.  Is he a realist at heart, or a staunch neoconservative?  Dave Weigel asks a similar question for Reason, but focuses instead on Barack Obama's foreign policy.  Obama, in Weigel's analysis, is not the "progressive realist" that many believe him to be, but rather a rigid, committed liberal interventionist.  Weigel warns that wide-ranging interventionism ...

Over at Abu Aardvark, Marc Lynch takes issue with claims made in a recent New York Post column by Amir Taheri alleging that Barack Obama "tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a draw-down of the American military presence." This kerfuffle got overshadowed by an ongoing financial meltdown, but the article and Lynch's rebuttal are worth looks if you're trying in vain to find some ...

In the fourth installment, MESH brings us advice to the next president from Gal Luft, Jacqueline Newmyer, and Stephen Peter Rosen. Luft focuses on the "strategic vulnerability" resulting from U.S. dependence on OPEC oil.  He recommends several energy sector reforms that he believes will curb the massive transfer of wealth from oil importing nations to five or six disproportionately powerful Middle Eastern countries. Newmyer writes that the U.S. should be cautious about ...

The Middle East Strategy at Harvard blog roundtable on what Middle East issues should occupy the next administration's attention in its first 100 days continues today with advice from a few more contributors: Robert Freedman identifies four major challenges: preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons; restoring American credibility in the Arab-Israeli conflict; actively engaging Syria in the peace process and; reducing American dependency on foreign oil.  His post then serves up ...

Fareed Zakaria says it's a question that hasn't been directly asked of the candidates yet, but could prove especially illuminating.  Zakaria guesses that John McCain's response would focus on the "transcendent" danger of Islamic extremism, along with worry over the rise of autocratic powers like Russia and China.  In this environment, America's hard power would be put to use aggressively to "fight evil" and "spread freedom". According to Zakaria, Barack Obama's ...

This week, the Middle East Strategy at Harvard will be asking a roundtable of its members to discuss “The First 100 Days” of the next administration. MESH starts today’s responses with Daniel Byman, Mark T. Clark, and Hillel Fradkin. Daniel Byman calls f0r a renewed focus on Iraqi refugees due to their potential to destabilize Iraq’s neighbors, and a new and comprehensive Pakistan policy. Mark T. Clark declares that “the Iranian nuclear ...

Here's the link to Charlie Gibson's interview with Sarah Palin, in case you've somehow avoided the avalanche of mainstream media and blogosphere reaction.  As far as broader Middle East themes, Gibson presses Palin on a nuclear Iran and Israel's right to preemptively strike Iran's nuclear facilities, as well as America's right to order terrorist raids in Pakistan without the Pakistani government's approval.  He also touches on the Bush Doctrine, specifically ...

As many commentators and media outlets have over the past couple days, the Middle East Times praises Barack Obama for being ahead of the foreign policy establishment on the new "surge" in Afghanistan and conducting raids on terrorist targets in Pakistan without Pakistani authorization, both strategies which the Bush administration has apparently moved toward.  However, the editorialists at the Times wonder whether these strategies are sustainable, considering opposition to the ...

In the Wall Street Journal, Fouad Ajami makes the argument that the two choices in this election present a sort of American identity gap, and although the "cosmopolitanism" that Barack Obama embodies has grown in influence both outside and inside American borders over the last half-century, John McCain still represents a way of understanding the world, relating to it, and engaging with it that will resonate more firmly with a ...