Writing in the LA Times, Paul Richter tries to sort out John McCain's diverse foreign policy positions, finding it difficult to lump McCain in with other neoconservatives, but similarly finding it near-impossible to label him a realist.  His analysis shows McCain swinging back and forth, concluding that McCain's "conflicting visions" will likely follow him into the White House. Matt Yglesias thinks that although Richter's take was interesting, it failed to ...

In its November issue, Commentary Magazine has published an interesting symposium of fifteen articles considering the aptness of the term 'World War IV', progress six years after 9/11, and the continuing relevance of democracy promotion.Fouad Ajami argues the need to "cast regime adrift," John Bolton claims that "liberty is not the same as democracy," Max Boot predicts that the Bush doctrine will outlive the administration, and Reuel Marc Gerecht ...

Noah Feldman writes in this week's New York Times Magazine of the problems inherent in America's selective rhetoric of democracy exportation. He uses the cases of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt to argue the need to "pursue a chastened version of the democratization doctrine — one that makes no exceptions for friends while also recognizing that building durable institutions may do more good than holding snap elections."

Daniel Henninger writes today in the Wall Street Journal, arguing that that "democracy has been demoted" with the popular backlash against the neoconservative movement, and democracy activists in Burma and elsewhere will feel the consequences.Joshua Muravchik, in an article in Commentary considering the future of neoconservatism, discusses the two vital issues for the movement and its critics, "whether and how the U.S. should try to spread democracy in the Middle ...

In the New York Times, Robert Wright attacks the neconservatives' penchant for antagonizing foreign populations while simultaneously trying to empower them, "You can empower people through democracy if you want. You can systematically antagonize them if you want. Doing both at once is ill advised." Wright also describes the damage done by antagonizing foreign populations to the war on terror.

Laura Rozen, at the Mother Jones Blog, points out that Richard Perle, in his PBS documentary The Case for War: In Defense of Freedom, interview Iranian dissident Amir Abbas Fakhravar. Rozen writes that Fakhravar rivals Ahmad Chalabi in trustworthiness and democratic credentials: "For those like Perle who want the United States to eschew diplomacy in favor of backing regime change, Fakhravar is an essential link in the argument for confrontation ...