Foreign Policy in Focus articles from September 2000

Foreign Policy in Focus archives from September 2000

UN Peacekeeping: An Uncertain Future.
September 4, 2000... Key Points * UN peacekeeping is at a crossroads: it could become a permanent force, or it could continue to repeat past mistakes. * UN peacekeeping virtually collapsed after several failed missions in the 1990s. * By 2000, UN...

Problems with Current U.S. Policy.
September 4, 2000... Key Problems * The U.S. has shortchanged the UN financially, imposed debilitating conditions, and failed to provide political support. * By mid-2000, U.S. arrears totaled $1.36 billion, two-thirds the amount owed by all UN members. ...

Toward a New Foreign Policy.
September 4, 2000... Even though there have been more than 50 individual UN peacekeeping missions since 1948, the organization has repeatedly had to improvise. The chronic lack of funds and the absence of a truly permanent, reliable peacekeeping structure usually...

Cold War Military Relics: Why Congress Funds Them.
September 6, 2000... Key Points * The Pentagon, arms manufacturers, and lobbyists push Congress to fund many outmoded weapons systems that were designed to fight a superpower foe. * "Cold war momentum" drives the development and procurement of these...

Problems with Current U.S. Policy.
September 6, 2000... Key Problems * The U.S. spends 50% of its discretionary budget on the military and a mere 2% on foreign aid. * The troika of campaign contributions, Pentagon lobbying, and pork-barrel projects keeps funding flowing to cold war relics....

Toward a New Foreign Policy.
September 6, 2000... Key Recommendations * U.S. citizens hold the power to influence Pentagon procurement by voting for candidates who advocate a pragmatic approach to weapons acquisition. * The nation's military leaders must envision and prepare for the...

Women in the Middle East.
September 11, 2000... Key Points * Although there is no gender equality in the Middle East (including in Israel), the phenomena of sexism and misogyny are global--not peculiar to Islam, or to the Middle East. * The status of women varies widely in the...

Problems with Current U.S. Policy.
September 11, 2000... Key Problems * The U.S. continues to support a very conservative and intensely misogynist version of Islam through its staunch support of the Saudi Arabian government. * U.S. financial aid supports the oppressive regimes in the region,...

Toward a New Foreign Policy.
September 11, 2000... Washington's rhetoric on human rights is not taken seriously by people in the Middle East, and rightly so. Although the U.S. scrutinizes the human rights records of governments it dislikes (like Iran and Libya), it ignores similar abuses in...

U.S. Policy Regarding Burma.
September 13, 2000... Key Points * A world-class human rights abuser, Burma's military junta is condemned both by the UN Human Rights Commission--every year since 1989--and by the International Labor Organization for its systematic use of forced labor. *...

Problems with Current U.S. Policy.
September 13, 2000... Key Problems * Current U.S. sanctions are inadequate, because they only ban new investments--allowing most existing projects to continue unimpeded--and do not address imports into the United States. * The Clinton administration has...

Toward a New Foreign Policy.
September 13, 2000... One of the first steps the U.S. should take is to increase resources for cross-border humanitarian assistance (food and medicine) to the internally displaced population while marshalling greater international attention to the plight of the...

IMF: Reform, Downsize, or Abolish.
September 18, 2000... Key Points * The Meltzer Commission Report, combined with street protests, has intensified the debate sparked by the IMF's handling of the global financial crisis. * IMF critics loosely fall into three camps: abolitionists,...

Problems with Current U.S. Policy.
September 18, 2000... Key Problems * The Treasury Department's reform proposal focuses on transparency and surveillance, while ignoring the problem of volatile speculative capital. * Under the Meltzer Commission's recommendations, the IMF would terminate...

Toward a New Foreign Policy.
September 18, 2000... The challenge for citizen organizations and concerned policymakers is to take advantage of the current crack in the consensus around the IMF's role to advance alternative goals and policies that promote stability in the international financial...

Greening the Bretton Woods Institutions.
September 20, 2000... The Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs)--the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)--have come under increased scrutiny and criticism over the past several years. In April 2000, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of...

Problems with Current U.S. Policy.
September 20, 2000... The BWIs have done an impressive public relations job, selling themselves as changed institutions that have responded to widespread criticism. The World Bank describes itself as 180 degrees different from what it was in the 1980s. Similarly,...

Toward a New Foreign Policy.
September 20, 2000... Criticism of the BWIs can be expected to continue as long as the institutions fail to make serious reform of their core activities a major priority. The U.S. should play a strong role in catalyzing this overhaul, and environmental...