The National Interest articles from May 2007

The National Interest archives from May 2007

Priorities, not delusions.(The Realist)
May 1, 2007... THOSE WHO hoped that the Democrats' victory in November would launch a major foreign policy debate are disappointed. Setting aside the immediate issue of Iraq, which obviously requires the nation's attention, neither presidential candidates nor...

Beyond American hegemony.
May 1, 2007... THAT THE foreign policy of George W. Bush has been a catastrophic failure is disputed by none today except for a dwindling number of diehards on the neoconservative right. But there is no consensus on the scope of the failure. Has a sound...

A friend indeed.(U.S. and India partnership)
May 1, 2007... How permanent is the new U.S.-India strategic partnership? WHILE ONE can argue that no positive bilateral relationship is "permanent" in the very long run, it is safe to say that the alignment between India and the United States is now an...

Hope over experience: denuclearizing the North.(North Korea)
May 1, 2007... IS THE North Korea agreement reached on February 13 of this year a bad deal? Let us recall that the State Department called this deal "only a first step", and that sounds about right. Obviously, much depends on whether North Korea will honor...

From the Shores of Tripoli.
May 1, 2007... THE BUSH Administration can point to only one undeniable non-proliferation "success" so far in its tenure: Libya's decision to renounce WMD in December 2003. But the administration that so adroitly pushed Libya to abandon unconventional weapons...

Agreeing to agree (and disagree).(Viewpoint essay)
May 1, 2007... HISTORICALLY, THE rise of one great power at the expense of the dominant one has nearly always led to conflict between the two and, more often than not, eventually to a war between them that drags in other great powers. Is this violent history...

China's ASEAN invasion.(Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
May 1, 2007... PRESIDENT BUSH'S November 2006 visit to Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum was of enormous interest to Southeast Asians. It was a rare but excellent opportunity to discuss America's strategic...

The dragon and the elephant.(Debating Delhi)(Critical essay)
May 1, 2007... THERE IS a near-pathological obsession in China with the question of what defines a "rising power" (da guo jue qi). Last year, China's Central Television created and broadcasted a twelve-episode series ("Da Guo Jue Qi") that analyzed the rise...

India's ascending path.(Debating Delhi)(Viewpoint essay)
May 1, 2007... HAVING THE luxury of being courted from all sides as the next big thing, the Indian government is emphatically playing all the angles. India is indeed coming into its own--as demonstrated by American, Russian and Chinese courtship--but it faces...

Missed connections.(United States - Russia relations)(Critical essay)
May 1, 2007... WHAT A difference the passage of five years can make! Back in 2001-02 people both in Moscow and Washington were talking about a U.S.-Russia strategic partnership, even an alliance. "Russia and the United States have common interests that ought...

Keeping the lid on.(IF THE surge fails, it is imperative that the United States have a plan for containing the Iraqi civil war)(Viewpoint essay)
May 1, 2007... IF THE surge fails, it is imperative that the United States have a plan for containing the Iraqi civil war. As painful as it may be to admit that the U.S. effort to bring peace and stability to Iraq has failed, our new priority must become...

Family feud: the law in war and peace.(Viewpoint essay)
May 1, 2007... IT IS NO secret that the War on Terror's prosecution has revealed fundamental differences between the United States and Europe over how to meet the challenges of global terrorism and jihadi Islamism. After the September 11 attacks, the United...

Field Marshal McNamara.(Book review)
May 1, 2007... Lawrence S. Kaplan, Ronald D. Landa and Edward J. Drea, History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Vol. V: The McNamara Ascendancy, 1961-1965 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2006), 664 pp., $49.00. AFTER TEN days in...

Doctrinal faith.(Book review)
May 1, 2007... Robert G. Kaufman, In Defense of the Bush Doctrine (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2007), 240 pp., $35.00. IN THE wake of 9/11, the Bush Administration settled on a stated foreign-policy doctrine embracing the preventive and,...

Losing mythic authority.(Viewpoint essay)
May 1, 2007... MOST NOW acknowledge that America has failed in its war. Some see that failure limited to Iraq, while others describe a larger strategic liability. Thus the question is in part: How big is America's failure? But more significantly, what are the...

Levantine Labyrinths.(Reporter-at-Large)(LEBANON IS caught in a vortex of sectarian storms, fomented largely by outside players (within and beyond the region) that are now, in turn, impacted by the country's upheaval)(Viewpoint essay)
May 1, 2007... LEBANON IS caught in a vortex of sectarian storms, fomented largely by outside players (within and beyond the region) that are now, in turn, impacted by the country's upheaval. The question remains: What will this maelstrom mean for the greater...