The National Interest articles from September 2006

The National Interest archives from September 2006

Churchill, not quite.(The Realist)
September 1, 2006... PRESIDENT BUSH has identified the nexus of terrorism and nuclear weapons as "the single largest threat to American national security." Indeed, he has said that the United States is currently engaged in World War III and put a bust of Winston...

Security vortex: warlords and nation building.(Afghanistan)
September 1, 2006... Given the extensive discussion in recent issues of The National Interest both about nation-building and about Afghanistan (including contributions by Brent Scowcroft, Sandy Berger, Zalmay Khalilzad and, more recently, John Hulsman and Alexis...

Courting catastrophe: America five years after 9/11.(9/11/06: Five Years On: A Symposium)
September 1, 2006... AMERICA WILL be attacked by Al-Qaeda again, and more destructively than on 9/11. Why? Simple. Our bipartisan governing elites willfully refuse to recognize the severity of the Islamist threat. They are waging a feckless war that misrepresents...

Could it happen again?(9/11/06: Five Years On: A Symposium)
September 1, 2006... GIVEN THE scale of the damage caused to the United States, the 9/11 attacks neither required much money to execute, nor did they take a large number of plotters. Terrorism is a cheap form of warfare--the first World Trade Center attack in 1993,...

America the vulnerable.(9/11/06: Five Years On: A Symposium)
September 1, 2006... WE ARE what we dream. In this respect, few fragments of America's DNA are more fundamental than the myth that it needs--and can achieve--absolute security. While European and Asian nations have long learned to live with relative security from...

How well should you be sleeping?(9/11/06: Five Years On: A Symposium)
September 1, 2006... FIVE YEARS after 9/11, the United States is not winning the inaptly named "war" on terrorism. Individual victories have been won, and some enemy capabilities have been significantly degraded. But the larger struggle rages on, and seems likely...

Breathing room: stepping back to move forward in Iraq.
September 1, 2006... IN JULY, I made my seventh trip to Iraq. From military bases in Basra, Fallujah and Anbar province to Baghdad's Green Zone, I spent time with our diplomats and our generals, with Iraqi political leaders and with our troops. Even forty-eight...

Impotent power? Re-examining the nature of America's hegemonic power.
September 1, 2006... DURING THE last several years it seems as if every major book or article on American grand strategy contains the observation that the United States is more powerful than any international actor since the Roman Empire was at its zenith. At the...

China goes global implications for the United States.
September 1, 2006... Chaired by Ian Bremmer and Fareed Zakaria, the Gramercy Round convenes over dinner in New York's historic Gramercy Tavern to consider issues which have received insufficient attention from the established foreign policy community but which have...

Angel or dragon? China and the United Nations.
September 1, 2006... CHINA'S RISING confidence, diplomatic dexterity and military capability would, if plotted on a chart, produce a growth curve every bit as impressive as the country's recent economic performance. Analysts rightfully focus on China's expanding...

A plea for normalcy: U.S.-Japan relations after Koizumi.(Junichiro Koizumi )
September 1, 2006... THE UNITED States and Japan have cooperated to address East Asian security issues for many years, and the relationship continues to evolve. Policymakers in Tokyo have grown more confident and assertive. By refining the concept of...

The fourth age: the next era in transatlantic relations.
September 1, 2006... THE ATLANTIC order is in the midst of a fundamental transition. The transatlantic discord that has emerged since the late 1990s marks a historical breakpoint, not a temporary aberration. The foundational principles of the Atlantic security...

Oil price warfare.
September 1, 2006... WAGING WAR in this tight-oil age will be an especially hazardous undertaking, not only tactically and economically, but also geopolitically. Preventing any sudden oil-price spike has become a strategic priority, circumscribing the maneuvering...

Beijing's Bolivarian venture.(China's oil strategy)
September 1, 2006... WITH THE United States preoccupied with the Middle East, another great power of the 21st century is paying close attention to Latin America. China is devoting considerable diplomatic and economic resources to strengthen its strategic energy...

The revolt of the Maccabees.(Judas Maccabeus)
September 1, 2006... AS THE insurgency in Iraq continues and questions about its outcome surface, one might look for possible historical parallels--and one of the most successful insurgencies against a colonial power in the Middle East was the Jewish revolt, under...

Vive le neoconservatisme?(French politics)
September 1, 2006... THE FRENCH Fifth Republic may be at its end. Already strained by Francois Mitterrand's two terms in office from 1981 and 1995, French political institutions are increasingly at odds with French society. Were President Jacques Chirac to depart...

New old world order.(The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present )(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Christopher Layne, The Peace of Illusions: American Grand Strategy from 1940 to the Present (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2006), 290 pp., $29.95. Harold James, The Roman Predicament: How the Rules of International Order Create the...

Some unconventional wisdom.(The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall)(Winning the Un-War: A New Strategy for the War on Terrorism )(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Ian Bremmer, The J Curve: A New Way to Understand Why Nations Rise and Fall (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006), 320 pp., $26.00. Charles Pena, Winning the Un-War: A New Strategy for the War on Terrorism (Washington, DC: Potomac Books,...

Image wars: China versus the United States.(China's growing regional dominance)
September 1, 2006... WITH THE United States preoccupied by war and nuclear threats in the Middle East and an array of problems elsewhere, a quiet revolution is underway in East Asia as the region adjusts to the reemergence of a great power: China. The changes...