Newsweek and Charlie Rose Twofer
Newsweek
The 8 December edition of Newsweek Magazine features leading foreign-policy experts offering their recommendations on dealing with some of the world’s most difficult and pressing challenges. Here’s the lineup:
Wanted: A New Grand Strategy – Fareed Zakaria
The next US president faces a unique opportunity to put in place an architecture of peace for the 21st century. Grand strategy sounds like an abstract concept – something academics discuss – and one that bears little relationship to urgent, jarring events on the ground. But in the absence of strategy, any administration will be driven by the news, reacting rather than leading. For a superpower that has global interests and is forced to respond to virtually every problem, it’s all too easy for the urgent to drive out the important.
Afghanistan: What’s Our Definition of Victory? – Andrew J. Bacevich
In Afghanistan today, the United States and its allies are using the wrong means to pursue the wrong mission. Sending more troops to the region, as incoming president Barack Obama and others have suggested we should, will only turn Operation Enduring Freedom into Operation Enduring Obligation. Afghanistan will be a sinkhole, consuming resources neither the US military nor the US government can afford to waste.
Iran: Talk Tough With Tehran – Dennis Ross
It’s not too late to stop Iran from getting the bomb. Tehran clearly wants nukes for both defensive and offensive purposes. But it’s not clear the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would sacrifice anything to get nuclear weapons.
Russia: Ease Moscow’s Suspicions – Michael Mandelbaum
Russia has reason to feel betrayed by the process of NATO expansion, begun in 1997. Seven years earlier, the Russians believe, American and German officials working on German reunification pledged not to take advantage of Moscow’s weakness by extending NATO into Russia’s traditional backyard.
China: Don’t Isolate, Integrate – Richard N. Haass
The single most important challenge for the new administration—one with the potential to shape the 21st century – is China. As goes China, so go 1.3 billion men, women and children – one out of every five people on the planet.
Middle East: Know the Limits of US Power – John J. Mearsheimer
The United States is in deep trouble in the Middle East. Despite Barack Obama’s promises to withdraw from Iraq, the debacle there shows no sign of ending soon. Hamas rules in Gaza; Iran is quickly moving to acquire a nuclear deterrent. We need a radically different strategy for the region.
Charlie Rose
