U.S. DiplomacyThe
American Diplomacy website features a book review of
The Opportunity, a new book on American foreign policy authored by Richard N. Haass, until recently the director of policy planning in the U.S. Department of State. The reviewer, William Harrop, is a retired American ambassador with a long and distinguished career in the Foreign Service. According to Harrop:
Haass develops the multilateral, consultative, essentially liberal American leadership approach many commentators have urged as required to address the challenges of the this century, challenges which simply do not lend themselves to unilateral or military solutions.
I have not read this book yet, but certainly plan to put it on my reading list. If any of you have already read it, please feel free to comment.
U.S. & Middle EastThe Carnegie Endowment has launched a new content-rich Middle East page on its website,
www.CarnegieEndowment.org. This new section gives visitors easier access to Carnegie's extensive research and writing on the state of political change in the Middle East and the effects of U.S. and European efforts to promote democracy there. Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Lebanon are all major areas of focus.
U.S. & North KoreaThe U.S. has played an instrumental role in shaping the latest six-party agreement with
North Korea. According to the
New York Times (
Diplomacy At Work):
The agreement signed yesterday, if all the details can be satisfactorily filled in and then carried out, is a huge win for the United States as well as a fair deal for North Korea. Its achievement became possible when Washington abandoned the confrontational tactics and name-calling associated with its former top antiproliferation official, John Bolton, and gave serious negotiation a chance. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice deserves most of the credit for that switch, which was made with exceptional skill by America's top negotiator at the talks, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.
Will this deal unravel as past deals have? Already there are indications that this may happen. North Korea said yesterday (
CBS - Demands Follow Korea Nuke Accord) they won't dismantle any weapons program until it's provided with a light water reactor for generating electricity. For more info on the agreement, see the full
New York Times report
here.
