(Video and Transcipt) Obama’s Middle East speech in full with analysis by Paul Reynolds- BBC NEWS | Middle East |

In theory, everyone agrees with Obama. Most people subscribe to the “don’t kill innocents”; “accept responsibility” jargon. The difficult part of these is in its implementation.
But by implementation I mean are these norms perceived by the rest of the world as being equally – or in some instances more- applicable to America as well as [...]

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The “Lessons” of Robert S. McNamara | Stephen M. Walt

Excerpt of Stephen Walt’s opinion of the late Robert McNamara:
…McNamara may have been a gifted analyst and corporate executive, blessed with a lot of raw smarts, but he was also one of those people who could not imagine being wrong or resist the desire to tell the world what to do. Failure in Vietnam did [...]

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Photo Essay: Portraits of Instability | Foreign Policy

From a photo essay on Foreignpolicy.com that describes what they consider to be the 20 ‘failed states’ of 2009.
16. ETHIOPIA

Desperate thirst: Drought is one of many problems that continually afflicts the northern African country of Ethiopia. Lack of water not only kills crops, meaning starvation, but also causes violent conflicts over scarce vital resources. Inadequate [...]

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Iraq insurgents proud to be on U.S. terror list | International | Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraq-based Shi’ite insurgent group rejoiced at the U.S. government’s decision to designate it a foreign terror organization, calling it a point of pride, a U.S. militant monitor said Monday. Just days after Kata’ib Hizballah was designated a foreign terror group by U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, the group posted a triumphant [...]

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