Tag: Zalmay Khalilzad

Strategic Reset for NATO? Check alliance’s anti-democratic members

     

Few NATO summits have captured the attention of this one—but for all the wrong reasons, according to analysts Julianne Smith and Jim Townsend. Any distraction from what will be a substantive NATO agenda… Read more »

Exporting Beijing’s surveillance state: sharp power in action

     

If China gains dominance over digital technology, it would be dangerous for freedom world-wide, says Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (2007-09) and head of policy planning in… Read more »

Sadr poll win highlights potential for non-sectarian politics in Iraq?

     

An Iraqi nationalist cleric who led two uprisings against US troops has taken a surprise lead in parliamentary elections, fending off Iran-backed rivals and the country’s incumbent prime minister, the… Read more »

Iran decision: ’empowers undemocratic forces’ or gives scope for aiding civil society?

     

The sense of crisis in Iran runs deep and wide. The economy is in free fall. The currency is plummeting. Rising prices are squeezing city dwellers. A five-year drought is… Read more »

Principled realism: National Security Strategy ‘prudently’ advances democratic values

     

THE HALLMARK of the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy (NSS), which was released in December, is the idea of “principled realism.” This marks a decided shift from the policies of Trump’s two… Read more »

Relative moralism: is the U.S. still promoting democracy?

     

Does the U.S. administration’s decision to restrict visas for Cambodians engaged in “undermining democracy” in the Southeast Asian nation validate the Economist’s observation that it’s not necessary  “to have clear… Read more »

Soleimani ‘gets his way again’ as Iran fills strategic vacuum

     

Najmaldin Karim, the Kurdish governor of Kirkuk Province, will not be returning to the city that elected him in 2011 and 2014. It’s too dangerous, Bloomberg’s Eli Lake reports: In… Read more »

Kurdish vote reflects Middle East’s ‘existential quandary’

     

  Turkey threatened potentially crippling restrictions on oil trading with Iraqi Kurds on Thursday after they backed independence from Baghdad in a referendum that has alarmed Ankara as it faces… Read more »

UN General Assembly a crucial opportunity to reassert democracy-based soft power

     

This week’s United Nations General Assembly is a crucial opportunity to reassure the world that U.S. foreign policy is based primarily on the soft power of diplomacy rather than military… Read more »

Strategic patience needed in Af-Pak stand-off

     

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary met China’s special envoy on Afghan affairs on Monday, a foreign office spokesman said, a day after Islamabad canceled a scheduled visit by a top U.S. official,… Read more »