Suchergebnisse

The US-Adriatic Charter, an initiative in the spirit of the 1998 U.S-Baltic Charter, was proposed jointly by the Presidents of Albania, Croatia, & Macedonia to President Bush at the NATO Prague Summit in November 2002. It was signed by four ministers of foreign affairs in Tirana on 2 May 2003. The Charter as a diplomatic project had two objectives -- to secure the open door NATO policy & to provide the framework for the cooperation & mutual support of candidate countries. It was successful on both accounts. The Charter partners made strong commitments in the areas such as democratic reforms & the creation of the conditions for NATO membership. An additional effect of the Charter has been the very palpable progress in the relationships of the countries of South East Europe by improving the security conditions in the region. The US-Adriatic Charter of Partnership is a successful example of cooperation among small states with common interests. Adapted from the source document.

In this chapter addressing security issues salient to the American region in the Strategic Survey 2004/5, four issues are presented from a hemispheric viewpoint of international security in the light of the Bush administrations entrepreneurial foreign policy. The character of US nationalism is analyzed by US support for Bush as reflected in regional election results & the unsettling impacts of Bush nationalism on international diplomacy. Secondly, the authors challenge Washington's neo-liberal political orthodoxy to reach beyond trade issues for the Andean regions as the balance of power changes in the face of narcotics trafficking & status quo political elitism. The third issue addresses Brazilian pre-eminence in South American trade, international diplomacy & economic partnership with China. The prioritizing of Brazil's internal problems is argued to present a growing challenge for President Lula to consider matters at home as well as on the international level. J. Harwell

This essay comparatively examines explanations of American foreign policy after 9/11. After introductory reviewing chronology of events, concurring evaluations of American foreign policy & justifications given by the public officials of the Bush administration, author describes six different approaches in explaining american foreign policy & position of USA in the world. Explanations search for causes of current American foreign policy in: myths of American culture, crusading mentality of Americans paired with legitimacy problem of American federal government, ideology of American neoconservatives, war for oil & attempt to geopolitically control the Middle East, logic of capitalist imperialism, & the decline of the capitalist world system. 27 References. Adapted from the source document.

In this chapter in the Strategic Survey 2004/5, the authors analyze issues & events impacting the strategic developments of the Middle East/Gulf states from the viewpoint of American policy initiatives on transnational Islamist terrorism & political reform. The first discussion addresses the complex political task of reforming the Iraqi state in the security vacuum of counter-insurgency enforcement, & the challenges facing the government's ability to bring order to the country. The second issue challenging security in the Middle East is pinpointed to be Iran's elusive domestic politics & nuclear strategy that challenge stability in the region. Thirdly, although the tensions in US-Saudi relations reflect geopolitical frustration in the region, the bilateral relationship has remained stable. Fourth, success for peace in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict will ultimately dependent on Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, & will require the US to empower a secular leadership in Palestine as a viable substitute for Hamas. J. Harwell

Senior Research Fellow from the Institute for National Strategic Studies here presents five major challenges facing relations between the United States & Europe. These entail, first & foremost, a unified means of identifying security threats faced by both sides of the Atlantic & a unified means of preparing a strategy of response to these threats. Following this, Michel argues that the EU will have to adopt the military capacity to be able to carry out military initiatives necessary to the eradication of terrorist threats. Such a military development would also entail a new means of thinking about the EU's relationship with NATO. Finally, what is fundamental to solving any of these enormous obstacles is the necessity to strike a positive tone between the United States & Europe that is founded not upon difference, but upon similarity & common values. C. Brunski

Argues that the stagnation of employment is the biggest economic problem in the US today. Even though the official unemployment rate has fallen to 5.6%, 2.3 million jobs have been lost during George W. Bush's administration. In January 2004, aggregate employment was still 1.8% below pre-recession level, making it the first time in 11 successive recessions that full recovery of employment has not been reached within 31 months of a recession's onset. Efforts by the Bush administration to defuse the problem are described, along with the lack of attention given to employment or the labor market in the latest Economic Report of the President. The stagnation of employment, which results from structural changes in the capitalist economy rather than normal business cycle fluctuations, is evidenced by things like the shift from temporary to permanent layoffs as the main form of job loss, an increase in temporary workers, & the outsourcing of production & business processes. Future prospects are discussed. 2 Charts. J. Lindroth

On November 28, 1944, Portugal & the United States signed an agreement granting the Americans autorization to construct & to use a naval & air base on the island of Santa Maria, in the Azores. The agreement marked the beginning of the American military presence on that territory, even before the transfer to the Lajes base, after World War II. This article analyzes the role played by the young charge d'affaires of the United States in Lisbon, George Kennan, in the beginning of the negotiations between the two countries. Adapted from the source document.

The manner in which the United States went to war against Iraq in 2003 was not a radical departure from the past. American history shows that the United States has had a propensity to become involved in unnecessary wars. These wars share the following characteristics: they were justified in the name of America's presumed historical mission; they were entered into on the basis of false premises; a small "war party" was indispensable to the decision to go to war; the two party democratic competition often acts as a stimulus to military action; the wars exhibit a kind of "law of unintended consequences.". Adapted from the source document.

This appreciation of the life & work of George Kennan begins with the author's personal recollections of the subject, then moves on to an overview of Kennan's career. Of particular note is the period he spent in Lisbon in 1943, when he was fleeing from Berlin on his way back to the US. Kennan's post-war years are also briefly surveyed, with a special focus on his strong opposition, at the age of 98, to the Bush administration's intervention in Iraq, which he viewed as a dubious distraction from the fight against Al Queda. In the final analysis, the author views Kennan as a man who considered himself a citizen of the eighteenth century, a man who understood that the world created by the French Revolution had very little to do with the world the French Revolution supplanted. R. Young