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Home > Themes > Ethics, War, and Peace |
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Transcripts
Are ethics primary questions that precede and surround practical leadership? Are these daily questions that inform each political decision?
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Gary Sick,
David C. Speedie
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11/21/08
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The Bush administration has been toying with the idea of talking to Iran for the last two years. With the arrival of Obama, now the question is not "should we," but how do we go about doing it?
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Ted Sorensen,
David C. Speedie
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11/14/08
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"A president who doesn't go to war may show more courage than one who does," said JFK. In a wide-ranging conversation, Sorensen discusses JFK, Cuba, and Vietnam; the 2008 Russia/Georgia conflict; McCain's idea of a League of Nations; and the promise of Obama.
How will President Obama deal with the hopes and fears of people abroad? Will his priority be the interests of the U.S. or will the welfare of those beyond America's borders also count?
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Karl E. Meyer,
Shareen Blair Brysac,
Joanne J. Myers
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11/12/08
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How did the modern Middle East come about? Who were the British and Americans who shaped this region, from the 1882 British invasion of Egypt to today's Iraq War?
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Andrew J. Bacevich,
Joanne J. Myers
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11/11/08
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America is facing a profound triple crisis: the economy, the government, and an involvement in endless wars. This threatens all of us, Republicans and Democrats alike, says Andrew Bacevich.
We enter a slippery ethical slope when we begin to make distinctions between victims. When can an individual's rights be set aside?
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Laurent Cohen-Tanugi,
Devin T. Stewart
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11/04/08
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French intellectual Laurent Cohen-Tanugi argues that economic globalization exists in a complex dialectic with the traditional geopolitics that it has, ironically, helped to revive.
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Ted Widmer,
Joel H. Rosenthal,
Joanne J. Myers
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11/04/08
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Ted Widmer shows that from its beginnings, the United States, for all its shortfalls, has been by far the world’s greatest advocate for freedom.
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Oksana Antonenko,
David C. Speedie
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10/24/08
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Georgia and Russia expert Oksana Antonenko discusses the history behind the headlines, and what the future may bring to this troubled region.
The presidential candidates assert that America must renew its global moral authority, but they dance, offering no solutions. Let's take a closer look.
Should the opinions of the world be important in American elections? This is a
crucial question in applied ethics as we choose a President.
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James Traub,
Joanne J. Myers
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10/14/08
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According to James Traub, although Bush bungled his famous Freedom Agenda—that American liberty is dependent on liberty in other lands—the concept still holds true.
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Joseph S. Nye,
Joanne J. Myers
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10/13/08
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What qualities make a leader succeed in business or in politics? Joseph Nye contends that modern leadership requires "smart power," which is a judicious situational balance of hard power and soft power.
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Michael W. Doyle,
Harold H. Koh,
Joanne J. Myers
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10/01/08
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Is the Bush Doctrine of aggressive preventive action a justified and legal recourse against threats posed by terrorists and rogue states? Does the United States have the right to defend itself by striking first, or must it wait until an attack is in progress?
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Philip Bobbitt,
Joanne J. Myers
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09/26/08
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The world is in the midst of a great transition from nation states to "market states", says Philip Bobbitt, and consequently almost every widely-held idea we currently have about 21st century terrorism is wrong.
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Jessica Wolfendale,
Christian Barry,
Matt Peterson
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09/18/08
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We now know that the U.S. officially sanctions and regularly employs interrogation tactics that push legal and moral boundaries. In this episode, Jessica Wolfendale sits down with Christian Barry to determine where those boundaries lie.
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Bing West,
Joanne J. Myers
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09/16/08
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There has been a fundamental disconnect between the Bush Administration and the reality in Iraq, says Bing West. But nevertheless, the strongest tribe in Iraq--the U.S. army--managed to turn things around.
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Nikolas K. Gvosdev,
Harry Harding,
Flynt Leverett,
David C. Speedie,
Devin T. Stewart
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07/11/08
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From economic growth to cultural exports, the global distribution of power is shifting from "the West" to the rest of the world. This panel addresses the effects of this emerging new reality.
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David Rodin,
David Luban,
Joel H. Rosenthal,
Noboru Maruyama
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07/08/08
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Rodin's premise is that if we have a commitment against torture, then it leads to an absolute prohibition on torture. Luban worries that our commitment is not strong enough.
"To be a moderate in the Arab world today," says Jordanian diplomat Marwan Muasher, "is to be a very, very tiny minority." The reason is that all the Arab center's energy has been focused on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
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Mike Moore,
Joanne J. Myers
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06/18/08
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Except for the U.S. and Israel, every nation favors a treaty to prevent the weaponization of space. China has been pushing the U.S. on this since 1999. What are we waiting for?
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Ted Sorensen,
Joanne J. Myers
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06/12/08
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Special Counsel and Advisor to John F. Kennedy Ted Sorensen recalls his life and times with JFK, including the dramas of desegregation and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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Ahmed Rashid,
Joanne J. Myers
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06/09/08
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"Almost every single important extremist leader is living on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan," says Ahmed Rashid. Compared to this threat, Iraq is a sideshow.
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Sir Lawrence Freedman,
Joanne J. Myers
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05/22/08
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Looking back over the last 30 years, historian Sir Lawrence Freedman analyzes the complex politics of the Middle East and shows how America's policy choices in previous crises have led to the current dilemmas
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Kimberly Dozier,
Jeffrey D. McCausland
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05/16/08
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Kimberly Dozier, a veteran Middle East journalist who was critically wounded in a Baghdad bomb blast, talks about the difficulties of reporting from Iraq. It's dangerous, it's expensive, and people don't want to hear it.
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Noah Feldman,
Joanne J. Myers
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05/16/08
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In the West the idea of governance by Sharia law is radioactive, says Noah Feldman, yet for many in the Muslim world it represents their aspirations for rule of law. Can Islamic States succeed?
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Ashraf Ghani,
Joanne J. Myers
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05/06/08
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Drawing on his background at the World Bank and as the first post-Taliban finance minister of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani (and co-author Clare Lockhart) develops a comprehensive framework for understanding the problem of state-building.
Quil Lawrence tells the story of the Kurds, the only Iraqi ethnic group that want the Americans to stay. Divided among Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria and numbering 25 million, the Kurds are the largest ethnic group without their own nation.
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Darius Rejali,
Joanne J. Myers
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04/04/08
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In his exhaustive study, Rejali traces the history of torture through the ages. "It's not so much that torture never works," he says. "The point is, works better than what?" There are better alternatives.
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George A. Lopez,
Thomas E. McNamara,
Joanne J. Myers
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03/04/08
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George Lopez gives an overview of effective, multilateral counter-terrorism measures, and as an illustration, Ambassador McNamara analyzes how Libya went from rogue state to member of the Security Council.
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Martin Evans,
Joanne J. Myers
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02/22/08
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After the bloody war of independence, Algerians hoped for a brighter future. Yet an estimated 200,000 people were killed in the 1990s, and today Islamic terrorism is on the rise. What went wrong?
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Mokhtar Lamani,
Joanne J. Myers
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02/11/08
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Appointed by the Arab League as Special Envoy to Iraq, Mohktar Lamani spent a
year in Baghdad's dangerous Red Zone trying to bring about peace between
Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians. But his efforts were crippled by
sectarian conflict and he resigned in February 2007.
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Jean-Marc Coicaud,
Joanne J. Myers
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01/24/08
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Why do so many UN peacekeeping operations end in mixed results or outright failure? Reasons include the indecisiveness and bad financial management of the UN and the fact that member states almost invariably put national interests first.
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Ahmed Rashid,
Joanne J. Myers
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12/12/07
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Created as a Muslim state 60 years ago this August, Pakistan is in crisis, wrestling with Draconian laws, the conflict between secularism and Islam, and an increasing terrorist threat. Ahmed Rashid, author of "Taliban," analyses the situation.
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Srgjan Kerim,
Joanne J. Myers
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12/10/07
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We need to involve individuals more and give a lot of what we call our sovereignty to the individual, says Kerim. Shared responsibilities should be the value of such a new culture of international relations, together with freedom, equality, tolerance, and respect.
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Matthew Levitt,
Joel H. Rosenthal,
Joanne J. Myers
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11/29/07
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Levitt discusses the behind-the-scenes work that Treasury is doing to cut off funds for terrorism, with particular focus on Iran.
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Richard Rhodes,
Joel H. Rosenthal,
Joanne J. Myers
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11/01/07
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It's time to finish the work that Reagan and Gorbachev began and get rid of all the nuclear weapons in the world, says Rhodes. And led by George Shultz, a group of Reagan-era hawks have a step-by-step proposal on how to do it.
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Walter Russell Mead,
Joanne J. Myers
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10/31/07
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Walter Russell Mead wittily explains how the individualistic faiths of Britain and America lent themselves so well to the creation of the modern economic and political order.
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Alan B. Krueger,
Joanne J. Myers
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10/03/07
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If we are to address terrorism successfully, we need to make a more rigorous
examination of its causes. Many believe that it springs from poverty and
lack of education, yet as Krueger shows, the evidence is all to the contrary.
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Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu,
Joanne J. Myers
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10/02/07
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The 57-member OIC has embarked on an ambitious 10-year plan, which includes setting up a 10-billion-dollar fund for poverty alleviation and eventually establishing an independent body on human rights.
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Robert D. Kaplan,
Joanne J. Myers
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09/17/07
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The Pacific is no longer an American lake, says Robert Kaplan, and with the rise of China and India, we should accept that we are moving once again towards a multipolar world.
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Major General John D. Altenburg (U.S. Army ret.),
Jeffrey D. McCausland,
Joanne J. Myers
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06/20/07
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We don't need new laws, says Altenburg. We need to comply with those we already have, and to educate the public about the definition of terms such as "unlawful enemy combatants" and why, if captured, they are not entitled to habeas corpus.
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Allan Rock,
Joanne J. Myers
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06/05/07
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There are now 250,000-300,000 child soldiers, deployed in 20 countries across three continents. Allan Rock discusses the UN's efforts to change this, with special reference to Sri Lanka.
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Gregory A. Raymond,
Joel H. Rosenthal
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05/30/07
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Drawing parallels between today's situation in Iraq and the wars of ancient Greece and Persia, Raymond shows how a great power's hubris can lead to its nemesis.
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Jere Van Dyk,
Madeleine Lynn
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05/18/07
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Jere Van Dyk talks about Afghanistan past and present, the resurgence of the Taliban, and the possible whereabouts of Osama bin Laden.
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Robert Hormats,
Joanne J. Myers
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05/10/07
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Hormats compares the fiscal policies made in previous American wars to those of the current administration and argues that today's decisions place America's future at risk.
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Ali A. Allawi,
Joanne J. Myers
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04/11/07
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Ali A. Allawi, until recently a senior minister in the Iraqi government, discusses the Iraq crisis. How did it get to this point, and what will be the longterm repercussions on Iraq and the rest of the world?
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Zahid Hussain,
Joanne J. Myers
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03/12/07
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This is a tense time in Pakistan and Afghanistan, says Zahid Hussain. The Pakistan intelligence service and militant Islam are connected, Musharraf is walking a tightrope, and the Taliban is back in force in Afghanistan.
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Chas W. Freeman, Jr.
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02/23/07
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"The supreme purpose of our foreign policy must be to defend our values and to do so by means that do not corrode them. By these measures, what we are doing now is directly counterproductive."
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Margaret MacMillan,
Joanne J. Myers
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02/21/07
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How did this momentous meeting between two leaders lay the foundations for today's complex and difficult relationship between the United States and China?
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General Sir Rupert Smith,
Jeffrey D. McCausland
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01/24/07
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"War no longer exists," says General Smith. "Confrontation, conflicts, and combat certainly do." He discusses the difference between these terms--too often used interchangeably--and the challenges we face in using force to our best advantage.
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General Sir Rupert Smith,
Joanne J. Myers
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01/24/07
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The new paradigm is war amongst the people, where the strategic objective is to win hearts and minds, and the battle is for the people's will, rather than the destruction of an opponent's forces.
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John B. Taylor,
Joel H. Rosenthal,
Joanne J. Myers
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01/11/07
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What steps did the U.S. government take to freeze terrorist assets worldwide, plan the financial reconstruction of Afghanistan, and oversee the development of a new currency in Iraq?
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H.E. Mr. Young-jin Choi,
Joanne J. Myers
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12/12/06
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If unattended, failed states will become hotbeds of international terrorism, nuclear proliferation, environmental degradation, communicable diseases, and overpopulation. Thus it is in our own-self interest not to turn a blind eye.
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Joseph Cirincione,
Jeffrey D. McCausland
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12/05/06
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Joseph Cirincione discusses the tricky mix of force, sanctions, threats, incentives, and diplomacy required to deal with the growing nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea.
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Joseph Cirincione,
Joanne J. Myers
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12/05/06
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We are at a nuclear tipping point, says Joseph Cirincione, and the policy decisions the United States makes over the next 3-5 years will decide whether or not we launch another great wave of nuclear proliferation.
Jonathan Clarke argues that the Clash of Civilizations theory is largely based on mistaken conclusions about the meaning of the end of the Cold War, and could easily become a self-fulfilling prophesy.
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David M. Malone,
Joanne J. Myers
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11/30/06
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What role did the UN Security Council play in the international struggles over Iraq?
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Alberto J. Mora,
Dan Rather
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11/02/06
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Alberto Mora discusses the damage that the abuses at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib have done to the United States, both domestically and internationally.
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Alberto J. Mora,
Dan Rather,
Joel H. Rosenthal
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11/02/06
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Former Navy General Counsel Alberto Mora fought to stop policies that authorized cruelty toward terror suspects. "Cruelty harms our nation's legal, foreign policy, and national security interests," says Mora. "I can't put it any plainer than that."
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Niall Ferguson,
Joanne J. Myers
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09/26/06
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The twentieth century was by far the bloodiest in all of human history. How can we explain the astonishing scale and intensity of its violence when, thanks to the advances of science and economics, most people were better off than ever before?
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Gordon Corera,
Joanne J. Myers
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09/07/06
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"Khan has wreaked havoc on attempts to restrain the spread of nuclear technology," says Corera. "He has lowered the barriers of entry for the nuclear game. He has irreversibly changed the mechanics of supply and demand, and left a really damaging legacy."
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Shashi Tharoor,
Ruth Wedgwood,
James Traub,
Joanne J. Myers
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06/12/06
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Is the UN "I" for irrelevant, or "I" for indispensable, as Shashi Tharoor would have it? While conceding that the UN is relevant, Ruth Wedgwood argues that "competing multilaterals" should also play a role in solving the world's problems. This witty but deeply serious debate will give both sides of the argument food for thought.
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Ahmed S. Hashim,
Joanne J. Myers
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06/06/06
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In one of the most detailed analyses yet of the insurgency and America's efforts to smash it, Ahmed Hashim presents a grim view of the violence in Iraq from inside the American camp.
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Joel H. Rosenthal,
Thomas M. Nichols,
Jean Bethke Elshtain
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06/01/06
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The U.S. and other developed nations are moving into an era where preventive war is acceptable—even though to say so openly is still taboo, says Nichols. Elshtain lays out the history and principles of just war. "If force is resorted to," she insists, "it should be within the just war tradition."
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Vali Nasr,
Jere Van Dyk
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05/17/06
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"For the Iranians, the Taliban and Saddam were a problem, and the United States removed both of them," says Nasr. "[T]here is an opportunity for Iran to become a regional power . . . because of the 2001 attack on Afghanistan and the 2003 fall of Saddam. So they benefited from what the United States did."
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Vali Nasr,
Fatemeh Haghighatjoo,
John Tirman,
Joanne J. Myers
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05/17/06
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Ms. Haghighatjoo says that Iranian political parties and individuals critical of
their government’s handling of the nuclear issue " have joined the debate [and]
believe that the ultimate pressure that can change Iran’s nuclear policy will
come from within, not from without."
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Barnett Rubin,
Joanne J. Myers
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03/14/06
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Recent elections mark the last formal step towards democracy in Afghanistan. Yet
the past year has seen a steady increase in political violence. What is being
done to ensure that democracy and stability take hold?
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Jere Van Dyk,
Barnett Rubin
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03/14/06
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"It's very difficult to be optimistic," says Dr. Rubin, one of the world's foremost experts on Afghanistan. "Still, five years ago we could never have imagined having the good fortune to confront the kind of problems that we are dealing with today."
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Yitzhak Nakash,
Joanne J. Myers
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03/06/06
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Professor Yitzhak Nakash presents in great detail the history of the Shi'a branch of Islam, including an analysis of the tenuous political process in post-Saddam Iraq.
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Gary Hart,
Joanne J. Myers
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03/03/06
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Gary Hart outlines the fundamental changes that America must grapple with when confronting elusive terrorist threats. The new security regime will require a shield for the homeland as well as a cloak of non-military protections.
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Michael Walzer,
Joanne J. Myers
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02/28/06
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For the first time since his classic "Just and Unjust Wars" was published almost three decades ago, Professor Michael Walzer has again collected his most provocative arguments about contemporary military conflicts and the ethical issues they raise.
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Nancy Sherman,
Joanne J. Myers,
Joel H. Rosenthal
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02/22/06
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While few soldiers may have read the works of Epictetus or Marcus Aurelius, it is undoubtedly true that the ancient philosophy known as Stoicism guides the actions of many in the modern military.
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Richard N. Gardner,
Joanne J. Myers
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01/19/06
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Former U.S. Ambassador Richard N. Gardner discusses the delicate balancing act of diplomacy, politics and practicality in Cold War Italy.
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Nirupam Sen,
Nancy E. Soderberg,
Bruce Jones,
Robert O. Keohane,
Paige Arthur
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12/13/05
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In this roundtable discussion, eminent authorities discuss the ethics of collective security. What constitutes a "global threat" from a nonstate actor, and who gets to define it? How might we reform international institutions to meet such threats?
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P. W. Singer,
Joanne J. Myers
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12/01/05
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P. W. Singer examines the Pentagon's policy of contracting private security and logistics firms for tasks ranging from combat to catering in the Iraq War. What are the ethical dilemmas and conflicting incentives of outsourcing a traditional state function to essentially mercenary groups?
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Dr. Kurt Campbell,
Joanne J. Myers
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10/19/05
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American attention is focused on the "war on terror. " But 20 years from now we may look back and realise that the rise of China and the new Asian dynamics that resulted were actually far more significant, says Kurt Campbell.
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Kenneth Roth,
Fernando R. Tesón,
Paige Arthur
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10/06/05
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Was the war in Iraq a humanitarian intervention? Yes, argues Tesón. What’s important is that it rid the world of a dictator. No, says Roth, and trying to justify it in humanitarian terms has given intervention a bad name.
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J. Douglas Beason,
Joanne J. Myers
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10/06/05
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“Directed-energy weapons”—lasers, high-powered microwaves, and particle beams—used to be the stuff of science fiction, says J. Douglas Beason. But now they’re a reality, and will transform the nature of warfare.
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Robert D. Kaplan,
Joanne J. Myers
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09/27/05
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Robert D. Kaplan provides an insider's account of our current involvement in
world affairs, as well as painting a vivid picture of how defense policy is
implemented at the grassroots level.
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Luis Lugo,
Allen Hertzke,
Richard Cizik,
Joel H. Rosenthal
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09/15/05
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A discussion of the growing importance of religious groups in advancing international human rights causes, from the Sudan to Korea.
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Elazar Barkan,
Roy Gutman,
Donald. S. Hays,
Haris Hromic,
Charles Ingrao,
Mirza Kusljugic,
David Marwell,
H.R.H. Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein
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07/13/05
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Transcript of a panel and commemorative event of the 10th anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica, held at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, in collaboration with the Academy of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and with the Council in an advisory role.
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Haris Hromic,
Elizabeth (Lili) Cole
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06/27/05
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On June 27, 2005, almost exactly ten years after the Srebrenica massacres, CarnegieCouncil.org spoke to Haris Hromic about his pioneering work for the Academy of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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Larry Diamond,
Joanne J. Myers
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06/14/05
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After a recent visit to Iraq, Larry Diamond reflects sadly on how we have allowed the situation "to slip into a state of severe insecurity, stalemate, and economic disarray."
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Mark Bowden,
Mark Danner,
Darius Rejali,
Elaine Scarry,
Aryeh Neier
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06/01/05
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This distinguished panel explores the practical, moral, legal, historical, and psychological aspects of torture and debates "the ticking bomb" scenario.
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Andrew J. Bacevich,
Mary-Lea Cox
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05/17/05
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"Family values", says Bacevich, used to apply to domestic politics; "but today this concept is aligned with a foreign policy agenda based on a belief in the efficacy of military power along with a revived sense of the American mission in the world."
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Andrew J. Bacevich,
Joanne J. Myers
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05/17/05
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Bacevich argues that military force has increasingly become the preferred instrument of American foreign policy, a process that began not with 9/11, but with the end of the Cold War.
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David Rieff,
Madeleine Lynn
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05/13/05
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David Rieff talks about how his views have changed on intervention.
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Admiral John Hutson,
Michael Posner,
Joanne J. Myers
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05/12/05
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The abuses at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo, and elsewhere, have undermined our standing around the world, say Posner and Hutson.
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David Rieff,
Joanne J. Myers
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05/04/05
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David Rieff tries to bridge the gap between our democratic dreams and the means we use to achieve them in tricky wars of humanitarian purpose.
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David L. Phillips,
Joel H. Rosenthal
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04/27/05
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Originally in favor of going to war, Phillips, a former State Department official, discusses the mistakes made because of the lack of a plan for winning the peace.
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Alan Wolfe,
Joanne J. Myers
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04/19/05
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In a candid discussion of American politics and ideals, Alan Wolfe looks to the future and how the U.S. can keep liberty and equality alive and available to others around the world.
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Zachary Karabell,
Mary-Lea Cox
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04/13/05
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Karabell examines some of the most pervasive myths about the Middle East, including those surrounding the U.S. quest for oil, the Israel connection, and xenophobia.
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Nancy Birdsall,
William F. Felice
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04/12/05
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Dr. Birdsall illuminates the intersection of globalization, development and American dominance, with special interest in improving America's use of soft power in foreign policy.
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Morton Halperin,
Joseph T. Siegle,
Michael M. Weinstein,
Joanne J. Myers
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03/17/05
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The authors argue that democracy and development go hand in hand. Therefore, more aid should be given to poor democracies and democratizers than to poor autocracies.
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