America's Partners By: Helle Dale | The Washington Times Over the past week, three leaders of important American allies arrived for meetings with President Bush — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. With each of these countries, the United States has a long alliance history.

Salon American empire, going, going... Great empires were extraordinarily pluralistic, argues Amy Chua, until they frayed into xenophobia and decline. Can the U.S. steer another course?

New website seeks to engage citizens in climate policy debates

A new website providing a forum for debate on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change has been launched, providing an innovative means of involving stakeholders and the general public in the formulation of new policy.

U.S. tops list of world's most competitive countries

by Adam Lewis

The World Economic Forum (the Davos folks) released its 2007/2008 Global Competitiveness Report today. The annual report is compiled by conducting surveys with 11,000 business leaders in 131 countries.

Here's what you need to know about the new rankings and conclusions:

..........

 

1. United States
2. Switzerland
3. Denmark
4. Sweden
5. Germany
6. Finland
7. Singapore
8. Japan
9. United Kingdom
10. Netherlands
    

Fantasia

by Patricia Lee Sharpe

Every so often I get into a wistful mood and find myself trying to imagine where we’d be if we had an intelligent foreign policy. For instance:

What if the U.S. Department of Defense had paid attention, over the past several years, to where our millions of dollars were going after they reached Pakistan or Iraq—or Boeing, for that matter?

 

The Presidential Candidates’ Foreign Policy Statements: John McCain

by Cheryl Rofer

Continuing my series on foreign policy statements by the presidential candidates, here’s my short version of John McCain’s statement in Foreign Affairs. Same ground rules. Read McCain’s essay. Links to previous posts in this series can be found here, along with links to other information on the candidates that I find useful.........

 

Seeing Blue: American Visions of the EU ISS-EU
An 81-page paper exploring US perspectives of the EU, particularly as a global strategic actor

Muslim Integration: Challenging Conventional Wisdom in Europe and the United States
Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies Full Report (PDF; 1.6 MB)

IHT Differences narrow on European Union treaty By STEPHEN CASTLE
Preparing for a summit meeting in Lisbon on Thursday and Friday, foreign ministers from the European Union voiced optimism that a deal could be reached on a replacement for the defunct constitution

Politicus: Dominique de Villepin is re-emerging as a political force in France By JOHN VINOCUR
As President Sarkozy has pressed for change, Villepin, under investigation for allegedly plotting to discredit him, is filling a leadership vacuum in the Socialist Party.

Half of Europe's bank robberies happen in Italy
Italy's small-time crooks attempted over 3,000 robberies last year, 57% of the European total.

Vatican yields Templar secrets

Some 700 years after being disbanded, the Knights Templar are back in the news with the Vatican releasing details of their heresy trials.

Walter Sickert: The Camden Town Nudes at the Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery;Walter Sickert, Mornington Crescent Nude, c. 1907

Vatican reveals Templar secrets

The Knights Templar will soon be rehabilitated when the Vatican publishes trial documents it has guarded for 700 years

An interview with The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg on Bush, blogging, and what's wrong with The Washington Post.

The strange emotional power of swearing

Doris Lessing , Persian-born, Rhodesian-raised, London-residing novelist, wins the Nobel Prize in Literature... NY Times ... AP ... London Times ... Guardian ... Telegraph ... LA Times ... WP ... Nation ... Open Democracy ... NY Sun ... The Valve

The Cult of Che hits a new low

by Mike Boyer

One of the oddest cultural trends of our time is the Cult of Che Guevara. I was just down in Peru, where street vendors proudly peddle Chinese-made tapestries and t-shirts bearing Che's image to U.S. college students. Hollywood—most notably Robert Redford—has glamorized Che on screen. And in more than one European hamlet will you find a "Che Guevara Bar," inevitably attracting hipsters with the same, sad tapestries, fake Cuban cigars, and cheap rum.

 

Editor's Note: This post was changed by the editor to avoid any confusion. It originally said that Che "assisted in the persecution of homosexuals and AIDS victims." Many readers asked about the original language.......... 

 

The imperial temptation

by Thomas Speckmann

Contrary to belief, French and American political traditions have much in common. Both countries make global missionary claims; both are unaccustomed to pluralistic decision-making processes; and both find it hard to resist imperial temptations.

 

The cultural bases for economic success

by Siegfried Kohlhammer

Why are there rich and poor countries? The relative prosperity of immigrant groups internationally suggests that it isn't geography, climate, or economic policy that decides the success of a country, but culture.

On paradoxes, principles, and illusions

by Audrius Dauksa

"The self-regulating market", "democratic capitalism"... Audrius Dauksa is not convinced. The gap between rhetoric and reality is plain to see: so why aren't politicians looking?

 

European memory politics revisited

by Jan-Werner Müller

European commemorative culture is an integral component of the post-national process. But how can a "European memory" be justified if we aren't to refer to a continental, quasi-national entity?

The sun sets early on the American Century

by Philip S. Golub

The "American Century" only began 60 years ago. But it seems already to be over, with the disaster of Iraq forcing some of the United States' ruling elites to realize that its hegemony has been severely weakened.

Renaissance by decree

by Marlène Laruelle

Unlike the European post-Soviet states, where popular movements struggled for national independence, nation building in Central Asia came from above. In order to glorify their own nation and to legitimize the regime's rule, those in power are neglecting the problems of the recent past.

 

Origins and elements of imitated democracies

by Dmitrii Furman

Throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union, regimes have established themselves behind a democratic facade while concentrating power in the hands of a president. Contrary to their purported stability, all contain the seeds of their own downfall.

 

Melvyn Krauss: The Myth of Decoupling

Ordinary Europeans should not be fooled by arguments that Europe's economy has become "decoupled" from that of the US. Special interests in Europe would not be peddling such dubious pabulum if they felt confident about the economy’s future.