News Abroad

Japanese Cuisine is Excellent, but Does It Deserve UNESCO Protection?

by Jonathan Dresner

The Japan Times article on Japan’s application to UNESCO to have 和食 [washoku, Japanese cuisine] declared an internationally recognized “intangible cultural asset” is a fantastic display of modern cultural discourses. The combination of bad food history, the distortions of modernism, and abject credentialism is really quite disturbing. The attempt to leverage international affirmation into economic and cultural power is striking.

Try a Little Nuclear Sanity

by Lawrence S. Wittner

On February 8, 2012, Congressman Edward Markey (D-MA) took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to introduce the Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures Act (H.R. 3974). This SANE Act would cut $100 billion from the U.S. nuclear weapons budget over the next ten years by reducing the current fleet of U.S. nuclear submarines, delaying the purchase of new nuclear submarines, reducing the number of ICBMs, delaying a new bomber program, and ending the nuclear mission of air bombers.

Obama Breaks New Ground When It Comes to War With Iran

by Tom Engelhardt

When I was young, the Philadelphia Bulletin ran cartoon ads that usually featured a man in trouble -- dangling by his fingers, say, from an outdoor clock.  There would always be people all around him, but far too engrossed in the daily paper to notice.  The tagline was: “In Philadelphia, nearly everybody reads the Bulletin.”Those ads came to mind recently when President Obama commented forcefully on war, American-style, in ways that were remarkably radical.  Although he was trying to ward off a threatened Israeli preemptive air strike against Iran, his comments should have shocked Americans -- but just about nobody noticed.

Khamenei Takes Control, Forbids Nuclear Bomb

by Juan Cole

Early returns in Iran’s 9th parliamentary election since the 1979 revolution show that Ahmadinejad’s lay populists have taken a drubbing, and that hard line supporters of clerical Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are ascendant. Ahmadinejad’s sister, Parvin, who stood for election from their own hometown of Garmsar, was defeated, a major blow to the president.Western reporters keep saying that the parliamentary results have no implication for Iran’s nuclear program. But they only say this because they either don’t pay attention to what Iranian leaders actually say, or discount their statements as lies (treating them much less respectfully than they treated notorious fraud Andrew Breitbart in their fluffy obituaries last week).A week and a half ago, Khamenei gave a major foreign policy speech in which he said,

Rick Santorum Follows the Path Reagan, Nixon, and George Wallace Laid Before Him

by Ron Briley

On the evening of February 23 in Arizona, during yet another televised presidential debate, the apparent new frontrunner for the Republican nomination Rick Santorum was the target of relentless verbal jabs from his chief rival, Mitt Romney. Santorum’s recent success in public opinion polls and Republican contests in Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri seem to be based upon the former Pennsylvania senator’s appeal to evangelicals and social conservatives. In recent weeks, Santorum has generated considerable attention and controversy with his comments on social issues such as contraception, prenatal and health care, public education, and global warming. To a great extent, Santorum is simply applying a Republican a tactic which has been effective since the Reagan years—appeal to the so-called Reagan working-class Democrats in the Midwest who may be so swayed by social issues that they will vote against their own economic interest. It is a phenomenon well described by Thomas Frank in What’s the Matter with Kansas? (2004). The conventional wisdom in 2012 seems to be such tactics will not work in the midst of the nation’s greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression  (although the economy appears poised for a comeback).

A Brief History of the War Formerly Known As The Global War On Terror

by Andrew J. Bacevich

With the United States now well into the second decade of what the Pentagon has styled an “era of persistent conflict,” the war formerly known as the global war on terrorism (unofficial acronym WFKATGWOT) appears increasingly fragmented and diffuse. Without achieving victory, yet unwilling to acknowledge failure, the United States military has withdrawn from Iraq. It is trying to leave Afghanistan, where events seem equally unlikely to yield a happy outcome. 

The BBC’s "Alternative Honors List"

by Toby Harper

The British government recently released the names of 287 dead people who had, between 1951 and 1999, declined honors. This was not a voluntary choice on Whitehall’s part. The BBC asked the government to release the information through a Freedom of Information request, and the Cabinet Office was reluctantly obliged to cede. Various news outlets in Britain and abroad commented on the list (the New York Times featured the story), pointing out that various famous people, such as C.S. Lewis, L.S. Lowry and Roald Dahl, had at one point or another declined an honor from the British government.

Yemen's Instability Could Be Fixed by Food Aid

by William Lambers

Yemen is in the midst of a humanitarian disaster and little is being done to heed the warnings. Already the poorest country in the Middle East, Yemen has child malnutrition rates that rival famine-ravaged Somalia.Maria Calivis, regional director of UNICEF says, “This year alone, half a million children in Yemen are likely to die from malnutrition or to suffer lifelong physical and cognitive consequences resulting from malnutrition if we don’t take action. Malnutrition is preventable. And, therefore, inaction is unconscionable.”This level of suffering, on top of political instability,  has the potential to plunge the country into complete chaos, a chilling prospect considering al Qaeda's presence there.  

Mitt Romney’s Cutting-Edge Middle East Strategy

by Walid Phares

As the U.S. electoral process grinds on and the Republican primary debates fold into state primaries and caucuses, the candidates’ views on national security and foreign policy are being carefully scrutinized by voters who consider them to be crucial components of the total policy package a candidate will carry into the Oval Office. Citizens’ attention is understandably riveted to candidates’ proposals for solving our national economic crisis. And, while there is little doubt that the condition of our economy will weigh heavily in the final outcome of the 2012 election, U.S. national security will undoubtedly play a huge role in the evolution of our national economy for the foreseeable future.

The Dilemma over Whether to Intervene in Syria

by Juan Cole

Syria’s military continued its brutal assault on neighborhoods of Homs, a center of civil disobedience against the regime, on Thursday, killing over 100 persons, including children.This deployment of military force against civilians who were protesting is a war crime, and part of a pattern that by now amounts to crimes against humanity.The first thing that comes to mind at these horrific images is that something should be done.But what? Sen. John McCain has called for arming the rebels, as has the The New Republic, which appears to be veering again toward neoconservatism.My wise colleague Marc Lynch has raised important questions about the wisdom of this course.I would argue an even stronger case against. Once you flood a country with small and medium arms, it destabilizes it for decades.

Kastelorizo—Mediterranean Flashpoint?

Remember the name Kastelorizo; you heard it here first.It is the far-flung, easternmost island of Greece, 80 miles from Rhodes, 170 miles west of Cyprus, but just 1 mile off the coast of Turkey. Kastelorizo (in Greek, Καστελόριζο; or officially Megisti, Μεγίστη) is tiny, comprising just 5 square miles, plus some yet smaller, uninhabited islands. Its 430 inhabitants are way down from 10,000 in the late nineteenth century. The Lonely Planet travel guide has picked it as one of the four best Greek islands (out of thousands) for diving and snorkeling. There's no public transportation from nearby Anatolia, only from distant Rhodes by airplane or ferry.Kastelorizo off the Anatolian coast and between Rhodes and Cyprus. (For an enlarged version of this map, click here.)

Why Has Obama Been More Successful Abroad Than at Home? Three Words: No GOP Obstructionism

by Robert Brent Toplin

When voters evaluate Barack Obama’s leadership during the 2012 presidential campaign, much of their attention will be focused on the economy. Yet Obama’s ability to act in that realm became quite limited after Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate seat vacated by the death of Ted Kennedy in January 2010, which denied Democrats the votes they needed to overcome GOP filibusters. Obama’s grip on economic policy weakened further when Republicans swept the Congressional races in November of 2010. President Obama has seen his control over economic policymaking severely weakened over the past two years. A more revealing measure of his leadership may be obtained by looking at international affairs, where Republicans lacked the authority to block the president’s moves.

How to Strengthen the UN’s Ability to Maintain International Peace and Security

by Lawrence S. Wittner

Conservative politicians often portray the United Nations as a powerful monster, poised to gobble up the United States and other countries and put them under alien rule.The reality, of course, is quite different. When it comes to international peace and security, the United Nations is notably lacking in power. Its resolutions along these lines are often ignored or go unenforced. Frequently, they are not even adopted. This situation leaves nations free to pursue traditional practices of power politics and, occasionally, much worse.

Iran Through the Looking Glass

by Tom Engelhardt

Exclusive: New Iranian Commando Team Operating Near U.S.(Tehran, FNA) The Fars News Agency has confirmed with the Republican Guard’s North American Operations Command that a new elite Iranian commando team is operating in the U.S.-Mexican border region. The primary day-to-day mission of the team, known as the Joint Special Operations Gulf of Mexico Task Force, or JSOG-MTF, is to mentor Mexican military units in the border areas in their war with the deadly drug cartels.  The task force provides “highly trained personnel that excel in uncertain environments,” Maj. Amir Arastoo, a spokesman for Republican Guard special operations forces in North America, tells Fars, and “seeks to confront irregular threats...” The unit began its existence in mid-2009 -- around the time that Washington rejected the Iranian leadership’s wish for a new diplomatic dialogue. But whatever the task force does about the United States -- or might do in the future -- is a sensitive subject with the Republican Guard.  “It would be inappropriate to discuss operational plans regarding any particular nation,” Arastoo says about the U.S.

Calling Herr Madison: The EU Needs to Take a Page from the Founding Fathers

by David O. Stewart

As European leaders met in Brussels last week to address the long-running European debt crisis, their host city illustrated their problems: unions protesting crisis-related austerity measures staged a general strike.   The never-ending debt crisis poses the question whether Europe can move toward greater political integration. Since the 1950s, the European Union has nurtured that region's recovery from two world wars. Today's half-way integration, however, is not enough. Only greater coordinated action can implement the solutions needed, as evident from the striking parallels between today’s Europe and America in the 1780s: crushing debt, currency confusion, sectional jealousies, and a lack of political will. 

Has Mitt Romney's Mormonism Influenced His Views on Islam?

by Timothy R. Furnish

Mitt Romney’s conservative credentials have been questioned on more than one occasion, probably best exemplified last fall when Rush Limbaugh decreed that the former Massachusetts governor was “not a conservative” because of that state’s “Romneycare” program and his apparent acceptance of the anthropogenic global warming thesis. But the most troubling Romney shortcoming in this regard is his seeming acquiescence to the “Islam is a peaceful religion” worldview. Andy McCarthy did broach this topic last summer, but little has been said about it since, either in print or in the legion of GOP debates—where Wolf Blitzer, John King, George Stephanopolous and Brian Williams are rather obsessed with alleged threats to abortion “rights,” the GOP candidates’ ranking within the “1%” and, most importantly, Newt’s bitter ex-wives.

Afghanistan: The Argument for Continuing America’s Longest War

by Brian Glyn Williams

In the fall of 2006 I was quietly contacted by the CIA and asked if I would travel to Afghanistan and track Taliban and Al Qaeda suicide bombers for their Counter Terrorism Center. A year later I was asked to write up a field manual for the U.S. Army’s Joint Information Operations Warfare Command (I have published a civilian version of it which came out in January 2012 with University of Pennsylvania Press). I believe I was chosen because I am perhaps the only historian in America who has been regularly going to Afghanistan to carry out fieldwork. My on-the-ground experiences, combined with my efforts to historicize the on-going conflict and place it in its historical context, have given me a unique perspective on this controversial war that currently costs the U.S. $100 billion a year and scores of soldiers’ lives. What follows here is a layman’s historical overview of the on-going war which will serve as an explanation for why it is crucial for America to remain engaged in this Central Asian country.

Keep Karzai in the Loop

by Matt Jacobs

The United States seems poised to begin peace talks with the Taliban, and that worries Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Recently, Karzai's chief of staff declared that his government must be involved in negotiations and would oppose any secret deal between the Taliban and the Americans.It is easy to understand Karzai's desire to be part of any negotiated settlement of the conflict in his country, but what about the U.S. interest? Might secret, backdoor negotiations with the Taliban be useful for the United States?The experience of an earlier war may shed light on this question. Forty years ago the United States was trying to end the long and unpopular war in Vietnam. Although the conflicts in Vietnam and Afghanistan are very different, one aspect of the Paris Peace Talks at the end of the Vietnam War is similar to the problem facing American negotiators today: how to work with a sometimes-undependable ally.

Confessions of a Recovering Weapons Addict

by William J. Astore

Perhaps you’ve heard of “Makin’ Thunderbirds,” a hard-bitten rock & roll song by Bob Seger that I listened to thirty years ago while in college. It’s about auto workers back in 1955 who were “young and proud” to be making Ford Thunderbirds. But in the early 1980s, Seger sings, “the plants have changed and you’re lucky if you work.” Seger caught the reality of an American manufacturing infrastructure that was seriously eroding as skilled and good-paying union jobs were cut or sent overseas, rarely to be seen again in these parts.If the U.S. auto industry has recently shown sparks of new life (though we’re not making T-Birds or Mercuries or Oldsmobiles or Pontiacs or Saturns anymore), there is one form of manufacturing in which America is still dominant. When it comes to weaponry, to paraphrase Seger, we’re still young and proud and makin’ Predators and Reapers (as in unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones) and Eagles and Fighting Falcons (as in F-15 and F-16 combat jets), and outfitting them with the deadliest of weapons. In this market niche, we’re still the envy of the world.

Don't Ignore Electoral Fraud in Egypt

by Daniel Pipes

When Egypt's Lower House convened on Jan. 23, Islamists held 360 out of its 498 seats, or 72 percent. This astounding figure, however, reflects less the country's public opinion than it does a ploy by the ruling military leadership to remain in power.In a recent article ("Egypt's Sham Election," Dec. 6) we argued that just as Anwar El-Sadat and Hosni Mubarak in the past "tactically empowered Islamists as a foil to gain Western support, arms, and money," so do Mohamed Tantawi and his Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) "still play this tired old game." Mohamed ElBaradei left the presidential race complaining about its fraudulent quality.