E-Notes

Part I of II: The Other Age Born in the Year 1957 It has gone down in history as “the other world series”: a championship match even more shocking than the Milwaukee Braves’ upset victory over the New York...

On July 16, 2007, President Bush delivered a speech marking five years since his declaration of American support for a democratic Palestinian state. The original draft, scheduled a month earlier, had to accommodate an untoward event: the violent seizure...

Al Qaeda is stronger now than at any time since 9/11, say some; it is less strong than it could have become, answers the administration. Congressional Democrats say that instead of catching Bin Laden, Bush took his eyes off...

A major development has been taking place in Latin America over these early months of 2007. Cuba’s dictator has risen from the ashes. Fidel Castro has been writing (albeit not speaking at public gatherings) again. His subjects include the...

In my years of government service, I have spent quite a bit of time as a briefcase carrier and “go-fer” for some pretty capable and talented diplomats in the U.S. Foreign Service. While being a diplomat was not my...

Included within the new Pentagon budget is Secretary Gates’ decision to increase the size of the nation’s Army and Marine Corps. Between these two ground forces, an increase of 92,000 troops was authorized. Of this total, the Army grows...

The European Union has told Turkey that in order to become a “true democracy” worth joining it, it must acknowledge responsibility for the 1915 Armenian “genocide,” even if the Republic of Turkey as such did not exist until 1923....

Chinese President and Communist Party chief Hu Jintao’s recent African sojourn reveals both China’s newfound global clout and the persisting limits to the PRC’s stature as an aspiring great power, especially outside its region. CHINA’S ECONOMIC LEVERAGE Hu’s February...

The principle of subsidiarity holds that each level of government properly does those tasks for which it is best suited. In order to ensure the most efficient and successful employment of resources and win public confidence in the competency...

Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, with extensive help from the Ethiopian Army, has run the Council of Islamic Courts out of the country. The warlords have turned in their heavy weapons, and their personal militias have joined the national army....