us & the world: all articles

Thursday 16th April

Smoke over the Vatican

update: the BBC's North American editor Justin Webb has since blogged about this subject here 

Reports emanating from Italian sources earlier this week suggesting that the Vatican has effectively vetoed three of President Barack Obama's nominees to fill the vacant role of United States Ambassador to the Holy See--based on their liberal views on issues such as abortion and stem cell research--may signal the beginning of a cooling in US-Vatican relations under the Obama administration.

Thursday 12th February

Obama's Bush-like foreign policy

Biden's speech in Munich suggests Obama's foreign policy is as imprisoned by its circumstances as Bush's
Tuesday 10th February

US neo-cons jump the conservative ship

Conservatism's current failings stem from its own tragic nature 
Tuesday 3rd February

Afghanistan and Pakistan: recommendations for Obama

The challenges faced by the new Obama administration in Afghanistan and Pakistan are too big to be tackled alone
Saturday 29th November

American perceptions of the Mumbai attacks

Until it hit the headlines after the Mumbai attacks, India did not tend to receive much attention in the international press - at least not as much attention as China, Asia's other major rising power. Even with the Olympics over, China has been the subject of innumerable recent news stories and feature pieces. In noting this, I am not trying to suggest that China gets too much attention; my point is only that India could use a little more. (To this end, openDemocracy has just launched a new editorial section on India, which had been planned for some time.) In the absence of detailed reporting on India, three images of the country have tended to coexist (somewhat uneasily) in Westerners' imaginations.

Friday 5th September

Sidney Blumenthal - part one

Sidney Blumenthal, author of The Strange Death of Republican America, talks to openDemocracy. Listen to parts one and two

Thursday 10th July

Afghanistan: state of siege

A Taliban-al-Qaida regroupment in the Pakistani borderlands is bringing the war closer to Kabul

Thursday 26th June

Prisons of war, furnaces of radicalism

The United States's global detention policy is incubating the insurgents of the future

Monday 16th June

Washington's choice: subdue Iran, secure Iraq

George W Bush's administration has unfinished business with Tehran and Baghdad
Wednesday 11th June

Barack Obama: at the crossroads of victory

The way he can win is by avoiding the allure of the conventional wisdom
Wednesday 2nd April

The next American revolution

The end of neocon hegemony could transform the US's profile in Latin America
Monday 11th February

America’s change election: reality or mirage?

It will take more than inspirational words to end the conservative ascendancy
Thursday 10th January

The United States election: time for “change”

What do Americans voters want when they say they want change?
Tuesday 27th November

Washington discovers Islamabad

The problem of the lighthouse-beam mode of attention
Tuesday 6th November

America in 2008: the next realignment?

Once a generation, the US political zeitgeist shifts
Wednesday 19th September

Iraq: making America safer?

One week in Washington exposes the Bush administration's preference for tactics over strategy
Tuesday 14th August

Karl Rove’s last fix

The farewell of George W Bush's chief strategist may be only temporary

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