Reflections on "Afghanistan War: Containing or Leveraging U.S. Power"
Patricia Morris | Apr 29, 2011 |
2 On Wednesday April 20, the New America Foundation hosted a daylong event, entitled “Afghanistan War: Containing or Leveraging U.S. Power” which I attended.
There were four panels, but the difficult-to-sit-on-chairs got to me after two. Okay, I’ll admit, the last panel was with Ann Coulter, who is both not an expert on Afghanistan and extremely stressful. I made a conscious decision to skip it. However, the first two panels were excellent (see end for a list of the panelists and their affiliation).
At this event, I came to grips with a sad realization: the more I learn about Afghanistan, the more hopeless the situation seems. I can better appreciate the range of consequences no matter what the U.S. decides to do, and find every proposed less-than-perfect.
I’m sure I’m not the only one; it just took me longer.
Long-Term North Korea Strategy is Missing
Tad Farrell | Jul 15, 2010 | 0 
CATO Event in Washington D.C
The U.S and South Korea are not currently implementing policies that will garner positive results with North Korea, nor do they have an over-arching strategy for dealing with the isolated nation, agreed three American experts at a policy forum event in Washington D.C Wednesday. Assessing the current situation from various perspectives, the panelists all implied that a more proactive, cohesive and long-term approach to engagement with Pyongyang would yield better outcomes for all involved.
Steven Linton, Founder of The Eugene Bell Foundation, a humanitarian organization providing development assistance to North Korea, started his analysis by suggesting that for a very long time North Korea has been looking for a positive and client-type relationship with the United States. Asking rhetorically how Washington managed to “blow it”, he answered by suggesting that American “ideological constructs” may be partly to blame. Ideological constructs that suggested ‘carrots’ would make North Korea change as a result of being “overwhelmed [with U.S] sincerity and good intentions”, or inversely, that ‘sticks’ would compel better behavior through the use of sanctions and threats. He put it to the audience that both of these ideological constructs have “now come face to face with reality and been shattered”.....
