The (Ex) Washington Realist

Honeymoons end, grace periods run out, deadlines emerge ... my concerns about the administration's scheduling.

I took part in the forum over at World Politics Review on the question of the next "Berlin Wall moment." Other participants include Thomas P.M. Barnett, Ian Bremmer and Alexander Kliment, Walter Russell Mead, and Jacqueline Newmyer.

My individual contribution looks at the "fall" of the Korean DMZ as removing the basis for the U.S. security architecture in East Asia the way that the Berlin Wall impacted the Soviet one.

Some of my reaction to the presidential visit to China over at World Politics Review. Beijing is becoming much more confident in how it handles the bilateral relationship and this will certainly have an impact on the fifth generation of leadership.

Speaking of which, I came across an interesting report on the matter by Cheng Li; I am struck by some of the similarities one might draw with the Kremlin leadership, at least the younger members, in terms of diversity on one hand but the "we are all in the same boat" on the other in terms of preserving the system.

Query for TWR readers: any good Chinese studies of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine?

Just some thoughts on the resignation of White House counsel Greg Craig. Perhaps I'm overestimating the impact, but one of the undercurrents I have started to detect from other countries regarding the Obama administration is that talk is not followed by action ... something I am monitoring.

Comments welcomed.

Chris Marsh and I just published this essay over at Policy Innovations, about the enduring nature of the Eurasian cultural and economic space nearly two decades after the collapse of the USSR. Moscow remains the air travel hub, the business hub, the communications hub and this trend doesn't appear to be changing anytime soon.