The (Ex) Washington Realist

There is no one "Russian foreign policy" on Iran but a collection of policies that the Kremlin attempts to balance and harmonize. Russia's straddling of the fence can only be sustained if a diplomatic process gets back off the ground in September.

UPDATE: Do we have a two-track approach--Brussels and Beijing--on this issue?

For those who are interested, over at World Politics Review, two items that may be of interest.

The first is their special issue on the question of a post-American world, with contributions also from Tom Barnett and Parag Khanna ...

The second is my column this week, on whether the U.S. is indeed moving towards its own version of the Najibullah strategy as the Obama administration considers its end-game in Afghanistan.

Comments welcome!

Just some thinking out loud on whether setting up/strengthening a central government is the best approach for the challenges we face in Somalia and Afghanistan ...

Meanwhile, former deputy NSA Bob Blackwill's idea is also generating a good deal of discussion ...

Time to bring back one of FDR's program, modified for 21st century conditions? My arguments in this week's WPR column.

UPDATE: Some of my Naval War College colleagues offer their responses over at GlobalSecurity.org.

All the rhetoric in the world about a "natural partnership" is not enough, unless there is a bureaucratic framework to nurture ties. My argument in the July 2010 issue of Pragati (The Indian National Interest Review) for developing a new concept of partnership.

In that same issue, Dhruva Jaishankar reaches a similar conclusion: "There were also no indications that the two sides had found a central organising framework for the relationship, one that might fill the vacuum left by the India-US nuclear deal. This gives the impression—perhaps unfairly—of the relationship being on steady auto-pilot."

Why, in my opinion, a Chicago politician and a Mexican president are better (and more realistic) models for nation-building in places like Afghanistan and Iraq ...