Oct 13, 2016

American foreign policy debates tend to focus disproportionally on the Middle East. To correct this tendency, the Obama administration’s adopted the so-called pivot to Asia (aka “rebalancing”): to refocus U.S. policy in proper proportion to the full range of the nation’s challenges and interests. Indeed, this broader perspective on today’s interconnected world and diligent approach to building the necessary coalitions, are the main elements that distinguish Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton’s pragmatic approach from the Republicans’ bullheaded approach.

Sep 05, 2016

Donald Trump is a symptom of a broader problem with a GOP that has drifted steadily rightward for decades. While the world stares in astonishment at the theatrics of the American general election, a broad consensus is emerging that Donald Trump is not fit to be President of the United States. However, what Trump’s emergence means for America’s two-party system is a bigger question.

Jun 05, 2013

When Barack Obama and Xi Jinping meet this week for an unusual two-day summit in Rancho Mirage, California, the two presidents will lay the ground for their joint stewardship of a bilateral relationship often described as the world’s most important.

Jun 12, 2012

Paraphrasing what existentialist philosopher Albert Camus said about suicide, most of the serious problems of contemporary world affairs are questions about int