John Tirman is trying to explain how the United States got in the habit of fighting wars without a scorecard. We’re a country, curiously, that can focus like fiends on earned-run averages and on-base percentages. But who among us, on a pop quiz, could come up with the figures on how many died in the Iraq war, compared to the Vietnam war, Korea, the two World Wars, and the annexation of the Philippines at the turn of the 20th Century.
Supreme tragedy
Author:
Hussein Banai
Although he does not wear a crown (his black turban is as indistinguishable as the next cleric’s), Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has increasingly become regarded as a potentate in the tradition of Middle Eastern autocrats. As the renowned Iranian journalist and dissident, Akbar Ganji, has written of “Sultan Khamenei”’, “[he] has used his broad mandate to exercise control not only over all three branches of government but also over economic, religious, and cultural affairs, sometimes directly and sometimes through various councils or through the Revolutionary Guards.
In profile: Kenneth Oye
Author:
Peter Dizikes
A political scientist aims to help governments assess the potential risks of new technologies.
Japan after Kan
Author:
Chris Acheson
Although Kan’s resignation may assist the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in rebuilding public trust in its ability to lead, questions remain about the future of the DPJ and the political structure of Japan as it stands today. Japanese domestic politics expert, Richard J. Samuels, provides insight into the DPJ, its political strategy, and the challenges the next administration will face.
Is it really a new start for Palestinians?
Author:
Peter Krause
The unity deal between Fatah and Hamas may well be "historic," but not in the way most news outlets have suggested. Not only is this one of hundreds of unity deals signed by Palestinian factions over the past 50 years, but it is not even the first unity deal signed between Hamas and Fatah, the most recent such agreement coming in 2007.
When death came hand-delivered
Author:
Edward Jay Epstein
Biological warfare came to America soon after the 9/11 attack. In Florida, a photo editor died of inhalation anthrax. At the time it was thought to be an isolated incident. But then anthrax was found in New York in the newsrooms of NBC and the New York Post, together with letters dated "09-11-2001" and warning: "Death to America Death to Israel Allah Is Great."
Tokyo's transformation
Author:
Eric Heginbotham, Ely Ratner, and Richard J. Samuels
How Japan is changing -- and what it means for the United States.
North-South Korea talks in US serious, but civil
Author:
Harry R. Weber
North and South Korean representatives holding informal talks in the U.S. are sitting together at meals, sharing laughs and even breaking out together in song. But long-standing disputes still cropped up Tuesday on Day 2 of the summit at the University of Georgia.
Two African women won Nobel Peace Prizes, but the continent still has a long way to go to gender equality
Author:
Jackee Budesta Batanda
Less than a year ago, women helped lead the reform movements that swept across Libya, Egypt, and Tunisia. But now that those uprisings have succeeded, and the world's attention has shifted elsewhere, women are once again being shoved aside.
A weakened Ahmadinejad
Author:
Jim Walsh
Some of the stereotypes of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fall short of the mark, says Jim Walsh.