TWN hits the UN for Climate Change Session

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Today in New York UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has convened a historic special session with more than 70 heads of state in attendance to solely discuss and focus on the issue of perhaps the largest global challenge and collective action problem we face today — the issue of climate change.

Casey, Murkowski Endorse a “Comprehensive Diplomatic Offensive” — Now for the Next Step

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Last weekend, Henry Kissinger wrote a syndicated op-ed defending the President’s position in Iraq but qualified with a critical point: The second and ultimately decisive route to overcoming the Iraqi crisis is through international diplomacy. Today the United States is bearing the major burden for regional security militarily, politically and economically.

<em>Guest Post by Mindy Kotler</em>: A New Day Coming in Japan or Sam Rayburn Speaks?

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(Yasuo Fukuda is on the right) Mindy Kotler is director of Asia Policy Point, a Washington research center that provides objective information on East Asia to the policy community. To be sure, Japan only marginally matters right now.

The US’s Afghan Opium Strategy: Eradicating Any Chance of Stability

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The US State Department recently outlined a new strategy a few weeks ago in anticipation of the UN’s announcement of the continued growth of Afghan poppy — up by 17% percent from last years record crop and rising to account for 93% of the world’s supply.

Sharif’s Return Shouldn’t Change Our Strategy in Pakistan

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Significant events are unfolding inside Pakistan, most recently with reports within the past few hours that former Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif, who was exiled for corruption, has been cleared by Judge Iftikhar Chaudhry to return to Pakistan.

Update from Steve — Strategic Planning is Going Well

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Steve just called in from Spectacle Lake via satellite phone to make sure readers have not abandoned TWN in his absence. He’s happy to report no run-ins with any bears thus far but is prepared to fend them off with his self-taught Davy Crockett maneuvers. Apparently the wilderness air does wonders for strategic planning.

Beyond Arms Sales: Whither the US-Saudi Relationship?

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The firestorm of controversy that ignited this week over the arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other gulf states opens up an important debate that needs to be thoroughly explored, yet the thrust of the discussion–typified by Bret Stephens fulminating this morning against supposed Saudi malevolent intentions in his column “A Kernel of Evil“–has largely…

<em>Guest Post by Sameer Lalwani</em>: Diplomacy That’s More Than a Punch Line

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Sameer Lalwani is a policy analyst in the New America Foundation’s American Strategy Program The upside of this latest tiff between Senators Clinton and Obama is that it is starting to force candidates, and hopefully the broader public, to start thinking about what a new foreign policy should look like, and further, if we support…