Ted Galen Carpenter (Author at The Cato Institute)

Worse than Bush? (Commentary)

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

The central theme of Barack Obama's successful campaign for the presidency was his call for "change"—albeit often with few details. There is an imperative need for change in America's foreign policy. Even during the cold war, Washington's strategy led to security free-riding by allies and clie...

Ted Galen Carpenter on the failed U.S. Drug War in Afghanistan. (Weekly Video)

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:00:00 EST

The United States insists on fighting the Drug War and combat terrorism at the same time. But U.S. Efforts at counterinsurgency will be threatened if this policy persists. Ted Galen Carpenter, the Cato Institute's Vice President for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies, believes the United States would be best served with stepping down the war on Afghan opium in order to fight a more effective counterinsurgency.

Taiwan's Delicate Détente (Commentary)

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Officials in Washington and Beijing seemed relieved when Taiwan's moderate Kuomintang took control of the legislature earlier this year and Ma Ying-jeou was elected president. But that optimism is fading fast as China's lack of meaningful concessions has undermined Mr. Ma's political position. It's ...

Cato Scholar Comments on Secretary Rice's Mexico Visit to Discuss Its Drug War (Scholar Comments)

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Secretary of State Rice is in Mexico for meetings about how to stem the alarming tide of drug-related violence in that country. Washington's concern is understandable. Some 3,000 people have perished in the carnage this year, nearly double the pace of 2007, which in turn was double the pace of just three years ago. U.S. tourists are avoiding once-popular destinations, especially the cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. The violence is even spilling over the border into our southwestern states.

Unfortunately, though, Washington is pressing the Mexican government to redouble the same old failed strategies. Last summer, Congress passed a $400 million initial installment of the so-called Merida Initiative, a $1.4 billion multi-year program to aid Mexico's police and military in their anti-drug campaigns. That is almost certain to be a waste of money. As long as demand for drugs remains robust in the United States and other countries, drug-trafficking organizations will exist to satisfy that demand. The current prohibitionist strategy merely drives that trade underground, and the illegality creates a huge black-market premium that attracts the most corrupt, violence-prone elements. What Mexico is experiencing today is simply a more intense version of what the United States experienced during its effort to ban alcohol during the 1920s. Washington should stop demanding that the Mexican government to do the impossible. Instead, U.S. policymakers need to reconsider America's own failed drug prohibition strategy that is fueling the violence in its southern neighbor.

Mexico's Colombian Exchange (Commentary)

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Even as U.S. officials concentrate on such troubling foreign-policy issues as the stalemated six-party talks regarding North Korea's nuclear program, the increasing likelihood that Iran may join the ranks of nuclear powers and growing tensions in relations with Russia, a serious security problem is ...

What Russia Wants (Commentary)

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Russia’s military intervention in Georgia has provoked a storm of negative reactions in the United States and Europe. To most Americans-and apparently to spluttering Bush administration officials-Moscow’s actions came as an unpleasant surprise. Pundits and policy experts immediately began to specula...

Smart Power and the March to War (Daily Podcast)

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The Limits of Deterrence (Commentary)

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Now that the conflict in Georgia has returned to a simmer, it is time to reflect on some of the larger lessons. Perhaps the most important lesson is about the limits of America's ability to protect small, strategically exposed client states. Hawkish pundits and politicians insist that if Georgia had...

Kosovo Precedent Prevails (Commentary)

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

When the United States and its key European allies ignored Russia's protests and recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence from Serbia in February, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice blithely insisted that the Kosovo situation was unique and set no international precedent whatsoever. Prominen...

The Future of Russia Relations (Daily Podcast)

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

John McCain's Foreign Policy Judgment Is Questionable (Commentary)

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

A major theme of John McCain's campaign is that he has far more experience in foreign affairs than does Barack Obama. McCain has now escalated his attacks by targeting Obama's judgment as well — especially the latter's pessimism about the effectiveness of the surge in Iraq. There is little doubt ...

On Thin Ice (Commentary)

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Shortly before noon yesterday, President Bush issued a statement in the Rose Garden about the military conflict between Russia and Georgia. Most of his statement could be classified as wishful thinking and diplomatic posturing. For example, he proclaimed that the United States "stands with the democ...

Cato Scholar Comments on Human Rights and the North Korea Nuclear Talks (Scholar Comments)

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Washington's chief negotiator regarding the North Korean nuclear crisis, now says that the North must also improve its 'abysmal' human rights situation. One can understand the temptation to add that issue to the diplomatic agenda. Kim Jong-Il's government has starved, tortured, and otherwise brutalized the North Korean people for far too long. That regime deserves to be on the ash heap of history as soon as possible. However, adding the human rights issue to the diplomatic mix endangers the prospects for an agreement on the critically important nuclear issue. The chances of a meaningful, enforceable agreement are highly uncertain even now. Demanding that the North Korean regime abandon the policies that enable it to cling to power virtually guarantees failure. As painful as it might be from a moral standpoint, the United States and the other members of the six-party talks must keep the negotiations confined to the issue of North Korea's nuclear-weapons program.

Poking the Bear (Commentary)

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Few people want to return to the animosity and tensions that marked relations between Washington and Moscow throughout the cold war. But clumsy policies by both the United States and Russia now threaten to bring back those unhappy days. The Bush administration presses for further expansion of NATO t...

How Good Was the Good War? (Commentary)

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The World War II experience is so pervasive in American culture that it's nearly imprinted on the national DNA. People who know nothing about other periods of U.S. and world history know—or think they know—the lessons of World War II. The pop-culture version is roughly as follows: Weak and naïve Wes...

A Plan B for Pyongyang (Commentary)

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

There was relief throughout East Asia as well as within the Bush administration when North Korea submitted its long-awaited declaration regarding its nuclear program. Granted, it was fourteen months overdue, and contrary to the commitment that Pyongyang had made to the other participants in the six-...

John McCain on Foreign Policy: Even Worse Than Bush (Commentary)

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Over the years, John McCain has acquired a reputation as a maverick Republican. Independents and even some Democrats who loathe George W. Bush's foreign-policy record seem to believe that McCain would be a significant improvement. In several GOP primaries earlier this year, most notably those in New...

Curb Your Enthusiasm (Commentary)

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

North Korea has finally submitted its long-delayed declaration regarding its nuclear program. In response, President Bush announced that the United States will remove North Korea from the State Department's list of states that sponsor terrorism and lift some of the economic sanctions against the reg...

Cato Scholar Comments on North Korea's Declaration Concerning its Nuclear Program (Scholar Comments)

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

North Korea has finally sent its long-delayed declaration concerning its nuclear program to China. In response, President Bush has announced that the United States will remove North Korea from the State Department's list of states that sponsor terrorism and will lift some of the economic sanctions imposed against the regime. Both Pyongyang's declaration and Washington's response are modestly worthwhile steps that maintain the momentum in the diplomatic process aimed at getting North Korea to end its effort to acquire a nuclear arsenal. But one must be realistic about that diplomatic process; the declaration itself apparently contains some major holes. Pyongyang has not been required to disclose whether it has already built nuclear weapons, and there is no provision for international inspections to determine whether North Korea has constructed nuclear sites other than the known reactor at Yongbyon. It is also important to remember that the North Korean regime has violated every previous agreement it has signed on nuclear issues. Given that record, there remains a very real danger that Pyongyang is engaging in a diplomatic charade while it continues a quest for a nuclear-weapons capability. There is also the worrisome evidence of North Korea's proliferation activities, including its apparent transfer of nuclear-related technology to Syria. At best, the new developments deserve no more than one-and-a-half cheers.

Smart Power: Toward a Prudent Foreign Policy for America (Books)

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

The United States confronts a host of foreign policy problems in the 21st century, yet the Republic's security strategy is increasingly muddled and counterproductive. The litany of misplaced priorities and policy failures grows ever larger. More than five years after the ouster of Saddam Hussein,...

Worried Dragon (Commentary)

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

During my recent visit to China, government officials and policy experts alike exhibited a volatile mixture of attitudes. Their views ranged from optimism on prospects for reduced tensions in the Taiwan Strait following the election of Ma Ying-jeou as Taiwan's new leader, to anger over Western attit...

Do No Harm (Commentary)

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

During my trip to China in late April, numerous officials and scholars there exuded confidence that relations between the mainland and Taiwan are about to improve dramatically. There is some justification for their optimism. The March election of Kuomintang Party (KMT) nominee Ma Ying-jeou as Taiwan...