May/June 2011

Editor's Introduction
James S. Denton
Last month I read a New York Times article explaining how the world’s leading geophysicists and geologists are beginning to realize how little they really know about the tectonic plates colliding beneath the earth’s surface. New and deadly faults blindsided the scientific world when they wreaked havoc in New Zealand and Haiti in the past two years, and the destructive power of the known fault buried off Japan’s coast had been vastly underestimated until last month’s devastating earthquake and tsunami. ... Read More

In This Issue

How the US Lost Lebanon, Again

Eric S. Edelman and Mara E. Karlin

US failures in Lebanon in the '80s have always given heartburn to policy veterans. It hardly reassures that recent generations have not done much better.

No More Bunga Bunga

Roland Flamini
Despite meager accomplishments in office and a personal life that's wild even by Italian standards, Silvio Berlusconi has managed to hold onto voters. So can he weather a trial for sex with an underage prostitute?

Lost in the Levant: Lebanon Reappraised

James Kirchick
In The Ghosts of Martyrs Square, Beirut Daily Star editor Michael Young offers a timely and beautifully written accounting of Lebanon's struggle for stability amid political and religious diversity and extremism.

The Future of North Korea

Robert D. Kaplan and Abraham M. Denmark
North Korea remains painfully backward as its neighbors experience booming economies. But the Kim family dynasty’s grip on the country is loosening. That's why China and others in East Asia are planning for a North Korean future that involves painful and possibly chaotic change—and why the US needs to as well.

The Most Dangerous Place: Pakistan’s Past, Pakistan’s Future

Apoorva Shah
To those familiar with Pakistan’s history and politics, it's little surprise that Osama bin Laden turned up there. As more than half a century of problems show, the country faces a deep identity crisis it must soon address if it hopes to survive.

Fatal Attraction: China's Strengthening Partnership with North Korea

Gordon G. Chang
The alliance between Beijing and Pyongyang has always been dysfunctional, but increasing Chinese clout in North Korea clouds the prospect of successful change in this failed state.

Obama Abroad: Ambitious Realism

Frank Loy
Critics frequently complain that President Obama lacks a coherent approach to foreign policy and that he extemporizes issue by issue. A former under secretary of state in the Clinton administration takes a closer look at the president’s response to major issues, however, and discovers a sound strategy that deftly mixes high ambition, caution, and pragmatism.

Democracy in Egypt: Applying the Tocqueville Standard

Seth Cropsey and Arthur Milikh
Tocqueville judged a democracy by two key criteria: whether political parties served the essential interests of the entire population and whether citizens appreciated private property. Even in the middle of its Arab spring, Egypt has a long way to go on both counts.

Ups and Downs: The Making of a Hegemon

Camille Pecastaing
It's good to be the hegemon. But Ian Morris's Why the West Rules—for Now, a tour d’horizon of 200,000 years of civilization, ought to give any great power pause.

One for All, All for One: The Euro in Crisis

Franco Pavoncello
For more than six decades, Europe sought stability and peace through economic unity. Turns out, eurozone unity also means sharing the financial pain of the most reckless members. This unexpected consequence has caused murmuring in the European congregation. Can more determined oversight save the Union?

In the May/June Issue

Jackson Diehl on sectarianism in Syria, Elliott Abrams and Robert Wexler on Iran's nuclear threat, and John Rosenthal on Germany and the origins of the euro crisis. Plus US-Pakistan relations, academia's new communism, Spain's economy, and more...

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