Epstein Secrets

reate more representative, inclusive systems of governance that would remain aligned with Washington. The first post-9/11 strategy, pursued by the Bush administration during its first term, was to push for massive transformations. U.S. military power would be used to destroy rogue regimes and terr

accomplish the task and make a country's transformation self-sustaining, unless the people themselves want to take charge of the process. In Iraq, George W. Bush removed Saddam Hussein, who had EFTA_R1_00441189 EFTA01964441 been governing that country vertically, from the top-down, with an iron fist. Bush

t to take charge of the process. In Iraq, George W. Bush removed Saddam Hussein, who had EFTA_R1_004

ry's political culture and getting age- old adversaries to reconcile. The primary foreign policy tools that served us so well in the cold war, said Mandelbaum, "guns, money, and rhetoric — simply don't work for these new tasks. It is like trying to open a can with a sponge." To help another country change

uperpower confrontation. Post-cold-war foreign policy today is largely about "affecting the internal composition and governance of states," added Mandelbaum, many of which in the Middle East are failing and threaten us more by their collapse into ungoverned regions — not by their strength or ability to p

and counselor at The Washington Institute. Previously, he served as the State Department's director of policy planning under President George H. W Bush, special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton, and special assistant to President Obama from 2009 to 2011. ArtIcic 4. The American Inte

ed that in the 19th century. America does so today and will have to continue to do so even if Putin becomes a vegetarian pacifist. But get a grip, Mandelbaum said in an interview: "Putin is not some strange creature from the past. He is as much a product of globalization as Davos Man." Putin runs a petr

that while global economics does not eliminate geopolitics, it does indeed trump global geopolitics today. It's the key to trumping Putin, too. As Mandelbaum (my co-author on a previous work) explains in his book, it is not either-or. Geopolitics never went away, even as globalization has become more imp

t the Arab world. If the Arab rebellion has made nonsense of Iran's claim to speak on behalf of a silenced Arab public, it has also rubbished the Bush-era scheme of uniting moderate Arab autocrats (including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) in alliance against Iran and its Axis of R

ide every autocracy is a democracy dying to get out, but that might not be true in the Middle East." It was true in Eastern Europe in 1989, added Mandelbaum, but there are two big differences between Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Many Eastern European countries had a recent liberal past to fall b

out the Arab world. If the Arab rebellion has made nonsense of Iran's claim to speak on behalf of a silenced Arab public, it has also rubbished the Bush-era scheme of uniting moderate Arab autocrats (including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) in alliance against Iran and its Axis of E

nside every autocracy is a democracy dying to get out, but that might not be true in the Middle East." It was true in Eastern Europe in 1989, added Mandelbaum, but there are two big differences between Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Many Eastern European countries had a recent liberal past to fall ba