Terms of Engagement
James Traub is a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and author of, most recently, The Freedom Agenda. "Terms of Engagement," his column for ForeignPolicy.com, runs weekly.
Warsaw on the Nile
How do you get the new Arab democracies' economies in order? Look to Eastern Europe.
BY JAMES TRAUB | JUNE 3, 2011
Friend Request
Barack Obama has been saying the right things about democracy in the Arab world. Bahrain, a key U.S. ally, will be the test of whether he really means them.
BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 27, 2011
Leaving With Honor
After Osama bin Laden's death, Afghanistan looks more like Vietnam than ever -- and for once, that's a good thing.
BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 16, 2011
Freedom From Fear
Now that he's accomplished the central aim of George W. Bush's foreign policy, Barack Obama can finally get started on his own.
BY JAMES TRAUB | MAY 5, 2011
Hope Dies Last in Damascus
Will Bashar al-Assad's brutal crackdown on his citizens finally put an end to a decade of wishful thinking about the Syrian president?
BY JAMES TRAUB | APRIL 29, 2011
Second Thoughts
How much does Richard Goldstone's Gaza retraction matter?
BY JAMES TRAUB | APRIL 22, 2011
Khyber Impasse
How long can the United States and Pakistan keep pretending that they actually have any interests in common?
BY JAMES TRAUB | APRIL 15, 2011
A Moral Adventure
Is Barack Obama as much of a foreign-policy realist as he thinks he is?
BY JAMES TRAUB | MARCH 31, 2011
The Myth of the Useful Dictator
In propping up autocrats in countries like Yemen and Bahrain, the United States has long weighed its interests against its principles. Is it a false choice?
BY JAMES TRAUB | MARCH 18, 2011
Stepping In
Libya doesn't meet any of the criteria for a humanitarian intervention. We should do it anyway.
BY JAMES TRAUB | MARCH 11, 2011
Cairo 1.5
The Arab world that Barack Obama addressed in his famous speech two years ago is history. It's time for him to speak to the new one.
BY JAMES TRAUB | MARCH 4, 2011
The End of the Arab Dream
Muammar al-Qaddafi's fall won't just mark the close of an awful dictatorship -- it will end the Arab world's disastrous half-century-long affair with utopian governing fantasies.
BY JAMES TRAUB | FEBRUARY 25, 2011
Slash and Burn
Congressional Republicans are bent on all but eliminating the U.S. government's foreign aid budget. And Defense Secretary Robert Gates may be the only one who can stop them.
BY JAMES TRAUB | FEBRUARY 18, 2011
Don't Fear the Brotherhood
Running away from the Islamic party is exactly what the entrenched Egyptian ruling class wants America to do.
BY JAMES TRAUB | FEBRUARY 10, 2011
Let's Try This Again
Egypt could be a watershed moment for democracy promotion in the Arab world -- but only if the United States understands how it went wrong the last time.
BY JAMES TRAUB | FEBRUARY 3, 2011
The Rest of the Story
Al Jazeera's Palestine Papers have been a PR disaster for the Palestinian Authority. But it's Israel's American supporters who really need to read them.
BY JAMES TRAUB | JANUARY 28, 2011
The Post-Tunisia World
Last week's upheaval showed that citizens of the Arab world are willing and able to overthrow their dictators -- and the Obama administration has to figure out how it will respond when they do.
BY JAMES TRAUB | JANUARY 21, 2011
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
The Forum for the Future was supposed to be an instrument of George W. Bush's Middle East freedom agenda. Seven years later, it embodies everything that was wrong with it -- and the Arab street is taking matters into its own hands.
BY JAMES TRAUB | JANUARY 14, 2011
Africa's Hour
Laurent Gbagbo's refusal to give up power isn't just a crisis for the Ivory Coast -- it's a moment of truth for the whole continent.
BY JAMES TRAUB | JANUARY 7, 2011
A Chief's Service
Meet Adm. Mike Mullen, unsung hero of Congress's not-so-lame duck session -- and Sen. Lindsey Graham, its undeniable goat.
BY JAMES TRAUB | DECEMBER 24, 2010
Two States, No Solutions
Barack Obama says the Israeli-Palestinian impasse is a threat to the United States' national security. But is he acting like it is?
BY JAMES TRAUB | DECEMBER 17, 2010
The Sunshine Policy
The United States has quietly asked allies like Yemen and Pakistan for some extraordinary favors in its war on terrorism. Is it really so terrible if WikiLeaks forces them to explain those demands?
BY JAMES TRAUB | DECEMBER 10, 2010
The Land of No Good Options
The WikiLeaks cables show a U.S. diplomatic corps adept at diagnosing the big problems of American foreign policy -- and a country hopeless at solving them.
BY JAMES TRAUB | DECEMBER 3, 2010
A Glimmer of Hope in Southern Sudan
For now, all's quiet on the north-south front. But President Omar Hassan al-Bashir may still have a few cards to play before January's all-important referendum.
BY JAMES TRAUB | NOVEMBER 24, 2010
The Bomb Squad
Are Senate Republicans really crazy enough to blow up Barack Obama's nuclear nonproliferation agenda?
BY JAMES TRAUB | NOVEMBER 19, 2010
Did Bibi Win the Midterms?
The Republican Congress isn't even in office yet and already it's screwing up the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
BY JAMES TRAUB | NOVEMBER 12, 2010
A New 'New Beginning'
What Barack Obama should tell the world in his Asia speech.
BY JAMES TRAUB | NOVEMBER 5, 2010
Time to bring the nukes back to South Korea
BY BENNETT RAMBERG
Does this woman look like she'd be a good president of Bulgaria?
BY JOSHUA E. KEATING
Meet Cody Wilson, the anarchist behind the world's first 3-D printed gun
BY ELIAS GROLL
U.N. investigator on Syria: Out over her skis yet again?
BY JOHN HUDSON
How 'Casablanca' explains the sequester
BY GORDON ADAMS
The 'Onion' latest victim of Syrian Electronic Army's fat jokes
Video: The Navy's stealth drone makes its first arrested landing
BY JOHN REED
Is U.S. credibility really on the line in Syria?
BY DARYL G. PRESS AND JENNIFER LIND
May/June 2013
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