The American Strategist

A Blog from New America's American Strategy Program

Time to Af-Pak the Economy

  • By
  • Patrick C. Doherty
February 23, 2010
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With health care stopped, climate legislation stalled, true unemployment at record levels, Wall Street unreformed, a new round of mortgage foreclosures on the way, and murmurs of inflation in the air, President Barack Obama needs a new domestic game plan.

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Colonial Ethnography Alive and Well at Fox

  • By
  • Andrew Lebovich
February 1, 2010
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This post originally appeared at The Majlis Blog and The Washington Note.

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SOTU: Cart Before The Horse

  • By
  • Patrick C. Doherty
January 28, 2010
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For a moment last night, watching President Barack Obama’s first state of the Union address, I got excited. Here was that moment:
 
From the day I took office, I've been told that addressing our larger challenges is too ambitious; such an effort would be too contentious.  I've been told that our political system is too gridlocked, and that we should just put things on hold for a while. 
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Kurdistan in Limbo

  • By
  • Andrew Lebovich
January 7, 2010

This post appeared originally at The Washington Note.

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This Week in American Strategy: Dec. 14-18

  • By
  • Andrew Lebovich
December 18, 2009
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"Hillary Clinton"
Daniel Levy | The Riz Khan Show | 12/16/09

Daniel Levy appeared on Al Jazeera's Riz Khan show to discuss the stalemated Middle East Peace Process.

"Shadow Elite"
Janine Wedel and Michael Lind | The Riz Khan Show | 12/16/09

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This Week in American Strategy: Dec. 7-Dec. 11

  • By
  • Andrew Lebovich
December 11, 2009
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Steve Coll | Think Tank | 12/7/09

In the New Yorker online, Steve Coll dissects the impact of President Obama's July 2011 timeline for the beginning of American troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, as well as how the Taliban might be part of a political solution.

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Climate Change and "Developing" Nations

  • By
  • Andrew Lebovich
December 7, 2009
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The U.N. Conference on Climate Change opens today in Copenhagen, an international spectacle that holds out the promise for some sort of progress on climate change, despite the myriad difficulties involved in reaching an agreement on carbon emissions reduction.

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Best of American Strategy: 12/1-12/4

  • By
  • Andrew Lebovich
December 4, 2009
Steve Clemons | Countdown with Keith Olbermann | 12/1/09

Steve Clemons spoke with Keith Olbermann about Pakistan, and argued that we need to think not only of dealing with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, but that we must also come up with a strategy that will satisfy Pashtuns on both sides of the Durand Line separating Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Triaging Afghanistan, Looking Ahead

  • By
  • Patrick C. Doherty
December 2, 2009
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As I anticipated in my article yesterday, the President's speech was really just a broad articulation of the new strategy for a generalist, mostly domestic, audience. But in first listening to and then reading the speech and some of the reaction, it seems clear that the president used this speech to triage the problem, not to transform it.

Shaping America's Narrative in South Asia

  • By
  • Patrick C. Doherty
December 1, 2009
President Obama and Prime Minister Singh

Today, President Barack Obama will unveil his new strategy for Afghanistan at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. What will matter more than troop numbers and timelines however, is whether the president is able to re-set the narrative of America's role in the world such that our forward posture re-aligns the politics of South Asia and, to some extent, the greater Middle East.

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