Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 1
Bravery Where I See It 3
THE BENS YEARS: FIXING THE PENTAGON 9
Going for Broke 11
Yo-ho-ho and a Bundle of Bucks? 16
The Complex Meaning of Ike’s Famous Talk 18
A Good Dose of Free Enterprise Can Fix Pentagon Procurement 20
Base Closing Can Benefit Local Economy 23
For a Heftier Peace Dividend, Replay the 1922 Air Corps vs.
Navy Bombing Showdown at Sea 25
General Colin Powell: Into the Breach 27
Postpone Judgment on Defense Systems 29
Who Cares About National Security 31
When Closed Means Open: How the Pentagon Is Backing Off
Its Pork-Barrel Pledge 34
An Indefensible Military Budget 38
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION 41
Chemical Weapons: A Valuable Treaty to Ratify 43
Avoiding a Russian Arms Disaster 45
United States, Russia Can Build on “Cold Peace” 48
START Treaty: What Republicans Can Learn from Reagan 51
Don’t Let the Crisis in Ukraine Damage Decades of Progress
on Nuclear Cooperation 54
Hiroshima Saved My Life 58
MEXICO 63
Consumers, Environmentalists Would Benefit from NAFTA 65
Because of NAFTA, Eyes of the World Are on Chiapas—and Mexico Cares 67
For Democracy, Mexico’s President Needs Power 69
Mexico: Curtain Time for a Political Drama in Three Acts 71
Mexico after NAFTA Becomes a New Home for Democracy 73
Replacing Mexican Myth with Reality 75
United States–Mexico: Next-Door Neighbors, Worlds Apart 78
Hey, Donald Trump: Making Mexico Go Broke Would Actually
Be Mucho Dumb 81
GREAT GAME 85
Give China Favored Status 87
Sanctions: Don’t Love Them or Hate Them—Make Them Work 89
China and India Face Off in Nepal 92
Get Real: Preserve Artificial Countries 94
Latin America Is No Joke: US Neighbor Relations 97
Don’t Play This Great Game 100
The Power of Water: The Untapped Might of the Himalayas 103
Azerbaijan: The Key to the Caucasus 106
Rivals and Partners 108
The Mao Doctrine 111
Asia’s Quiet War 114
Imagining Eastphalia 117
China’s Indian Ocean Strategy Not a Danger—Yet 127
INDONESIA 131
What the United States Should and Should Not Do in Indonesia 133
How to Help Indonesia Prosper in the Free World 136
Be Quiet While Indonesia’s Chess Master Makes His Moves 139
Indonesia: The Military Can Shape Up if Washington Helps 142
Indonesia’s Progress Will Continue Despite the Bombing 145
Washington Is Neglecting a New Friend 148
Indonesia: Why Pluralism Will Prevail 151
Indonesia’s Security Burden 153
Indonesia, America, and China’s Nine-Dash Line 156
Resisting the Arabization of Islam in Indonesia 160
It’s Time for the United States to Pivot to Indonesia 164
IRAN 169
Toward Normal Links Between Iran and America 171
Widen the Focus and See the Big Picture in Iran 174
How to Promote People Power in Iran 177
Nuclear Iran: The Principle Is Set—Now, What’s the Price? 180
Iran’s President Is Playing a Weak Hand 183
Dealing with Iran: Finally, a Stick 186
America and Iran’s Taba Moment 188
INDIA 193
India Should Be at the Top of Washington’s Contact List 195
Develop Separate Policies for India and Pakistan 198
America and India Are Getting Together, and It’s About Time 200
The Two Faces of India: Preserving a Secular State in a Religious Country 203
India and Pakistan: Trade Offers Sure Path to Peace 206
Recognizing Reality: The Consequences of Saying No to India 209
New Delhi’s Delicate Balancing Act 212
India and the United States Need to Play Ball 215
Narendra Modi’s Surprisingly Successful Selfie Diplomacy 219
AF-PAK 223
Pakistan Ought to Concentrate on Pulling Itself Together 225
Afghanistan’s Need for Good Neighbors: Contest for a Region 228
A Civilian Surge for Afghanistan 231
Can “Pashtunistan” End the Af-Pak War? 234
MIDDLE EAST 237
The Hunt Is On for Osama bin Laden 239
Uncle Sam Is Stuck in the Gulf Without a Compass 241
Who Needs Whom? 244
Syria’s Crucial Role: Why Damascus Meddles—and Matters 246
The Confederation of Abraham 249
A Brilliant Fraud 252
Blessed Are the Businessmen and Women 255
Making Yoni Netanyahu’s Sacrifice Matter 258
It’s Time for an Independent Kurdistan 261
What Putin Should Say at the United Nations 264
It’s Time to Kick Erdoğan’s Turkey Out of NATO 268
Three New Realities in the Middle East for the Next American President 272
Where Have You Gone, Harry Truman? 276
IRAQ WAR 281
Saddam’s Regime in Iraq Should Be the Next Tyranny to Fall 283
Governance after Saddam: Change for the Better This Time 286
Choosing a Template for Iraq: Unite or Perish 288
Tempting the Curse: Iraq Seeks the Blessings of Oil 291
Trickle Up: Iraq Needs a Jobs Surge 294
Iraq Is Not Iraq Anymore 297
MYANMAR/THAILAND 301
No Tuning Out Thailand’s Muslim Insurgency: Thaksin’s Reality Check 303
Myanmar’s Neighbors Hold the Key 306
Thailand: A King’s Lesson in Democracy 308
Burma: Are Sanctions the Answer? 311
A First Step Toward Democracy? 314
Counterpoint on Myanmar’s Transition 316
The First Thing the United States Should Do in Myanmar 319
Hacking a Path Between China’s California and Myanmar’s Dracula 322
Thailand’s Andrew Jackson Moment 325
An End to Improvisation in Thailand 329
Myanmar Is More Than Aung San Suu Kyi 333
Myanmar’s 40 to 72 Percent Problem 337
US POLITICS 341
In the Philippines, Trump Is Already President 343
Huntsman Is the Only Electable Republican 347
Ike’s Most Prescient Insight 50 Years Ago Went Unspoken 350
An Open Letter to Mitt Romney 353
EPILOGUE 357
How to Write a Column Like Stanley Weiss 359