Leadership
Items on leadership and its personal and public implications
The Financial Tsunami
Mon 29 Sep 2008 • Responses: 0 • by David Aikman
“We are in the midst of a serious financial crisis,” President Bush told the American people in a televised national address on September 24. The “entire economy” of the U.S. was in danger, he explained; the market was “not functioning properly, and “more banks could fail.” Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, a few days earlier had described the crisis as a “once-a-century” phenomenon and the worst he had ever seen. Others referred to the meltdown on Wall Street as a financial “tsunami” that could overwhelm all regular economic activity in the U.S. and create not just a recession but an economic depression not seen in the U.S. or the world since the Great Depression that followed the Wall Street Crash of October 1929.
Electoral Politics: The Possibility of a ‘Perfect Storm’
Thu 18 Sep 2008 • Responses: 1 • by David Aikman
The predictable journalistic punditry of every American presidential cycle—“the most vicious presidential election ever,” “how come we always end up with such mediocre candidates?”—has been handily refuted in the last 50 days or so of the 2008 presidential election. In Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, there are two candidates for the presidency of exceptional talent, but with contrasting approaches to America’s future. Obama, a gifted orator and charismatic campaigner who has energized a whole new generation of young people to participate in politics, harks back to candidate John F. Kennedy. Nearly half a century ago, JFK tapped into the political idealism of large numbers of young Americans, winning the presidency in the process.
Religion, Elections, and Foreign Affairs
Wed 10 Sep 2008 • Responses: 0 • by Joseph Loconte
The policy journal Faith and International Affairs continues to impress. Its fall issue, “Faith and Foreign Policy: Recommendations for the Next President,” offers articles ranging from faith-based reconciliation efforts in Iraq to the role of religious organizations in delivering U.S. foreign aid. Editor Dennis Hoover summarizes media treatment of religion and foreign affairs this way:
“For those who were hoping that religion would be taken seriously during presidential campaign season, the good news is that media coverage and candidate rhetoric have been chock full of religious references. The bad news is that this public discourse has often lacked policy relevance—especially when it comes to the intersection of religion and foreign policy.”
How to Vote for the President
Wed 20 Aug 2008 • Responses: 3 • by William Edgar
Character, discernment, trust
Senior Fellow William Edgar looks at the factors we should consider in the upcoming U.S. elections—or any election, for that matter.Putin’s Brezhnev Doctrine
Wed 20 Aug 2008 • Responses: 1 • by David Aikman
Forty years ago this August, all of Europe and the U.S. watched with horror as the Soviet army, in conjunction with units from four of its Warsaw Pact allies, rolled into Czechoslovakia to crush the “Prague Spring.” The “Spring” had been a dramatic movement for reform and liberalization of Czechoslovakia’s Communist system that had been introduced by Czech Communist leader Alexander Dubcek and some others.
The 200,000 invading troops met only token resistance, because Dubcek had ordered Czech citizens not to oppose the invasion. But in a singular act of brutal humiliation, Dubcek and his associates were transported to Moscow in chains in the belly of a Soviet cargo plane, then made to face the bullying shouts of the assembled Soviet Politburo. Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev’s rationale for the invasion became known as the “Brezhnev doctrine,” a principle that Communist Party control of the countries of Eastern Europe should never have to submit to reforms that might bring capitalism and democracy to them.
Evangelicals, AIDS, and the Presidential Race
Wed 06 Aug 2008 by Joseph Loconte
Megachurch pastor Rick Warren will deliver questions about faith, values, and human rights at a forum this month with presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain. Given the vapid media treatment of the presidential campaign so far, Mr. Warren’s event could raise the political profile of issues such as Sudan and global AIDS, issues that he and his evangelical congregation care about deeply. Yet it runs the risk of inviting political pandering and blurring the real ideological divisions between the candidates.
Christian Realism and the United Nations
Wed 09 Jul 2008 by Joseph Loconte
The myth of a morally empowered United Nations, which continues to thrive on both sides of the Atlantic, is becoming absurdly difficult to sustain. The spectacle of U.N. paralysis in the face of international aggression, ethnic cleansing, and genocide—as the brutality and economic meltdown in Zimbabwe illustrates—demands a better response than the tranquilizing diplo-speak of “multilateralism.”
Zimbabwe, the Scandal of Africa
Tue 24 Jun 2008 by David Aikman
It certainly looks as if the Almighty’s help will be needed in removing Mugabe from power.
The average American—or average Irishman or Frenchman, for that matter—could be forgiven for not knowing the answer to the following question: which country in the world has inflation of more than 15,000 percent, unemployment of 80 percent, and the lowest life-expectancy rate in the world (age 37 for men)? The answer—Zimbabwe—is not only the scandal of Africa today, but also the current scandal of world politics.
The immediate crisis in Zimbabwe is that the country’s president, Robert Mugabe, seems quite determined not to permit opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to assume political power in the country. In an initial election March 29, Tsvangirai, leader of the political party Movement for Democratic Change, won 47.9 percent of the vote, to Mugabe’s 43.2 percent. The election results, however, were not released until May 2, however, leading the opposition to charge that Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF (Zimbabwe African People’s Union—Patriotic Front), had suppressed the results.
Natsios on Darfur
Mon 16 Jun 2008 by Joseph Loconte
If there is a single foreign policy issue that shocks the conscience of activists and politicians of all dispositions, it is the ongoing humanitarian tragedy in the Darfur region of Sudan. Since fighting broke out between rebel groups and government forces in 2003, it is estimated that over 250,000 civilians have been killed, mostly at the instigation of the Arab supremacist regime in Khartoum. More than 2 million people have been displaced from their homes and hundreds of thousands languish in refugee camps. Meanwhile, the survival of Sudan as a state seems to be at risk.
The Benefits of Conflict
Fri 06 Jun 2008 by Jo Kadlecek
Learning to Listen, Ready to Talk: A Pilgrimage Toward Peacemaking
by Harold Heie
(iUniverse, 2007), $19.95
