Other recent commentary in American Diplomacy:
 

Ambassador James Bullington on The Coming American Retreat from Global Military Intervention:
"[In Kosovo] the Clinton Doctrine asserted the right to intervene militarily in humanitarian situations worldwide without regard to national sovereignty or UN authorization. The only constraint is that there be little or no risk to American forces." [Autumn 1999]

Barry Ryland-Holmes on Waging Peace in Kosovo:
"Western intervention, however civilized it may appear, runs the risk of replacing the economic imperialism of the nineteenth century with a cultural imperialism for the twenty-first." [Autumn 1999]

Elsewhere in this issue:

  • Articles

  • Commentary
Support
American Diplomacy
by ordering books online at:


(click here)
Commentary on Current Issues
 

A Retrospective on the Infernal Triangle: Lebanon, Syria, and Israel
By CURTIS F. JONESCurtis Jones

“Looming over every exchange between Israel and Syria is their long and bloody contest for preeminence in a territory whose 4,000 square miles are geographically part of Syria, but whose militant Maronite (Catholic) minority has always seen the Israeli Jews as natural allies against Muslim repression. Lebanon is a cauldron of rival tribes and sects. Left to its own devices, it might have joined the unhappy category of failed nations. Instead, it has been effectively partitioned between its two neighbors. . . .” [FULL TEXT]
 

From Post-Cold War to Post-Westphalia
By EDWARD D. MARKS

“Although the international rules of the road set out in the Treaty of Westphalia have been modified over the years, most recently and notably by the Charter of the United Nations, they remained more or less intact until June 10, 1999, when the UN Security Council approved Resolution 1244 (1999). With that resolution on Kosovo, the world’s major countries redefined the sovereign character of the nation state, including their own. The post-Cold War world has segued into what might be called the post-Westphalian world.” [FULL TEXT]
 

Boris Yeltsin Enters the History Books
By KEITH MOON

“It is no surprise that Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin built up an admiration for each other in their seven shared years in office: they are remarkably similar men. Both progressed to positions of regional stature by playing along with the cronyism of the system and then made the leap to national fame as self-styled outsiders. . . . Both men have faced intense public scrutiny of their private lives, Clinton for his reckless womanizing, Yeltsin for his legendary alcohol consumption. Despite his personal failings, Clinton used his unflagging political energy and encyclopedic understanding of domestic policy to govern over an historic peacetime expansion. Yeltsin, meanwhile, squandered countless opportunities to establish a stable and legal government, allowing instead his political needs of the moment always to outweigh his vision of Russia’s future.” [FULL TEXT]
 

Send email to
American Diplomacy