Bird's Eye View

A U.S.-India Nuclear Deal?

Rob Coniglio — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 00:19:26 -0400

What does the U.S.-India Nuclear Deal mean?

This past week, amongst the chaos of the bailout and financial crisis, the Senate approved the pending nuclear deal between the United States and India. In the final several years of the Bush Administration, cooperation with India has been one of the administration’s key goals. This nuclear deal, which entails the transfer of technology for the development of India’s nuclear industry, signals a marked shift for U.S. policy both in terms of proliferation and regional partners.

Round One: To a Draw

Rob Coniglio — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:37:13 -0400

Friday was the first presidential debate and by now there’s sure to be enough spin for both sides to present two completely different interpretations of the same, rather disappointing event. Though the theme of the night was to be foreign policy, the debate rightly gave more urgency to the current economic crisis, although it made this post somewhat more difficult to write. As with most debates, no new policy proposals came up, but we did get to see the two men side by side and were able to contrast their different outlooks and styles. Though neither candidate took the upper hand, we saw two different visions for America’s place in the world.

The Politics of Never Saying Sorry

Rob Coniglio — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:33:53 -0400

I was surprised to learn this week from a radio interview that Senator McCain is ambivalent on whether or not he would meet with the Prime Minister of Spain (http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/18/mccains-position-on-spain/), who only promised to meet with leaders who share our “same principles and philosophy," qualifying that with his statement that he has a “clear record of working with leaders in the hemisphere that are friends with us.”

Lipstick on Pigs?

Rob Coniglio — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:48:00 -0400

Regardless of whether the next President is Obama or McCain, he is going to be confronted with difficult foreign policy challenges involving the United States's relations with nearly every region of the world. In the Middle East there are the continuing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In addition, political instability in Israel and the unsettled conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians undermines U.S. policy goals and absorbs U.S. diplomatic resources. Outside of just the Middle East, Russia’s reassertion of power in the Caucuses is having ripple effects everywhere Russian tanks can reach; though mostly in Europe and the former Soviet states. The rises of China and India in Asia have the potential to upset stability in the respective regions.

The New Great Game

Rob Coniglio — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:57:12 -0400

Since the fall of the Soviet Union the United States has been incrementally increasing its influence in the former Eastern Bloc, as well as countries that have historically been considered part of Russia (whether or not that’s good is a separate issue from whether or not it's true.) The recent crisis over Georgia is the first of what will most likely be a long and sustained reaction and attempt to reassert Russian control in its former backyard.

Monuments to the New, New China

Rob Coniglio — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 18:53:26 -0400

When I look through both American and Chinese history, I see a common thread in our shared pre-occupation with monuments. Americans have the countless presidential monuments in D.C. as well as war memorials, not to mention our grand public works projects such as the Hoover Dam and Interstate Highway System that represent our belief in power and hope for America.

Counting Down the Days to “New Beijing, New Olympics”

Rob Coniglio — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:55:36 -0400

The Olympics open in twelve days. You could say that Beijing is putting the final touches on what it hopes will be a masterpiece, a sign of China’s rising power and ascension to an important global position. Yet these preparations have cut widely and deeply into the daily lives of those who live in and around Beijing.

Letters from Beijing: July 1st

Rob Coniglio — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:24:00 -0400

It’s not your Ithaca Wal-Mart. Though the form is more or less the same with the happy smiley face promising “always low prices” (though in Chinese it only promises “always fair prices”), the blue-aproned sales associates and the general brightness and cleanliness of the store

Letter from Beijing

Rob Coniglio — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 01:07:27 -0400

Walking down the streets of Beijing is a surreal experience. There are times when it doesn’t even seem like you’re in the same country, let alone same city. On the one hand there are towers of steel and glass and deluxe shopping malls with high-powered brand names pasted on the walls, but there are also areas of poverty, where resident are just waiting for an eviction order to make way for the next shiny development.

Down the Rabbit Hole

Rob Coniglio — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:19:21 -0400

It is rare that a government would try to block humanitarian supplies from reaching its own people. Even such pariah governments as North Korea eagerly accept aid for its people when faced with famine. Benefits of such aid may not be equitably distributed, but rarely do governments refuse foreign help when their own ability to cope with a crisis has been overloaded. That is, unless we’re discussing the military government of Myanmar, which has placed the paranoid concerns of its leaders over the welfare of the millions affected by the recent cyclone. Myanmar’s leaders have wasted precious time delaying badly-needed foreign aid and placing restrictions on distribution aimed at monopolizing the government’s control of the situation.

The New Resource Crisis

Rob Coniglio — Sun, 04 May 2008 23:21:59 -0400

Everyone knows about OPEC, the cartel of petroleum-producing nations that has manipulated oil prices and production for years, but if Thailand has its way there will be a cartel for rice producing nations. The interest in a rice-producer’s cartel highlights a new resource crisis that is upon the world, that of food. Over the past year food prices across the world have skyrocketed, with rice prices rising 74 percent and wheat prices going up 130 percent. The origin for much of the rising prices is the increasing world populations, as well as increasing incomes in developing countries, leading to higher demands for meat products, which require grain for feed.

The Patriarch Strikes Back

Rob Coniglio — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 03:20:44 -0400

The crisis in Zimbabwe has only worsened since April 13, when I last posted a blog on the elections there. We can take a small consolation in that now the ZANU-PF and Robert Mugabe are laid out for what they really are, thugs, for the entire world to see. Violence against the opposition Movement for Democratic Change has been reported across the country, including the recent arrest of several hundred opposition members from the party’s headquarters. Morgan Tsvangirai has been forced to flee the country for his safety, while the official results of the presidential election have yet to be released!

Seven Years Later, Same Government, Same Policies

Rob Coniglio — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 22:14:31 -0400

We dropped the ball big time on this one. When the International Olympic Committee gave Beijing the 2008 Olympics, China was well-known for its abysmal human rights record. While the decision was being made, advocates for Beijing said that China would improve itself for the Olympics. They cited the 1988 Seoul Olympics, which was closely tied to South Korea’s process of democratization. Unfortunately, they failed to cite the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, where several months before the Games started, Mexico’s authoritarian government brutally repressed student protestors. Democracy has a complicated and often uncorrelated relationship with the Olympics.

Autumn for the Patriarch

Rob Coniglio — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 15:57:14 -0400

In 1980, revolutionary independence leader Robert Mugabe became the leader of Zimbabwe. The man who had led the guerilla movement against the white-minority regime assumed power amidst high hopes. Since 1965, Mugabe has been a key figure in the struggle for majority rule in the former Southern Rhodesia. He has remained President up until this past election and as of now, the results of the March 29 election remain unannounced and the future of the country remains in a delicate balance, largely due to Mr. Mugabe's actions.

A New Outlook?

Rob Coniglio — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 00:20:48 -0400

Since its founding after World War I, the Turkish state has had a clouded history with the integration of minorities. Founded out of the multi-cultural Ottoman Empire, Turkey forged an ethnic identity that came into conflict with Greek and Armenian residents of the Anatolian Peninsula. The conflict with the Armenians is often referred to as genocide, though the Turkish government steadfastly refuses to characterize it that way.

The Question of Kosovo

Rob Coniglio — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 22:55:00 -0500

A lot happened in Versailles in 1919. Germany was crippled economically and began down the path towards the rise of the Nazi Party, the state of Iraq was born out of three dissimilar Ottoman provinces and Yugoslavia was created as the state for the South Slavs of the Balkans. The errors of Versailles have haunted us for a century, and with the independence of Kosovo, one of those mistakes has been settled.

Cold War Redux

Rob Coniglio — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 18:10:01 -0500

I remember (or at least remember being told) that when the Soviet Union and Communist bloc fell, it was the end of history. The time afterwards was supposed to signal the end of human ideological evolution, with the world being defined by liberal democracy and market economies. The optimism was only matched by the belief that with the growing democratic “consensus” there would be the end of human conflict. Given the state of the world now, it’s hard to imagine that anyone believed it at the time.

Facebook, Cocaine and Hugo Chavez

Rob Coniglio — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:59:49 -0500

What do Facebook, cocaine and Hugo Chavez all have in common? They only share one thing that I’m aware of- the five decade-long Colombian civil war. This week, following impressive use of Facebook by one average Colombian, Oscar Morales, in order to mobilize the Colombian population, protestors marched within the country and in nearly 100 cities abroad. They demanded an end to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) guerilla movement, an end to the violence and kidnapping. And though the United States did not cause this conflict and is not actively participating, the case of Colombia clearly shows the influence that Americans, from the average person to policy makers have on the world around them.

War and the Clearance Sale

Rob Coniglio — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:12:19 -0500

I had an interesting exchange in one of my classes this past week. Our assignment in this class for the day was to rank a given list of issues in order of importance from 1 to 10. Not only did they include standard political issues like “the economy and jobs,” “terrorism and war,” and “healthcare” but a myriad of environmental ones including “human population growth” and “climate change” (which makes sense as this is an environmental studies class). What struck me though was when we were asked to form a consensus among ever larger groups (from two to four to eight) and how few students were concerned about “terrorism and war.”