Projections of Power

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The United States and Russia, whose arsenals are still crammed with the most nuclear weapons, must lead the way. And in the current situation, the new American president is the only person who could give this initiative the impetus it truly needs. This is unlikely to lead to the "zero option," but a growing number of experts are convinced it could produce a radical reduction in the size of both countries' nuclear arsenals without eliminating their ability to defend themselves. Russia has continued to brandish its nuclear might as a means of clinging to the remnants of its superpower status; it is also acutely conscious of the limitations of its conventional forces—despite their muscle-flexing in Georgia. But a concerted effort by the United States and others to engage Russia on this issue could lead to the win-win situation that both sides need.

Of course, the higher the expectations for a new U.S. administration, the more likely that disillusionment will quickly follow. No president can be all things to all people, and the world isn't really sure what it wants from the United States. When American presidents have looked indecisive, they were blasted even by their allies. "I have nothing against the U.S. president's right to leadership, but one must know in which way it is going," German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt complained about Jimmy Carter. When they are seen as too single-minded in their convictions—think of the early days of Ronald Reagan, or most of the tenure of President George W. Bush—they are condemned for American arrogance.

The new American president will operate in a different world—one in which the United States remains the most powerful force, but isn't singularly dominant. It's a world where other countries are emerging as major regional powers, most notably China and India. And the European Union, for all its visible shortcomings, is an increasingly important player. At the same time, the U.S. must continue to lead the fight against global terrorism, seek common solutions to economic problems, and find new ways to defuse political tensions.

It will be a delicate balancing act: the new president must both acknowledge the new realities of increasingly assertive allies and competing nations, while continuing to offer the leadership that only the United States can provide. For the untested new occupant of the White House, it's hard to imagine a more difficult assignment.

Andrew Nagorski, a former NEWSWEEK correspondent and senior editor, is now Director of Public Policy at the EastWest Institute. He wrote this commentary for NEWSWEEK Polska, NEWSWEEK's Polish-language partner.

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Posted By: lovejusticepeace @ 11/06/2008 11:42:25 AM

Nuns raped in broad daylight in front of policemen in Orissa.
Doctors pulled out of policevan and slaughtered by MaharashtraNavnirmanSena (MNS) during the recent riots in Kalyan ,Mumbai.
The head of state , PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh is not invited to the Beijing Olympics but someone else
namely Sonia Gandhi who is just a party president .
Is India a powerless superpower?
Is India a leaderless ,leading country of the world ?
c.c.Newsweek ,IndianExpress ,NewYorkTimes , Times of India , etc.
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Posted By: ObamaYesWeCan @ 11/04/2008 6:47:59 PM

WITH INSURMOUNTABLE LEADS IN ALL THE POLLS, THE QUESTION IS NO LONGER WHO WILL WIN, BUT HOW BIG OF A LANDSLIDE OBAMA WILL WIN BY: 90%? 80%? 70%? HENCE, IT CAN ALREADY BE DECLARED THAT OUR SAVIOR, BARACK OBAMA, HAS WON AND WILL BE THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF OUR NEW OBAMACA NATION.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND DEDICATION. WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SMITED THE UNBELIEVERS AND OPENED THE ONE AND ONLY GATE TO HEAVEN. GOD BLESS US, GOD BLESS US ALL.

THE ONLY THING LEFT IS FOR MCCAIN TO DROP DEAD OR CONCEDE ALREADY. WE HAVE WON FOR THE GOOD OF THE WHOLE WORLD!
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Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 11/04/2008 3:51:49 PM

It is important in the extreme to observe that these calls for ''sacrifice''eminate from those who will sacrifice the least. Whether Francophiliac hacks like Nagorski ,or NEWSWEAK scribblers such as Darman[who actually has a NEWSWEAK video on the subject of ''sacrifice''], their jobs,even if torpedoed by the increasingly untenable NEWSWEAK [whose position in the Washington Post group ownership of the uniquely liberal rag is failing as we write], will be assured in some other media venue. SLATE perhaps,MOTHER JONES,or similar leftleaning mouthpiece.
VD Hansons opposite number over at JONES,as it happens,is leftwinger Kevin Drum,who writes today of this ''sacrifice'' fearing its more lasting implications. If it is seen by Americans that they are the ones suffering,and they have merely replaced one set of ''plutocrats'' or ''aristocrats'' with another,who continue to live fat on our dime,rank with the corruption we are already seeing in Washington under the end of the second year of Democrat leadership,these will rebel,and we will go through yet another series of ''toss the bums out''all over again.
It becomes important to acknowlage that the successes of the Clinton administration in the domestic sector were those of a split government,with both sides having to practice compromise. The all-GOP show wrecked this,and there is no reason not to believe that an all-Democrat show will not wreck it further. Indeed as admitted to last week on C-SPAN by Rhode Island liberal socialist Sen.Sheldon Whitehouse,''there are no plans to work with the Republican minority'' in the new administration and congress.
This will be a catastrophe in waiting,for all of America. There will be no ''national healing'' or ''reconciliation''. the lines on both sides of the fence will harden,and little will get done that will ultimately benefit Americans who were not a portion of the ''buy now pay later'' group so glibly advanced by the above writer.