Nation Topics - Foreign Policy | The Nation

This article focuses on Germany's Green Party. The Green Party was knocked out of Germany's government in last fall's elections. The party was a junior partner in the Social Democratic Party-run red-green coalition from 1998-2005. A coalition of the SPD and an alliance of the Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union replaced the red-green government after last September's elections.

The article looks at Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, with particular focus on an article published in the November 18, 2005 edition of Princeton University's "Daily Princetonian." According to the article, Alito touted his membership in an organization called Concerned Alumni of Princeton (CAP) when applying to become deputy assistant attorney general in the Reagan administration. It is the author's view that CAP had an innocuous-sounding name that disguised a less benign agenda which included preventing women and minorities from entering Princeton. Various material published by the CAP is reviewed.

Offers a look at a report called "The Politics of Polarization," by political strategists William Galston and Elaine Kamarck, regarding the steps the U.S. Democratic Party must take to win majority in the next elections. Advice that the Democratic Party focus on the opinions held by a majority of voters; Suggestion that Democrats focus their message on moderate voters; Statement that the report does not argue that the policies of a centrist strategy would actually be beneficial for the U.S. or the world; Criticism of Galston and Kamarck for scheming to win elections without providing a full-scale strategy for the Democratic Party.

Offers a look at economic conditions in the United States and discusses the possibility for an economic recession. Lack of consumer confidence; Decline of consumer spending and personal incomes; Report that the collapse of New Orleans, Louisiana, due to Hurricane Katrina wiped out nearly 300,000 jobs; Discussion of the negative savings rate among U.S. households; Criticism of President George W. Bush's economic policy; Suggestion that price inflation would be better for the economy than recession; Need for the government to spend money in ways that would help struggling wage earners.

Refutes ten points in favor of the U.S.-led Iraq War. Criticism of claims that link the Taliban in Afghanistan to the Baath Party in Iraq; Discussion of relations between Libya and the United States; Discussion of whether Iran has violated the Non-Proliferation Treaty; Benefits brought to the Iraqi Kurds through the Iraq War; Discussion of the democratization of Egypt, Syria and Lebanon; Criticism of the claim that the U.S. killed thousands of Osama bin Laden infiltrators in Iraq and Afghanistan; Discussion of the impact of the Iraq War on U.S. soldiers who fought there.

Presents news briefs related to U.S. politics and reviews news content available on "The Nation" Web site. Fine levied by a U.S. Federal Court against Voices in the Wilderness, an organization of American peace insurgents formed in 1996 to deliver medicine to Iraqis in defiance of a US/UN embargo; Reaction of Frances Cerra Whittelsey to the Valerie Plame affair on "The Nation" Web site; Article by Dave Zirin on sports in society on "The Nation" Web site; Others.

Presents the poem "On President Bush's Recess Appointment Of John Bolton As Ambassador To The United Nations," by Calvin Trillin. First line: The job's too vital. Bush has said; Last line: So let's get started. Time's a-wasting.

Presents the author's view on the public approval of U.S. President George W. Bush. Comparison of Bush's popular esteem to that of former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon; Suggestion that Bush's political agenda continues to flourish despite his poll numbers; Discussion of the nomination of U.S. Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts; Democratic reaction to Roberts' appointment; Question of how protestor Cindy Sheehan is gaining more attention than legislators that dispute the war in Iraq.

The article recounts the author's experience with the controversy surrounding White House political strategist Karl Rove and the leak of the identity of CIA operative Valerie Wilson to the media. Two years ago, after reading a Bob Novak column, I called former Ambassador Joseph Wilson and asked, half-jokingly, "Why didn't you tell me your wife was in the CIA?" In a somber voice, Wilson said, "I can't tell you that now." When I first read that Novak column outing Valerie Wilson (also known as Valerie Plame) as a CIA officer and citing "two senior administration officials," I didn't immediately comprehend the leak's seriousness. But as I spoke with Wilson, I could see the potential harm. And I realized the leak was no accident. At the time, the White House and its allies were mounting a fierce campaign against Wilson, who had revealed in a New York Times op-ed that on a 2002 CIA-sponsored trip to Niger he had gathered information undermining one of George W. Bush's justifications for the Iraq War: that Iraq had been shopping for uranium in Africa. And as we discussed the Novak leak it occurred to me that the leakers might have violated an obscure law that prohibits government officials (not journalists) from knowingly disclosing the identity of an intelligence officer. I mentioned this to Wilson; he was unfamiliar with the law. I said I might write about the leak and this law. He didn't encourage me. He was hoping that somehow this story might blow over and was not eager to draw more attention to it.

Discusses the issue of global climate change in light of the forthcoming Group of 8 (G-8) summit meeting in Scotland. View that humanity is drifting toward unparalleled catastrophe because climate change is on track to kill millions of people in the twenty-first century by increasing temperatures, causing sea-levels to rise, parching farmlands and crashing ecosystems; Suggestion that British Prime Minister Tony Blair's dream of an historic breakthrough on climate issues will come only if G-8 leaders are willing to defy the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush and plot their own course.