The Duck of Minerva

Peter

Dr. Peter Howard focuses on US foreign policy and international security. He studies how the implementation of foreign policy programs produces rule-based regional security regimes, conducting research in Estonia on NATO Expansion and US Military Exchange programs and South Korea on nuclear negotiations with North Korea.

Recent Posts

An odd state of union

by Peter | 25 January, 2007 |

I actually did watch the SOTU on Tuesday, in part because there was nothing else on television, and in part because I figured it might be a good topic to discuss in class. Wednesday night I was the substitute teacher for a colleague's graduate seminar on the Domestic Sources of US Foreign Policy. We ended up talking about the ideals that put the "American" in American Foreign Policy, and the assigned reading for the day was Samuel Huntington's 1982 article "American Ideals versus American Institutions." We put Huntington's article here for two reasons: First, its great for generating...

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The Last Best Chance for Iraq

by Peter | 17 January, 2007 |

Yesterday as I was driving home, I caught the better part of President Bush's interview with The News Hour's Jim Lehrer (full transcript here).I found it quite interesting-- a very different Bush than I had heard before. Different in tone, different in style, and somewhat different in substance. Here, Bush admitted openly and honestly that he and his administration made real mistakes in Iraq: Part of the failure for our reaction was ourselves. I mean, we should have found troops and moved them.The purpose of the interview, along with others he's been giving this week, is to sell his new Iraq...

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Previously on 24…

by Peter | 15 January, 2007 |

There is only one prime-time network TV show that I watch regularly, and the season premier was tonight: Jack Bauer is back for another season of 24. Sure, its a bit far-fetched, and sure, no one can get around LA with no traffic in the middle of the day and always find available parking, and sure, Jack was just tortured 15 minutes ago and is now torturing someone else. But the show is great. Its perhaps the best suspense-driven, action-oriented weekly show around, and the real-time thing still works (for the most part).It also captures (ok, makes an effort to portray, but they do a better...

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The 2007 Counterterrorism desk calendar

by Peter | 11 January, 2007 |

If you haven't already picked up a 2007 calendar (and I certainly have not yet done so), you may want to check out the National Counter-terrorism Center's 2007 Desk Calendar.The US National Counterterrorism Center is pleased to present the 2007 edition of the Counterterrorism (CT) Calendar. This edition, the largest since the Calendar first appeared in a daily planner format in 2003, contains many features across the full range of terrorism-related issues: terrorist groups, wanted terrorists, and technical pages on various threat-related issues. The Calendar marks dates according to the...

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Finally fighting “The War Within”

by Peter | 8 January, 2007 |

About 10 years ago, Thomas Friedman (before he was Mr. Globalization and was merely Mr. Middle East Peace), offered his view of what it would take to bring real progress on peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.* In a nutshell, each side would need to fight (and 'win') a civil war before either could reasonably make progress on Peace.Friedman said:In the Arab world the internal struggle pits on one side those who want to open their societies and link up with the global economy. They view peace with Israel not as a good in and of itself, but as a necessary ritual if they want to...

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The Other Shoes Drop

by Peter | 5 January, 2007 |

Yesterday I wondered what was going on with the reports that Negroponte was leaving the DNI post to take over as Deputy SecState. Well, I awoke to NPR reporting that this is part of a much larger reshuffling of Bush's Iraq team--and yes, you really do need a program to keep up with who is going where.Negroponte out at DNI, in as Deputy SecState, to handle Iraq issuesMike McConnell to be nominated to be DNIKhalilzad out as Ambassador to Iraq, in as UN AmbassadorRyan Crocker to be nominated as new Ambassador to IraqGen. Casey out as commander of troops in IraqGen. David Petraeus in as...

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Demotion or Intelligent Move?

by Peter | 4 January, 2007 |

Reports out today indicate that John Negroponte is planning to leave his job as Director of National Intelligence to become Deputy Secretary of State.This is a very curious move, one that leaves me scratching my head just a bit. The move is clearly a step down. Negroponte will be leaving a newly created, cabinet-level, highly powerful, high-profile position that is central to the GWOT to be come a Deputy, the number two person in State which, of late, has suffered and chaffed behind DoD and the Intel community under the Bush Administration.On the one hand, maybe its a smart move. Negroponte...

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Gerald Ford, 1913 – 2006

by Peter | 27 December, 2006 |

Former President Gerald Ford died yesterday.I'm sure that there will be much discussion of Ford's legacy as the only non-elected President in US history, following the resignation of Nixon, and the implications of his pardon of Nixon, perhaps the defining moment of his presidency. As he was only in office briefly, serving out the remainder of Nixon's second term, Ford is not generally credited with many major foreign policy initiatives or successes. He inherited Nixon's agenda, team, and issues, but spent much of his presidency focused on domestic and economic issues. Nevertheless, Ford did...

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WAR!

by Peter | 25 December, 2006 |

Ethiopia launched an invasion of Somalia yesterday:Ethiopia officially plunged into war with Somalia’s Islamist forces on Sunday, bombing targets inside Somalia and pushing ground troops deep into Somali territory in a major escalation that could turn Somalia’s internal crisis into a violent religious conflict that engulfs the entire Horn of Africa.The coordinated assault was the first open admission by Ethiopia’s Christian-led government of its military operations inside Somalia, where — with tacit American support — it has been helping a weak interim government threatened by forces loyal...

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Hell in a Hand Basket

by Peter | 23 December, 2006 |

Where to start? About 2 years ago, Patrick and I did an event with the campus Debate Club, where he and I each teamed up with a student and debated "US Foreign Policy: Going to Hell in a Hand Basket." It was great fun. I was on the side of hell in a hand basket (and won), though it helped to have reality on my side. Reality is back in force, and its not good for the Bush Administration and its not is it good for US foreign policy.The Washington Post has a solid overview in today's paper.On three key flash points -- North Korea, Iran and Sudan -- the Bush administration confronts the...

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