Anne Applebaum's Blog, page 37

WARSAW

Over the past 20 years, I’ve spent a lot of time in countries that are not democracies but would like to be. In Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, and more recently in North Africa, I’ve met many, many people who are trying to figure out how to translate that elusive concept “the will of the people” into the practical matters of government: taxation, public spending, defense, law and order, garbage collection. Over and over again, I’ve watched them construct institutions desig...

WARSAW

Over the past 20 years, I’ve spent a lot of time in countries that are not democracies but would like to be. In Central Europe and the former Soviet Union, and more recently in North Africa, I’ve met many, many people who are trying to figure out how to translate that elusive concept “the will of the people” into the practical matters of government: taxation, public spending, defense, law and order, garbage collection. Over and over again, I’ve watched them construct institutions desig...

If one were writing a guidebook for would-be political leaders, one might well use Angela Merkel as a negative example. She is not media-friendly. She is not charismatic. She is not physically fit or well-dressed. She does not give off an aura of decisiveness; indeed, she has been known to leave extremely important decisions until it is almost too late. Her political campaigns are boring, her personal life even more so. She sometimes likes to compare her economic policies to those of a “Swabi...

If one were writing a guidebook for would-be political leaders, one might well use Angela Merkel as a negative example. She is not media-friendly. She is not charismatic. She is not physically fit or well-dressed. She does not give off an aura of decisiveness; indeed, she has been known to leave extremely important decisions until it is almost too late. Her political campaigns are boring, her personal life even more so. She sometimes likes to compare her economic policies to those of a “Swabi...

“Right makes might, and not the other way around,” President Obama said in the Rose Garden a few weeks ago. We all know what he meant: In this age of soft power, great countries can win friends not through the use of brute force but through their books and movies, their sophisticated economies, their technological innovations and, above all, through their attractive and inspiring national ideals.

“Right makes might, and not the other way around,” President Obama said in the Rose Garden a few weeks ago. We all know what he meant: In this age of soft power, great countries can win friends not through the use of brute force but through their books and movies, their sophisticated economies, their technological innovations and, above all, through their attractive and inspiring national ideals.

Twenty-one years ago this summer, Bill Clinton was crisscrossing the United States, campaigning for president and denouncing the White House for its failure to stop the Bosnian war. In July 1992 he spoke of the “renegade regime” in Serbia, called on the United Nations to tighten sanctions and, after the publication of particularly harrowing photographs from a Serbian concentration camp, declared that Americans must do “whatever it takes to stop the slaughter of civilians.” If elected, he decl...

Twenty-one years ago this summer, Bill Clinton was crisscrossing the United States, campaigning for president and denouncing the White House for its failure to stop the Bosnian war. In July 1992 he spoke of the “renegade regime” in Serbia, called on the United Nations to tighten sanctions and, after the publication of particularly harrowing photographs from a Serbian concentration camp, declared that Americans must do “whatever it takes to stop the slaughter of civilians.” If elected, he decl...

PARIS

In Washington, in Paris, in Cairo; on the street, in restaurants, at the bus stop; on Twitter, on Facebook and on YouTube, one can hear and find an infinite variety of interpretations of events in Egypt, and an equal number of opinions about the U.S. role there. But most of the time, they boil down to one of two arguments:

PARIS

In Washington, in Paris, in Cairo; on the street, in restaurants, at the bus stop; on Twitter, on Facebook and on YouTube, one can hear and find an infinite variety of interpretations of events in Egypt, and an equal number of opinions about the U.S. role there. But most of the time, they boil down to one of two arguments: