Focal Points Blog

China Closes the Innovation Gap

China appears to be on the cusp of becoming the world’s foremost research and development engine.

China is second only to the United States when it comes to science publications. Pictured: the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area. (Photo: Alex Needham / Wikipedia)

A version of this article appeared on Consortium News.

The headline reads, “The Rapid Rise of a Research Nation: China’s economic boom is mirrored by its similarly meteoric rise in high quality science.” This was not a headline in People’s Daily or China Daily but in the most prestigious of Western scientific publications, Nature.

The 38 pages, which follow that headline in a special Supplement to the journal Nature, tell us that China is now second in the world in high-quality science publications and growing fast. This certainly contradicts the Western, dare I say racist, stereotype of the hardworking, but unimaginative, Asian drudge, dutifully churning out mounds of low quality work.
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Saudi Crisis Deepens (Part 2)

Saudi oppression of its own Shias and its war against Yemen are symptoms of its decline.

By Ibrahim Kazerooni and Rob Prince, 3 days ago

The Saudi state, which has traditionally used terrorists to do its bidding, is now engaging in direct military intervention, such as in Yemen. (Photo: AP)

Experts in space studies have asserted that when a star stands on the verge of its collapse, its core becomes unstable. It begins to expand far beyond its regular size, appearing to be greatly expanding – when, actually, it is in its weakest and most vulnerable state. This is the precise state in which Saudi Arabia presently finds itself.

In Al Muqaddimah, the great 14th century classic, Ibn Khaldun outlines a template for the rise and fall of empires. He maintains that no society can achieve anything unless consensus exists concerning its goals and objectives and it enjoys what he refers to as social solidarity “asabiyah” – or consensus – supporting those goals. Jockeying for personal power, corruption, and the seduction of wealth creates a general lethargy that constitutes the dying phase of any dominant power.
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A Pox on the House of Nuclear Weapons

In effect, the nuclear ban treaty will put a curse on nuclear weapons.

By Russ Wellen, 4 days ago

Earlier this month, a UN working group met in Geneva to discuss implementing the nuclear ban treaty. (Photo: RAF)

Do you long for the day when states in possession of nuclear weapons divest themselves of these nefarious instruments of the devil? You have no doubt grown tired of waiting for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty. Like movies bogged down in development, they are projects forever waiting to be greenlit.

When and if they are finally ratified, arms control treaties, like nonproliferation, are essentially mechanisms to reserve and preserve nuclear weapons for nuclear powers only. Even those in the arms control world with a soft spot for disarmament have given it up as unrealistic. But a growing movement is seeking to forge a treaty that sets the stage for disarmament. Counterintuitively, but, of necessity, the Humanitarian Initiative, or, as it’s more commonly known, the nuclear ban treaty, excludes the nuclear weapons states.
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Hillary Clinton Animated by the Spirit of Scoop Jackson

Hillary Clinton’s amalgam of militarism and domestic liberalism is a throwback to another era.

By Russ Wellen, 7 days ago

Whoever thought a candidate in the mold of Scoop Jackson would run for the presidency as a Democrat in the 21st century? (Photo: hmjackson.org)

I have long maintained that Hillary Clinton is a candidate out of step with her time. To put it another way, she is a couple of steps behind the will of the people. As an example of that, let’s resurrect the ghost of one-time Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson (D-WA). He died in 1983, but, to a much greater extent than most legislators from his era – and to our detriment — his memory and influence live on. Here’s how he’s described at Wikipedia:

A Cold War liberal and anti-Communist Democrat, Jackson supported higher military spending and a hard line against the Soviet Union, while also supporting social welfare programs, civil rights, and labor unions.

Green Zone Incursion Calls Into Question Iraq’s Future as a State

Iraqi civilians will no longer stand for a government that fails to provide security and basic services.

By Russ Wellen, May 19, 2016

Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki leads an obstructionist parliament familiar to those watching Republicans in U.S. Congress. (Photo: Thierry Ehrmann / Flickr Commons)

On April 30, hundreds of Iraqi protesters climbed over and tore down the walls surrounding Baghad’s infamous Green Zone, once U.S. headquarters, now home to the Iraq government and invaded the parliament. Writes David Gardner for the Financial Times:

The outburst came after parliament had serially thwarted [current Prime Minister Haider al-] Abadi’s attempt to assemble a more technocratic government of non-partisan experts in charge of finance, utilities and the oil ministry.

Yemen a Major Blot on Obama’s Foreign Policy Record

U.S. support of Saudi Arabia’s war on Yemen is not only marring President Obama’s legacy but sowing death and destruction.

By Russ Wellen, May 18, 2016

The United States doesn’t seem to have a clear understanding of what it is doing in Yemen. Pictured: Yemen’s capital, Sanaa. (Photo: Richard Messenger / Flickr Commons)

At the end of March the White House announced that it is providing logistical and intelligence support to Saudi Arabia’s military operations in Yemen. The main purposes seem to be to limit Iranian influence via the Houthis and deny Al Qaeda a refuge. Writes Micah Zenko in Foreign Policy, “make no mistake, the United States is a combatant in this intervention.”

U.S.-operated drones are supplying targeting intelligence to Saudi forces in Yemen, which goes well beyond the definition of logistics and intelligence, writes Zenko. In addition the U.S. is providing aerial refueling for Saudi fighter aircraft.

If Elected, Trump Unlikely to Improve on Obama’s Nuclear-Weapons Record

If Donald Trump is elected he will be handed the keys to nuclear-weapons program more entrenched than ever thanks to President Obama.

By Rachelle Marshall, May 17, 2016

Donald Trump has demonstrated a willingness to use nuclear weapons if elected president. (Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr Commons)

Republican presidential candidate Donald J. Trump has not ruled out using a nuclear bomb once he becomes president. As he told interviewer Chris Matthews in late March, “I’m not going to take it off the table.” Nor would Trump object if South Korea and Japan acquired nuclear weapons. If they did so, he said, the U.S. “may very well be better off.”

It has long been U.S. policy to oppose the development of such a bomb by any other country, including our allies. The aim is to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and make sure they would not be acquired by a rogue state. So far this policy has worked; the spread of nuclear weapons has been limited, if not entirely prevented. There is good reason for calling the use of a nuclear weapon “unthinkable.” In August 1945, two atom bombs dropped by the U.S. all but obliterated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Today the U.S. and Russia possess nuclear weapons with many times the destructive power of the earlier bombs. If a nuclear exchange ever took place, the destruction would be greater than anything the world has ever known, and much of the earth would be contaminated by fall-out.
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Hiroshima’s Other Chain Reaction

Some believe an apology for Hiroshima by President Obama could set off a destabilizing chain reaction of apologies.

By Russ Wellen, May 16, 2016

Thanks but no thanks, says Japan. (Perhaps the single most disturbing photo of the aftermath of the bombing: U.S. Navy Public Affairs)

Apparently, President Obama will not be using his visit to Hiroshima in a couple of weeks to provide support for recent revisionist history, which holds that dropping atom bombs on Japan did not cause Japan to surrender in World War II. Deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes wrote:

He will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future.

Iran’s Hard-line Supreme Leader Was Actually a Protege of the Moderates

Supreme Leader Ali Khameini is not so supreme in the eyes of most Iranians.

By Russ Wellen, May 13, 2016

Ayatollah Khameini was never as moderate as those who put him in power. (Photo: Wikipedia)

The battle between the left and right is just as vicious in Iran as it is in the United States. In a piece at the National Interest titled Iran’s Incredible Shrinking Ayatollah, Muhammad Sahimi writes:

There is a fierce power struggle in Iran between those who want to open up Iran and reconcile with the rest of the world, and Khamenei and his supporters who have been frozen in the revolutionary era of 1979.

Russia Struggling With Its Inferiority Complex

Russia’s behavior resembles that of a small country such as North Korea more than a superpower.

By Russ Wellen, May 12, 2016

The Soviet Union once boasted superior conventional forces to the United States, but that is not the case with Russia. Pictured: the Kremlin. (Photo: Larry Koester / Flickr Commons)

According to conventional wisdom, its war with Georgia, invasion of Ukraine, and annexation of Crimea are examples of Russia flexing its muscles. Though actions by its warplanes are decidedly provocative including a Russian fighter buzzing a U.S. destroyer (see video).

At The Hill, Will Saetren and Noah Williams write:

Perhaps most troublingly, Russia has started making not-so-subtle nuclear threats against NATO.

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