PUBLICATIONS BY Helle C. Dale
Research
Commentary
Media Appearances
2009 Research
October 20, 2009
Joe Biden's Fence-Mending Mission: Re-Open the Visa Waiver Program
By Helle C. Dale and Jena Baker McNeill
(WebMemo #2658)
Joe Biden should use his foreign trip to put pressure on the Administration to open the Visa Waiver Program to America's Eastern European allies.
October 20, 2009
State Department Strategy Review Flawed from Start
By Helle C. Dale and James M. Roberts
(WebMemo #2659)
If the discussions at the kick-off event are an indicator, the final QDDR product will repeat past policy mistakes.
September 15, 2009
How Not to Increase U.S. Tourism
By Helle C. Dale
(WebMemo #2612)
If the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 passes the U.S. House, the
number of foreign tourists visiting the U.S. will continue to drop.
August 24, 2009
Captive Nations Past and Present
By Helle C. Dale
(Heritage Lecture #1130)
Captive nations are not a thing of the past. Communist and other totalitarian regimes like China and North Korea violate individual rights and freedoms in almost every capacity, and allegedly democratic governments like Venezuela do so as well. Confronting these nations on the international stage is a challenge that the United States, as the world's freest and most powerful nation, must continue to meet.
June 19, 2009
The Iranian Elections and Public Diplomacy 2.0: A Tale of Untapped Potential
By Helle C. Dale
(WebMemo #2497)
As demonstrated by the activities coinciding with Obama’s speech, the U.S. government has seized on the possibilities of cutting-edge communication.
January 21, 2009
President Obama’s Inaugural Speech: Tough Road Ahead for U.S. Foreign Policy
By Helle C. Dale
(WebMemo #2234)
In the days ahead, Mr. Obama's foreign policy will take shape. There is no doubt that philosophically, Mr. Obama differs from his predecessor. Yet, how far world events will allow the Obama foreign policy to diverge from that of the Bush years remains to be seen.
2008 Research
November 20, 2008
Reforming U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century
By Tony Blankley, Helle C. Dale, and Oliver Horn
(Backgrounder #2211)
U.S. government institutions tasked with strategic communications have lacked the leadership and resources necessary to do their job and have operated with virtually no interagency coordination. Congress and the President should create an institutional framework and strategy that includes a new U.S. Agency for Strategic Communications, substantial reforms of the Department of State, and greater utilization of the Pentagon's combatant commands.
November 20, 2008
Executive Summary: Reforming U.S. Public Diplomacy for the 21st Century
By Tony Blankley, Helle C. Dale, and Oliver Horn
(Executive Summary #2211)
U.S. government institutions tasked with strategic communications have lacked the leadership and resources necessary to do their job and have operated with virtually no interagency coordination. Congress and the President should create an institutional framework and strategy that includes a new U.S. Agency for Strategic Communications, substantial reforms of the Department of State, and greater utilization of the Pentagon's combatant commands.
August 18, 2008
The Sound of Silence: The Decline of the Voice of America in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia
By Helle C. Dale and Oliver Horn
(WebMemo #2029)
U.S. international broadcasting, and in particular Voice of America, is needed now more than ever. In its annual report on press freedom, Freedom House described the past year as one of "global decline." Of a total of 64 countries surveyed, one-third had a press that was "not free." Consequently, U.S. broadcasting must continue to serve as the lifeline of freedom in these regions, provide uncensored news, explain U.S. foreign policy, and tell America's story.
March 14, 2008
Public Diplomacy: Reinvigorating America's Strategic Communications Policy
By Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D., Helle C. Dale, Colleen Graffy, Michael Doran, Ph.D., Joseph Duffey, Ph.D., and Tony Blankley
(Heritage Lecture #1065)
U.S. government agencies are hampered in their efforts to improve public diplomacy by a combination of poor leadership, inadequate coordination, and insufficient resources. As we seek to improve the U.S. image abroad and engage in a war of ideas with Muslim extremism, improving the relevant public diplomacy structures of the U.S. government are crucial.
February 11, 2008
U.S. Public Diplomacy: The Search for a National Strategy
By Helle C. Dale
(Executive Memorandum #1029)
Engaging strategically in the war of ideas is crucial to U.S. national security, but U.S. public diplomacy is hampered by a lack of leadership, poor interagency coordination, and a lack of resources to engage foreign audiences. In today’s rapidly expanding information universe, efforts to reach foreign audiences need to be more targeted, deliberate, and coordinated than ever before.
2007 Research
September 18, 2007
Public Diplomacy and the Cold War: Lessons Learned
By Carnes Lord, Ph.D., and Helle C. Dale
(Backgrounder #2070)
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, leaders in both the legislative and executive branches essentially discarded public diplomacy as a Cold War relic. Since 9/11, the situation has improved only marginally if at all. To restore America’s voice, government leaders should draw on the nation’s Cold War legacy to lay the foundation for the next generation of public diplomacy.
May 25, 2007
Bush Administration Scores Victory on Iraq Vote
By Helle C. Dale and James Phillips
(WebMemo #1474)
Congress has finally carried out its obligation to fund the American troops on the frontlines of the global war against terrorism.
March 19, 2007
Improve the Visa Waiver Program with Exit Checks for New Participants
By James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Helle C. Dale, and James Dean
(WebMemo #1400)
A simple way to move forward in instituting a mandatory exit registry program in a practical, affordable, and reasonable manner.
March 07, 2007
Bush's Trip to Latin America: Urge Mexico to Adopt Economic Reforms
By Helle Dale
(WebMemo #1387)
President Bush’s trip south represents an opportunity to realistically address the issue of a mass Mexican migration to the United States.
February 15, 2007
Nuance in Chavez's Rhetoric Tells of Future Plans for Region
By Helle C. Dale
(WebMemo #1360)
Unless the U.S. increases its presence in the region through support for democratic institutions and market institutions, the aspirations of Marti, Bolivar, Castro, and now Chavez may come to fruition.
February 05, 2007
Memo to Congress on Iraq: Don't Legislate Defeat Again!
By Helle C. Dale
(WebMemo #1338)
As with the Vietnam War, the Iraq War could be won or lost on the home front if Congress persists in passing resolutions undercutting or limiting the President’s ability to conduct the war.
February 01, 2007
Executive Summary: How to Fix the 100 Hours Homeland Security Bill
By James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Baker Spring, James Sherk, Brian W. Walsh, Lisa Curtis, and Helle C. Dale
(Executive Summary #2003)
Executive Summary: The Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007, passed by the House as a part of the Speaker’s “100 Hours” agenda, muddles the mission of providing homeland security with misguided proposals. Congress should replace the most troubling provisions of H.R. 1 with initiatives that are more consistent with the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations.
February 01, 2007
How to Fix the 100 Hours Homeland Security Bill
By James Jay Carafano, Ph.D., Baker Spring, James Sherk, Brian W. Walsh, Lisa Curtis, and Helle C. Dale
(Backgrounder #2003)
The Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007, passed by the House as a part of the Speaker’s “100 Hours” agenda, muddles the mission of providing homeland security with misguided proposals. Congress should replace the most troubling provisions of H.R. 1 with initiatives that are more consistent with the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations.
January 24, 2007
A Plan Forward for U.S. Public Diplomacy
By Helle C. Dale
(Executive Memorandum #1018)
An effective public diplomacy and strategic communication strategy must look beyond short-term needs, assign clear authorities and responsibilities, and establish sensible processes to aid research, planning, clearing, and assessment. Congress can help by reauthorizing funds for the now-defunct U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy, which can provide input to keep involved agencies from just serving themselves.
2006 Research
December 06, 2006
NATO in Afghanistan: A Test Case for Future Missions
By Helle C. Dale
(Backgrounder #1985)
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan presents an opportunity to observe the successes and shortcomings of voluntary international military operations. To accomplish its mission in Afghanistan and its overall mission, NATO should develop interoperable communications systems, address troop levels and capabilities, address proportional funding, and seriously consider further enlargement to include Alliance-friendly members.
November 27, 2006
NATO in Afghanistan: A Test Case for Future Missions (Draft)
By Helle C. Dale
(Backgrounder #9999)
The future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has become inextricably linked to the future of Afghanistan.
October 10, 2006
Bush's Global Cultural Initiative: A Step Toward Revitalizing U.S. Public Diplomacy
By Stephen Johnson and Helle Dale
(WebMemo #1234)
The Global Cultural Initiative breathes new life into America’s public diplomacy efforts and will promote close-up views of the United States.
August 30, 2006
Economic and Political Rights at the U.N.: A Guide for U.S. Policymakers
By Helle C. Dale
(Backgrounder #1964)
The American understanding of freedom is often quite different from definitions embraced by other countries, particularly those from a Communist, Socialist, or even Continental European tradition.
January 31, 2006
A Foreign Policy Agenda for the State of the Union
By Helle Dale
(WebMemo #974)
Iraq, Iran, the war on terrorism, democracy promotion, and more.
2005 Research
November 28, 2005
Challenges Facing Europe in a World of Globalization
By Helle C. Dale
(Heritage Lecture #914)
Without the willingness to tackle rigidity and stagnation in its major economies, any grand EU ambition to become a superpower, to create a new international order, or to enlarge into Asia and North Africa will not have much of a chance. Flexibility and reform on many levels is key to Europe's success in the future.
November 18, 2005
Al-Hurrah Television and Lessons for U.S. Public Diplomacy
By Helle C. Dale
(Heritage Lecture #909)
Our public diplomacy should promote U.S. interests and security through understanding, informing, and influencing foreign publics, as well as broadening dialogue between American institutions and their counterparts abroad. Rethinking the mission involves going beyond Al-Hurrah and critically reconsidering the confusing organizational structure of U.S. public diplomacy.
October 17, 2005
Cultural Diversity and Freedom at Risk at UNESCO
By Janice A. Smith and Helle Dale
(WebMemo #885)
A "cultural diversity" convention would threaten free markets, free speech, and freedom.
August 05, 2005
Strengthening U.S. Public Diplomacy Requires Organization, Coordination, and Strategy
By Stephen Johnson, Helle C. Dale, and Patrick Cronin, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1875)
The Bush Administration and Congress have made progress in some areas of public diplomacy, but the United States will lag in foreign outreach unless bureaucratic structures are streamlined, better coordinated, and focused on tasks at hand. A new Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy may help, but that is clearly not enough.
August 05, 2005
Executive Summary: Strengthening U.S. Public Diplomacy Requires Organization, Coordination, and Strategy
By Stephen Johnson, Helle C. Dale, and Patrick Cronin, Ph.D.
(Executive Summary #1875)
Executive Summary: The Bush Administration and Congress have made progress in some areas of public diplomacy, but the United States will lag in foreign outreach unless bureaucratic structures are streamlined, better coordinated, and focused on tasks at hand. A new Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy may help, but that is clearly not enough.
June 02, 2005
The Bush Doctrine: What the President Said and What It Means
By Norman Podhoretz, The Honorable Peter Whener, John Sullivan, Larry M. Wortzel, Ph.D., and Helle C. Dale
(Heritage Lecture #881)
President Bush has placed support for freedom and liberty worldwide at the center of American foreign policy and has tied American vital interests directly to our national values and ideals, realizing that these values bind us together as Americans and bind America to others around the world who have those values or aspire to those liberties.
June 01, 2005
A New Perspective on Kosovo's Final Status
By Helle C. Dale and John C. Hulsman, Ph.D.
(Backgrounder #1857)
Because the Balkans' future depends on integration into a Euro-Atlantic framework within the next decade, the Bush Administration should encourage the leveraging of EU economic incentives to bring about a resolution of Kosovo's final status that opens the door to NATO accession for qualifying Balkan countries and allows for drawdown and redeployment of the 7,000 American troops stationed in Kosovo.
April 08, 2005
The ADVANCE Democracy Act: A Dose of Realism Needed
By Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., and Helle C. Dale
(Executive Memorandum #968)
The promotion of democracy remains an important U.S. foreign policy goal, but the ADVANCE Democracy Act could hinder it. The U.S. should continue its tradition of aiding burgeoning democracies, but in a way that also takes into account U.S. vital interests, especially national security, and does not limit the executive branch's ability to conduct foreign policy.
April 07, 2005
Anti-Americanism and Responses to American Power
By Helle C. Dale
(Heritage Lecture #870)
A major strategic effort by the U.S. government is needed to counter anti-Americanism in the Muslim world. To craft effective U.S. government responses to anti-Americanism, we need to consider three factors relating to anti-Americanism abroad—root causes, lethality, and public policy tools. What we need from the second Bush Administration is action.
March 15, 2005
New Leadership, New Hope for Public Diplomacy
By Stephen Johnson and Helle Dale
(WebMemo #688)
Karen Hughes has the opportunity to remake U.S. public diplomacy.
2004 Research
October 19, 2004
Defense Transformation and the New Allies
By Helle C. Dale
(Heritage Lecture #853)
Addressing the technological gap between the United States and its new and necessary allies will be one of the most important strategic challenges we face in the years ahead. The United States will have to "cherry pick" how and where it will engage with NATO allies to best close the technology gap.
October 07, 2004
The Real News in the Duelfer Report
By Helle Dale
(WebMemo #583)
Saddam didn't have WMDs. That's not the real news from the Duelfer Report.
June 02, 2004
Iraqi Prisoner Crisis: Correcting America's Communications Failure
By Stephen Johnson & Helle Dale
(Executive Memorandum #935)
To address the Abu Ghraib incidents, the Administration should put military public affairs officers fully in the command loop in Iraq and show the world how the rule of law applies to U.S. armed forces. Additionally, it should develop a military–civilian public diplomacy strategy and strengthen public diplomacy leadership at the U.S. Department of State.
April 08, 2004
Setting the Record Straight: Condoleezza Rice and the 9/11 Commission
By Helle Dale and James Phillips
(WebMemo #471)
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's strong performance in her appearance before the September 11 Commission should put to rest any notion that the Bush administration was complacent or inattentive to the terrorist threat facing the United States before September 11.
January 21, 2004
The State of Homeland Security and the War on Terrorism
By Helle Dale
(WebMemo #391)
While American presidents in an election year have traditionally spent more time touting their domestic programs, this President's most important accomplishment has been to keep the United States safe from terrorist attacks since September 11. In that sense, it was as much a speech on the State of the War on Terrorism as it was a speech on the State of the Union.
2003 Research
May 14, 2003
Reclaiming America's Voice Overseas
By Stephen Johnson and Helle Dale
(WebMemo #273)
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and opposition to U.S. actions in Iraq have shown that America's image abroad is in serious trouble, particularly in the Middle East where U.S. policies, culture, and values are poorly understood. For more than two years, Congress and the White House have struggled to reclaim America's international public relations capability with minimal success.
April 23, 2003
How to Reinvigorate U.S. Public Diplomacy
By Stephen Johnson and Helle Dale
(Backgrounder #1645)
To reverse America's declining image abroad, both public diplomacy and related international broadcasting agencies need a clear chain of command as well as adequate personnel and financial resources.
January 28, 2003
Disarming Iraq & More: State of the Union Response
By Helle Dale
(WebMemo #197)
In the State of the Union address, the Bush Administation builds its case against Iraq in a manner that has not been done before.
2002 Research
November 19, 2002
NATO Reform: What Washington Should Accomplish in Prague
By John C. Hulsman, Ph.D., and Helle Dale
(Executive Memorandum #840)
The upcoming NATO summit is the best chance for the U.S. and its European allies to adapt the alliance to fit the needs of the post-9/11 era. The Administration's should emphasize two reform proposals: increasing the alliance's strategic and political flexibility and pressing Europeans to improve their capabilities within NATO.
October 30, 2002
What Berlin Must Do
By Dr. Nile Gardiner and Helle Dale
(Backgrounder #1609)
Germany is at a crossroads. It can either stand in isolation by opposing action against Iraq, or it can join the international coalition to remove a menacing dictatorship from power. If Berlin refuses to confront the Iraqi threat, it will be seen as irrelevant in the fight against terrorism.
October 30, 2002
BG1609ES: What Berlin Must Do to Repair
By Dr. Nile Gardiner and Helle Dale
(Backgrounder #1609)
BG1609ES: What Berlin Must Do to Repair the U.S.-German Alliance
2009 Commentary
November 11, 2009
International Letdown
By Helle Dale
Last year's U.S. presidential election sparked international euphoria. Americans had chosen the "anti-Bush"! The jubilation overseas reflected a belief that, as president, Barack Obama would think less like an American and more like the rest of the world.
September 02, 2009
Obama not smooth on Gdansk
By Helle Dale
What is the good will of a loyal allied country worth to the Obama administration? We are talking about a European nation that has stood by the United States in solidarity as few have since Sept. 11, 2001 -- one with 2,000 troops in Afghanistan and a possible willingness to step up to commit more troops at a time when others want to pull out.
March 07, 2009
Her Majesty dubs thee . . . Does Ted Kennedy deserve a knighthood?
By Helle Dale
"It's like giving Osama bin Laden a knighthood for services to Afghanistan." That was the reaction of one shocked British citizen to the news that Prime Minister Gordon Brown, with the blessing of the Queen, had conferred an honorary knighthood on Sen. Edward Kennedy for "services to Northern Ireland," along with other unspecified contributions to U.S.-U.K. relations.
March 05, 2009
Improving the International Marketplace of Ideas
By Helle Dale
Margaret Thatcher once said that America is the only nation in the world "built upon an idea." This idea--liberty--has transcended geography and ethnicity to shape American identity and to inspire political discourse, both domestic and foreign, since the nation's founding.
February 20, 2009
Chavez on despots' term-cutting edge
By Helle Dale
Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez must be the envy of aspiring despots the world over today. On Sunday, he received the endorsement of the Venezuelan people for potential life tenure as president of his country by a vote of 54 percent to 45 percent. Mr. Chavez has already been a blight on the map of Latin America for the last 13 years, and he now promises to run for office again and again and again - like a malignant Energizer bunny.
February 11, 2009
Another Munich surrender
By Helle Dale
The annual Munich Security Conference, which took place last weekend, usually yields one or two memorable speeches, which help set the international stage for the year or years to come. In 2007, Russian President Putin set a tone of confrontation by belligerently attacking the United States for its overbearing foreign policy, primarily in Iraq. And in the early days of the George W. Bush presidency, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld made history - and many enemies in Europe - by referring to Germany and France as "old Europe." (By implication, that made the East and Central Europeans "new Europe," a role they have much relished.) What is said at Munich is often a good indicator of things to come.
February 05, 2009
Obama's Arab-TV interview
By Helle Dale
The Arab world remains in a tizzy of excitement over the interview given last week by President Obama with the Arabic news service Al-Arabiya. "Overwhelmingly positive" is how the State Department's Web site describes the reaction in the Middle East. Was it anything Mr. Obama said that made them so elated? More likely it was the simple act of speaking to the Arab world through one of its own media and the facts of Mr. Obama's identity and family background. One thing is for sure, Mr. Obama will never be able to live up to the expectations he has now generated unless he has a magic wand hidden in the Oval Office.
January 29, 2009
Obama's Gitmo lesson
By Helle Dale
Do actions really speak louder than words? Not always. Sometimes words speak louder than actions. In politics that is actually often the case. President Obama's announcement last week that he will be closing Guantanamo Bay has been greeted here and abroad with jubilation, every bit as much as if the gates of the detention center had been permanently shut, chained and padlocked.
January 22, 2009
The first full day
By Helle Dale
This is it, the first full day of a new administration in the United States. The country today wakes up to the leadership of the 44th president, for the first time an African- American, and for the first time in eight years a Democrat. We will finally find out what President Barack Obama's many eloquent calls to national service, to sacrifice and to national unity will mean in practice here at home and in his foreign policy.
January 15, 2009
While the U.S. expands government...
By Helle Dale
The irony of it all. The United States is currently faced with the prospect of the biggest government expansion in American history in the shape of the giant stimulus package proposed by president-elect Barack Obama. The expenditures contained therein are so humongous that even Rep. Barney Frank has stated that he will need to take a Reagan-like "trust and verify" approach before signing on the dotted line and taking this major step towards socialism. Hearing Mr. Frank quote Ronald Reagan just boggles the mind.
2008 Commentary
December 29, 2008
Holiday naysayers
By Helle Dale
Christians in the United States have finally started fighting back against the "Happy Holidays" movement. And about time it is; any public displays of the religious significance of the holiday are now so rare that when my 2-year-old daughter was asked who was born at Christmas, the inevitable answer was "Santa!" Sadly her logic was impeccable. There must be dozens of Santas for every Christmas creche on display. Encouragingly, Christians are fighting back to reclaim Christmas for Jesus - or as one sign on rural Virginia Route 609 in Madison County aptly puts it, "Jesus is the Reason for the Season."
December 04, 2008
Don't placate Russia
By Helle Dale
Now, U.S. NATO Ambassador Kurt Volker told the Financial Times, the U.S. position still favors Ukraine and Georgia in NATO, but "the Membership Action Plan has become so politicized that we can't agree to use it." For the moment, NATO will continue an intensified dialogue with the two countries that will focus on monitoring and assisting with internal political, economic and military reforms. It will leave aside talk of any more formal or concrete plan.
November 20, 2008
Public diplomacy expectations
By Helle Dale
Expectations around the world for the incoming Obama administration have reached outlandish heights. Were the world a U.S. elections map, the entire globe at this point would be colored blue - with the notable exception of Iraq, where Sen. John McCain remains highly popular. From the revised Kyoto Protocol to Guantanamo Bay, President-elect Barack Obama's promises to reverse the policy of the Bush administration are greeted with huge enthusiasm. (Misplaced enthusiasm from a conservative standpoint, of course.) The question is, can this tsunami of support be turned into something fruitful in policy terms?
November 13, 2008
Moscow's next move: Bearing down on the president-elect
By Helle Dale
The inimitable Sen. Joe Biden has predicted that within six months of President-elect Barack Obama taking office, the world would see a major crisis, a test of the new president's leadership. Many of us, who believe that Mr. Obama's inexperience is an open invitation to the world's trouble makers, completely agree with Mr. Biden on this one point.
November 06, 2008
Focusing on Afghanistan: The president-elect must not ignore realities on the ground
By Helle Dale
The two presidential candidates did not agree on much of anything, but they did on the importance of winning in Afghanistan, which has become the politically correct mirror image of Iraq. If you are against the U.S. military presence in Iraq, at least you can burnish your credentials by saying you are for the engagement in Afghanistan. But that is as far as the consensus went. What to do about Afghanistan is a different matter. While Sen. Barack Obama spoke of launching U.S. military incursions into U.S. ally Pakistan, Sen. John McCain advocated an Iraq surge strategy to seize and hold rebel territory in Afghanistan.
October 30, 2008
Bush's foreign policy
By Helle Dale
This time next week, the U.S. presidential election will be over, and we will know the name of the next commander in chief. (This is barring the possibility of the courts getting involved in the electoral process again, of course.) Whether we will be looking at a McCain or Obama presidency, the world will be watching expectantly for new foreign–policy directions to come.
October 15, 2008
Global perspectives
By Hell Dale
It has been no secret that the diplomatic and financial institutions of the 20th century are ill-suited for the needs of the 21st century. The world of Bretton Woods, and of post-World War II dominance by the West, is changing - only no one could have suspected that it would change as precipitously as the current financial-markets crisis indicates. The question before us is whether this change is permanent and inevitable. If it is the entire global landscape will be affected.
September 25, 2008
Nanny state foibles
By Helle Dale
The fate of British Prime Minister and leader of the Labor Party Gordon Brown ought to be a salutary example for American politicians advocating the return of the "nanny state." This week, the Labor Party meets in Manchester for its annual party conference, and oh, what a difference a year makes.
September 11, 2008
Experience to judge: Lessons from war in Georgia
By Helle Dale
Does experience in foreign policy matter? Here this question is all the rage due to the American crop of presidential and vice presidential candidates. To which one is tempted to answer "Duh!" Of course experience matters, but it is not the only thing that matters. Backbone and judgment are equally critical components of international leadership.
August 28, 2008
China's image
By Helle Dale
The Beijing Olympics are now part of history. The question is how they will be viewed. Olympic history has had some extraordinary highs and lows, and of course Chinese leaders would like the just concluded extravaganza to take its place among the soaring successes. The category in which China competed, that of major leading international nations and the gold medal prize, was "the respect of the world." When it comes to spin control, image crafting, and all of the arts of the PR business, the Chinese won hands down.
August 14, 2008
Saving Georgia Russian wolves at the gate
By Helle Dale
World War II history has tragically made a comeback this week. Whether the world has learned any history lessons is critically important in several ways.
August 07, 2008
Immigration question
By Helle Dale
It never occurred to us that moving to Fairfax County from the District would be a bit like moving to a foreign country. During the week we have been in our new home, we have had maintenance crews from Mexico, and our garden has been done by an elegant Chilean garden service owner.
July 30, 2008
European tour or vacation?
By Helle Dale
Though much of the media likes to clamor about the importance of the "Fairness Doctrine," "fair" was not exactly how one would describe Sen. John McCain's treatment in the press last week, when his Democratic opponent's trip to the Middle East and Europe sucked just about every ounce of media oxygen out of the air.
July 24, 2008
Deja vu again: All aglow, anti-Bush in Europe
By Helle Dale
Did we enter a time warp and somehow miss the general election? Or are the numbers so overwhelmingly in Sen. Barack Obama's favor that he might be thinking that he was in the time warp and already won the presidency of the United States? Time warps belong in science fiction and, of course neither is true. Nevertheless, what we are witnessing in the Democratic presidential candidate's astonishing tour of the Middle East and Europe is an unprecedented foreign victory lap that, at the very least, violates the spirit of the U.S. Constitution. The country really can have only one president at a time.
July 10, 2008
U.S.-Czech accord making progress
By Helle Dale
Good news from Europe this week. The cause of missile defense took a significant step forward when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice landed in the Czech Republic to sign an agreement for the Czechs to host a radar system that will become part of the U.S. missile defense system. The agreement signed in Prague represents progress toward a more secure world, and the Czech government has to be commended for its steadfastness in following through on its commitments to the United States.
July 03, 2008
Preparing for the G8 summit
By Helle Dale
Next week, the leaders of the G8 countries will be meeting in Hokkaido, Japan, for their annual summit. Once again it will at least provide the world with the opportunity to reflect on whether this is the kind of institution the world needs for the 21st century. Like many of the institutions of the 20th century shaped by distinct but now bygone circumstances, the G8 has started to look like a rather arbitrary gathering.
June 19, 2008
Ireland's move
By Helle Dale
Last week, voters in Ireland proved that while their nation has a reputation as romantics, the Irish also possess a great deal of common sense. The majority of those who voted against the resurrected constitutional treaty of the European nion, now known as the LIsbon Treaty, told pollsters they did so because they did not understand what was in it. In other words they did what every consumer should do: refuse to sign a contract they did not understand.
June 12, 2008
Bush's trans-Atlantic Tour: American contributions to European prosperity
By Helle Dale
Did you know that President Bush left on Monday for a week-long trip in Europe? Unfortunately, an outgoing president is not going to command as many banner headlines as the contest between his potential successors. On his final lap around the continent, Mr. Bush is visiting friends of the United States and making an effort to strengthen trans-Atlantic relations.
June 12, 2008
Ireland's move
By Helle Dale
Did you know that President Bush left on Monday for a week-long trip in Europe? Unfortunately, an outgoing president is not going to command as many banner headlines as the contest between his potential successors. On his final lap around the continent, Mr. Bush is visiting friends of the United States and making an effort to strengthen trans-Atlantic relations.
June 12, 2008
Ireland's Move
By Helle Dale
Did you know that President Bush left on Monday for a week-long trip in Europe? Unfortunately, an outgoing president is not going to command as many banner headlines as the contest between his potential successors. On his final lap around the continent, Mr. Bush is visiting friends of the United States and making an effort to strengthen trans-Atlantic relations.
June 05, 2008
For the U.S., it's perception vs. reality
By Helle Dale
Rod Lamkey Jr./The Washington Times Marsha Deane, of Alexandria, pumps her fist, while David Petrella, of Cleveland, waves the American flag outside the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, as the Democratic National Committee's Rules and Bylaws panel meets to consider the seating of Florida and Michigan delegations.
May 22, 2008
Raoul provides few changes
By Helle Dale
Today has been declared Cuba Solidarity Day by the White House to remind Americans that the citizens of that small island just 90 miles off U.S. shores are still trapped in one of the world's few remaining communist dictatorships. It is a cause well worth paying attention to. These relics of the 20th century cling on to life in the 21st century, keeping their citizens from achieving the freedom and prosperity that so many states, formerly in communist thrall, have attained since 1989.
May 08, 2008
London drama
By Helle Dale
You can call him Red Ken -- or the canary in the coalmine of British Labor politics. On Friday, that canary took a nosedive from its perch, when the citizens of London voted out Ken Livingstone as mayor of London after eight years in office. His part of the worst local election showing for the Labor Party in 40 years. It reflects just how fast and how far the party's fortunes have sunk under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
May 01, 2008
NATO allies put pressure on Russia
By Helle Dale
What do you do when confronted by a bully? The first lesson you learn as a child in the school yard is that reasoning and turning the other cheek unfortunately does not work very well, and will only get you a reputation as an easy victim. On the other hand, knocking someone's teeth out because of a mean taunt is not the way to go either. Producing an immediate, proportionate response is a skill you have to learn.
April 24, 2008
U.S. relations
By Helle Dale
In the course of presidential election politics, the present inevitably takes a beating. In the discussion of American global leadership, virtually no good news ever gets into the debate, to the extent foreign policy is discussed at all.
April 16, 2008
Sabotaging Colombia
By Helle Dale
With friends like these, who needs enemies? This thought might well have presented itself to President Alvaro Uribe of Colombia in the last few days, as he watched the recently negotiated free trade agreement with the United States fall victim to American election politics. In a hemisphere where strongman politics and authoritarian rule are tenaciously making a comeback, the leadership of the Democratic Party has just inflicted a severe blow on the reputation of the United States as a reliable international partner and on U.S. trade policy as a whole.
April 10, 2008
Missile defense.
By Helle Dale
The decision by NATO members last week in Bucharest to endorse American plans for a third missile-defense site located in Europe represents a huge step forward for the alliance and for American and European security. It is an achievement for American diplomacy that many thought was beyond reach.
April 03, 2008
Globalize NATO?
By Helle Dale
You have to wonder whether the leaders from the NATO countries, who will be convening Wednesday through Friday in Bucharest, will not feel just a touch of nostalgia for the old days of the Cold War when the world seemed so much simpler. They will in fact be meeting in the cavernous halls of the humongous Romanian parliament building, built by Romania's crazy communist dictator Nicolau Ceausescu.
March 20, 2008
Progress in Iraq
By Helle Dale
What impact would a Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama victory have on U.S. foreign policy, a foreign journalist wanted to know. How would the world be able to tell the difference between them and the Bush administration? The hoped-for answer seemed to be that the United States would suddenly be enamored of international institutions like the United Nations and otherwise stop acting so "unilateralist."
March 13, 2008
Playing fast and loose with free trade
By Helle Dale
The longer the Democratic primaries go on, the more we learn about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. This is obviously a very useful process. During the Ohio primary, for instance, we learned that both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama want to tear up the North American Free Trade Agreement. This was certainly startling news to both the Mexicans and the Canadians, though it obviously played well in Ohio where manufacturing jobs have been in decline.
February 28, 2008
Darfur First
By Helle Dale
It is not often that one has occasion to applaud political pronouncements coming out of Hollywood. It is usually enough to turn your opinion in the opposite direction when you watch the parade of Hollywood celebrities on Capitol Hill, brought in to testify for no other reason than their talent in front of the camera.
February 14, 2008
Islam, Britain
By Helle Dale
With all the elegance of a bull in a china shop, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, last week made a foray into the difficult subject of how Muslims fit into Western societies. The ensuing crashing and banging is still going on in Britain and can be heard across the pond.
February 07, 2008
Forward Progress
By Helle Dale
Last week brought the good news that an unfortunate dispute between the United States and one of its best allies in Europe found the promise of a resolution. After meetings with officials in Washington, Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski stated that the U.S. and Polish governments had reached an agreement in principle on plans to install a U.S. missile defense system on Polish territory, one dealing with Polish security concerns. It is an important step forward on an issue that had become dangerously stalled and a serious problem between allies whose close relationship predates the fall of the Berlin Wall.
February 01, 2008
Bush's Freedom Agenda
By Helle Dale
It was not exactly a farewell speech, but there was still a sense of the passing of the baton at President Bush's State of the Union Monday night. This would be the last time for eight years that Mr. Bush addressed Congress, and perhaps for that reason the atmosphere was more courteous and the bipartisan applause more generous than has otherwise been the case in recent years. You could not help wonder who will be standing in that spot next year.
January 24, 2008
Remarkable Progress in Iraq
By Helle Dale
Not every dark cloud has a silver lining, but $100 per barrel oil could have at least one: the boost it is providing for Iraq's long-suffering economy. Combined with greater political stability, and spreading zones of security, ascending oil prices are showing promise of making 2008 one of the best years Iraq has had in a long while.
January 10, 2008
Changing the Middle East
By Helle Dale
How many times have we heard it, and how many times will we hear it again before November — this election is about change? Thanks to the campaign rhetoric of Sen. Barack Obama, any kind of change is now supposedly what voters want. The irony of American politics is of course that politicians tend to enter office on just such a platform, only to be identified as part of the status quo almost the moment they take office. Such is the ponderous weight of the federal government, whose course is slower to change than that of a U.S. aircraft carrier.
January 03, 2008
Cover story
By Helle Dale
As the media does its traditional review of the past year, Time magazine's choice of "Person of the Year" once again comes as a puzzlement.
2007 Commentary
December 27, 2007
U.S. foreign policy-making
By Helle Dale
Many of us cheered loudly when President Bush announced the inspired choice of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations in 2005. As one of the most hardnosed and down-to-earth policy-makers in Washington, Mr. Bolton seemed just the man for the job, an ambassador in the mold of Jeane Kirkpatrick who would not be possessed by clientitis. Meanwhile, Democrats and foreign media alike gasped at the choice.
December 20, 2007
State of decay
By Helle Dale
When Newt Gingrich launched his frontal assault on the State Department in 2003, in the context of the Iraq crisis, a lot of people applauded. "Without bold dramatic change at the State Department, the United States will soon find itself on the defensive everywhere except militarily. In the long run that is a very dangerous position for the world's leading democracy to be in. Indeed in the long run that is an unsustainable position." Four years later, you have to admire the man's prescience.
December 13, 2007
Hello, Gazpromia
By Helle Dale
On Monday, at least part of the answer emerged to the question of what the future holds for Russia. By all appearances, it is going to become an official energy conglomerate -- Goodbye Russia; Hello, Gazpromia.
December 06, 2007
Bearing down on democracy
By Helle Dale
"A good example of domestic political stability" is the way Russian President Vladimir Putin described Russia's parliamentary election. If so, the stability of rigor mortis is settling into the country's moribund democracy. No wonder Mr. Putin is pleased. Not only did his party, United Russia, get 63 percent of the vote, but its coalition partners in the Russian Duma also pulled in almost 80 percent. Indeed, the Russian president is doing almost as well with Russian voters as Saddam Hussein used to be with the Iraqis, who re-elected him with 99 percent support time after time.
November 29, 2007
Knotty issues
By Helle Dale
Could it be that there was a whiff of desperation this week over the Middle East summit in Annapolis? One gets the feeling that these days, the Bush administration is acting more with history in mind than anything else — certainly more than with a sense of reality. One need only look back to President Bush's predecessor to find a similar legacy syndrome at work.
November 22, 2007
Chavez under fire
By Helle Dale
How refreshing. After years of this man's odious and idiotic ranting on the international stage, someone finally told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to put a sock in it. At last week's Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile, King Juan Carlos of Spain was outraged by Mr. Chavez's attacks on former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a "fascist." The king angrily told Mr. Chavez "Why don't you just shut up!" Yes, indeed. It would have been nice if someone had told Mr. Chavez to "shut up" when he called President Bush "the devil" at the U.N. General Assembly last year. It is past time the international community starts challenging Mr. Chavez's shenanigans.
November 15, 2007
America's partners
By Helle Dale
Over the past week, three leaders of important American allies arrived for meetings with President Bush — Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany. With each of these countries, the United States has a long alliance history. In more recent times, particularly over the issue of Iraq, however, it has been a history characterized by a certain dissonance and by anti-Americanism.
November 08, 2007
Pakistan tumults
By Helle Dale
One of the persistent challenges of U.S. foreign policy is the necessity at various times to partner with allies of dubious distinction. You could call it "hold your nose" diplomacy. From World War II, pictures of the smiling faces of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin serve as a reminder of the power of expediency. Had it not been for Hitler, this unlikely alliance would never have taken place.
October 25, 2007
Pushing paper
By Helle Dale
A rose is a rose by any other name — and the European constitution is still a constitution even if it is now called the European Reform Treaty.
October 18, 2007
Armenian folly
By Helle Dale
A long-smoldering dispute between Turks and Armenians over events nearly a century old has finally erupted into full flame in the charged atmosphere of Washington politics in the shape of the Armenian Genocide resolution. The nonbinding resolution passed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs last week by a vote of 27-21, following several unsuccessful attempts going back to 2000. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has pledged to make sure the resolution reaches the floor of the House. If it passes, it will send shock waves throughout American policy in the Middle East.
October 11, 2007
Skeptics needed
By Helle Dale
Being the voice of reason in a debate where emotions and political agendas have captured the popular imagination takes great courage. In discussions of climate change today, you will run into assertions ranging from the "fact" that the polar ice cap will melt and reverse the Gulf Stream to the "fact" that 80 percent of the world's scientists agree that humans cause global warming.
October 04, 2007
Euro-syndrome
By Helle Dale
As the presidential election of 2008 draws closer, expect to hear increasingly about the blessings of the European welfare states from Democratic candidates. In both domestic policy and international affairs, Democrats are Europeans in disguise.
September 27, 2007
Taking on the Islamists
By Helle Dale
Kids here in the suburban Copenhagen area are pragmatic about immigrants. They do not categorize them by faith, nationality or skin color but by size. There are the "small immigrants" and the "big immigrants." Many find the "big immigrants" threatening, especially when they travel in groups of young men in the evening.
September 20, 2007
Spread the word
By Helle Dale
Clearly, judging by his most recently released tape Osama bin Laden "had some work done," as they say. Sporting a newly darkened beard, he reminded the world on the anniversary of September 11 that he's still around, three years after his last appearance.
September 07, 2007
Putin's ambition
By Helle Dale
A Danish ambassador to Peter the Great was asked by the czar to point out his country on the map. Embarrassed at the size of his homeland compared to the vast Russian expanse, the ambassador evaded the question, and rather than point to the Lilliputian Scandinavian country from which he hailed, he put his finger on Greenland, the world's biggest island. "Let me show you one of our colonies," he said slyly, but truthfully. Peter the Great, of course, was suitably impressed.
August 31, 2007
Bush's Vietnam analogy
By Helle Dale
The world of bloggers and opinion writers is agog over President Bush's use of the Vietnam analogy in his speech last week to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. After years of resisting the comparison with Vietnam, Mr. Bush has now reached for the dreaded V-word. His critics are horrified, of course, even though they have been flinging the comparison around for years.
August 23, 2007
French signals
By Helle Dale
The French tend to be homebodies. They rather like to keep to themselves, and they prefer to spend their vacations in their country homes or in other parts of France. Even Frenchmen who live in villages have country cabins to which they repair in July and August for European-sized vacations.
August 02, 2007
Tasks at hand
By Helle Dale
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to Washington this week, a visit anticipated with much curiosity on this side of the Atlantic — and surely on the other as well. As difficult as it must have been to follow his predecessor — Tony Blair with whom President Bush had a close personal relationship — Mr. Brown pulled off a sterling performance. His statements on Iraq and Afghanistan were steady, supportive and measured, and he indicated a deep commitment to the "special relationship" between the United States and Britain.
July 26, 2007
Stopping Iran
By Helle Dale
The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran is one of the nightmares facing the Middle East today. Iran has been working overtime to produce enough nuclear fuel for its first bomb, increasing the number of centrifuges needed to convert yellowcake to uranium hexaflouride gas, and according to the International Atomic Energy Agency it may have as many as 3,000 centrifuges up and running this summer. By the IAEA's estimate that would be enough for Iran to have completed a nuclear weapon in two years time. That means the international community does not have much time to prevent the outbreak of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East -- the most volatile, energy-rich region of the world.
July 12, 2007
Voices of America
By Helle Dale
It isn't exactly Walt Disney. In fact, the animation is primitive and the characters not likely to inspire a series of spin-off merchandise. Still, the Iranian cartoon TV version of American history — all told in 11 minutes — certainly knows how to get its point across that the United States is murderous, rapacious and to be feared.
July 05, 2007
The American experiment
By Helle Dale
The American experiment was unique and improbable in 1776, when Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence and the American colonies defied Britain, the most powerful nation on earth at the time. As we look around the world at how difficult it is for democracy and freedom to take hold and flourish, America seems like a political miracle.
June 28, 2007
Brown vs. Cameron
By Helle Dale
The political landscape in Britain shifts this week with the rise of Gordon Brown to the premiership. For an event that has been anticipated for years, due to the long-standing political bargain between Mr. Brown and former Prime Minister Tony Blair, its contours are still widely debated here.
June 15, 2007
A place in the sun
By Helle Dale
Joseph Stalin said that the death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions a statistic. What, then, does that make of the death of 100 million? Too much for the human mind to handle?
June 07, 2007
The G-8 Summit
By Helle Dale
There would be no news without conflict. So, it is understandable that the media is working overtime to portray the meeting of the leaders of the G-8, the major industrialized nations, as a kind of punch-drunk free-for-all.
May 31, 2007
Funding and teeth to back up Iraq
By Helle Dale
A general media rush has been on to mute any celebrations of the president's victory on funding for Iraq and Afghanistan. Heaven forbid that President Bush should actually get the credit for having won a significant battle on principle against an overweening Congress, attempting to legislate his government's military strategy.
May 24, 2007
Russia's threatening ways
By Helle Dale
If the shoe fits, wear it, as the saying goes. Maybe the same could be said about the jackboot.
May 17, 2007
U.S. and Britain
By Helle Dale
Americans love British politicians. To the distinguished company of Prime Ministers Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, we can now add Tony Blair as one of most admired people on this side of the Atlantic.
May 10, 2007
Sarkozy's victory
By Helle Dale
Are we in for a new day in U.S.-European relations? Sunday's convincing victory by Nicolas Sarkozy in France's presidential election suggests as much. Mr. Sarkozy has been unabashedly pro-American in his campaign and his victory speech. "I want to issue an appeal to our American friends, to tell them that they can count on our friendship, which has been forged in the tragedies of history which we have faced together," he said on Sunday.
May 03, 2007
Voices of America
By Helle Dale
No matter what you choose to call our war with the forces of radical Islam, it is clear that the global landscape of public opinion regarding these events is highly complex. The challenge of navigating it is falls to the branches of the U.S. government whose task it is to win over hearts and minds in the Muslim world. How to deal with this challenge was the subject of intense discussion last week at a the Cantigny estate outside Chicago, which hosted "The Future of U.S. International Broadcasting."
April 19, 2007
The evil men do
By Helle Dale
Words seem so very inadequate, but they are unfortunately often all we have to express the grief, outrage and sympathy that well up when tragedies like Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech strike. The heart just goes out to the students and their parents, who sustained the worst loss, the greatest pain that can hit a human being. The tragedy that struck the parents of the Virginia Tech students is the tragedy of the entire nation.
April 12, 2007
Abjectdiplomacy
By Helle Dale
Recess is travel time in Washington, and Congressional Democrats have wasted no time launching their own new adventures. After all, they seem to be thinking, how hard can foreign policy be? The world is full of nice folks who want to talk to you if you belong to the party that is in opposition to the Bush administration. Unfortunately, the old adage about Washington having potentially 535 secretaries of state, in addition to the one in Foggy Bottom, seems to be proving all too true with the 110th Congress.
April 05, 2007
Danes amid Europeans
By Helle Dale
The 50th anniversary of the European Union passed with but modest notice here in Denmark, where unusually warm spring weather brought Danes out in droves to work in their gardens, drink beer and raise the red and white Danish flag against the backdrop of a sparkling blue sky. Yes, there were conferences and events at the Europa House in Copenhagen, followed by fireworks. And at the museum of ultramodern art, Arken, on the water, politicians gathered for a discussion of Europe's future. Still, the event bore no resemblance to the nationwide celebrations of Denmark's own Constitution Day in June.
March 22, 2007
Iraq's future
By Helle Dale
Let's get this straight. According to the various attempts by congressional Democrats to force President Bush to bring home the troops, the United States should withdraw from Iraq if the Maliki government fails to meet certain benchmarks reducing violence, raising troop numbers and making progress toward a political solution. That is, if the Iraqi government is not in a condition fit to govern the country, then we will pull out. On the other hand, if the Iraqi government lives up to our demands, functioning as it should, we will stay? Somewhere, somehow, this all got turned upside down.
March 22, 2007
Visa Reform: How to be Brave in a Brave New World
By Helle Dale and James Carafano
After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Americans became rightly concerned about two serious issues -- thwarting the international travel of terrorists and getting serious about enforcing U.S. immigration laws. Most of what was done immediately after 9/11 amounted to simply making it more difficult to travel to the United States from overseas.
March 15, 2007
U.S.-Latin America dance
By Helle Dale
"Too little, too late" is the mantra that has met President Bush's visit to Latin America from the foreign policy community here. Fairly typical was the op-ed in The Washington Post by Fareed Zakaria. "President Bush has done the right thing in going to Latin America... But Bush's new look at the region will not do much good. It's too little, too late."
March 08, 2007
Gore in the balance
By Helle Dale
Religious intolerance is associated in the minds of many today with Islamic radicalism. Yet, there is a Western variety on the rise that has to concern us greatly as well -- and it is not climate change orthodoxy. Challenge the belief that the Earth is warming dangerously due to human activity, or criticize any of its high priests, and the wrath of true believers will be visited upon you.
March 02, 2007
Salvaging the war in Iraq
By Helle Dale
We should be grateful that Washington political battles usually do not result in any fatalities. Were it otherwise, casualty figures for the next two years could undoubtedly be significant. The real bloodshed, however, is left for the Iraqis to live with as politicians here maneuver and debate how fast American troops can return home. In all, it is a pretty depressing time for those of us who believe that, having gotten into Iraq, the United States now has a responsibility to see the mission through.
February 22, 2007
Afghanistan a true test for NATO
By Helle Dale
While the attention of Washington is focused on Iraq, the other military front in the struggle against militant Islam is warming up. Afghanistan has until now shown better promise of success than Iraq. Yet there are clear signs that this spring will be an intensely challenging time for the Afghan government and for the NATO coalition forces operating to support it. We are being warned that a Taliban spring offensive is in the works, and how NATO responds will be crucial, both for the future of Afghanistan and for NATO as well.
February 15, 2007
Putin's ravings
By Helle Dale
Putin's ravings
February 08, 2007
Just the facts
By Helle Dale
As I braved the bitter cold and howling winds on Monday night, dragging our two reluctant dogs dressed in their overcoats out for their final walk of the day, fond thoughts of global warming presented themselves.
February 01, 2007
Iraq is no 'Nam
By Helle Dale
Comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq have long been a staple of critics of the Bush administration. The Washington Post, for instance, recently adorned the wide expanse of the top half of the Sunday Outlook section with the famous photo of the last U.S. helicopter to leave the rooftop of the embassy in Saigon. Is that how the United States is going to leave Iraq? Ignominious and defeated? That is certainly the implication and maybe even the hope of too many here in Washington.
January 31, 2007
Iraq is no 'Nam
By Helle Dale
Comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq have long been a staple of critics of the Bush administration. The Washington Post, for instance, recently adorned the wide expanse of the top half of the Sunday Outlook section with the famous photo of the last U.S. helicopter to leave the rooftop of the embassy in Saigon.
January 25, 2007
Visa reform
By Helle Dale
National security ought to be one issue where we can all agree. Unfortunately, that common ground is often not so easy to locate, as party politics and even divisions among liberals and conservatives among themselves take on a life of their own.
January 11, 2007
Post 9/11 legislation
By Helle Dale
Democrats are leaving no stone unturned to make the nation feel safer, now that they are in control of both houses of Congress. Or perhaps one should say no piece of paper unused.
2006 Commentary
December 28, 2006
Around the globe
By Helle Dale
How will we remember the politics of 2006? As the year Iraq troops got the better of John Kerry? Or the year Hugo Chavez invoked the devil at the United Nations? Newspapers pride themselves on being the first draft of history, so below is a little help for future historians. And Happy New Year 2007 to the faithful readers of The Washington Times.
December 21, 2006
Russia goes backward
By Helle Dale
The British are so squeamish. They are having the vapors just because Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned in London with $10 million worth of polonium-210, a highly radioactive agent applied to the victim in something like 10 times the necessary dosage for lethality.
December 07, 2006
Hope for Afghan girls
By Helle Dale
Anyone who has watched the chilling documentary "Obsession: Radical Islam's War with the West" will recognize where the real front in the war against terrorism lies — the minds of children.
November 30, 2006
Rangel's slurs
By Helle Dale
Anyone who has firsthand experience of the excellent young men and women who volunteer for military service and perform so admirably under very difficult circumstances in Iraq will have a hard time recognizing what Rep. Charlie Rangel, incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, is going on about.
November 23, 2006
Why NATO must evolve
By Helle Dale
Can NATO avoid rigor mortis? Pardon the pun, but as leaders of the NATO countries meet next week for their annual summit in Riga, Latvia, it is a reasonable question. The answer may lie in Afghanistan, where NATO is currently engaged in its first ever mission outside Europe. NATO countries are aware of this fact and much determination has been expressed to make it a success.
November 16, 2006
Midterms and Wars
By Helle Dale
The great Washington rush to judgment is on. After an election loss, there is always a time for recriminations, blood-letting and eventually regrouping. President Bush and congressional Republicans alike were stung by the loss of Congress, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was soon after designated as the requisite human sacrifice under such circumstances. All of this drama is part and parcel of Washington.
November 02, 2006
Bush policies
By Helle Dale
With midterm elections less than one week away, foreign visitors to this town are asking, "What will a change of majority in Congress mean for U.S. foreign policy?"
October 26, 2006
America's image
By Helle Dale
It is easy, too easy in fact, to despair of efforts to change international public opinion of the United States when you look at some of the much publicized international polls.
October 19, 2006
Spiteful defiance
By Helle Dale
Some people always blame America first, as Jeanne Kirkpatrick memorably said at the Republican Convention in 1988. And they are at it again.
October 12, 2006
Dancing with Kim
By Helle Dale
Talk about prima donnas and drama queens. North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il again managed to get the world's attention and grab the front pages with his "nuclear" test on Sunday -- just as he did on the 4th of July when North Korea launched a missile test over the East Sea/Seaof Japan.
October 05, 2006
Balkan lessons
By Helle Dale
One of the most persuasive arguments why the United States cannot cut and run in Iraq is that a premature U.S. withdrawal would likely provoke civil war and ethnic cleansing on a scale that would make the Balkans pale by comparison.
September 28, 2006
Much ado at the U.N.
By Helle Dale
Just when you thought that the circus that is the U.N. General Assembly could not possibly get more ridiculous, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez demonstrate that there are yet depths to be plummeted.
September 21, 2006
European role reversal?
By Helle Dale
Much as the Bush administration has been criticized for unilateralism, the fact is that alliances remain.
September 14, 2006
In a 9/11 heartbeat
By Helle Dale
How can anyone argue that the world did not change on September 11? This week, the fifth anniversary, reflections suggest that the world has changed in many ways.
September 07, 2006
Missile defense
By Helle Dale
The news about the successful missile defense test conducted Friday by the Defense Department came at an opportune moment.
September 01, 2006
A reality check for Europe
By Helle Dale
In recent years, Europe has been looking for ways to take a leading role in world affairs. Lebanon may be furnishing the long-awaited opportunity for Europeans. But then again, if you look at Europe's record in the post-Cold War era, it may not.
August 24, 2006
Deceitful evolution
By Helle Dale
Just as Germans were congratulating themselves on having developed a healthy kind of patriotism, on display during the soccer World Cup, Nobel Prize-winning author Gunter Grass' revelation of his SS past brought the country back to a discussion of the Nazi era with a vengeance.
August 17, 2006
Undoing evil cells
By Helle Dale
Winchester, England. -- If the terrorist plot involving young Muslim Britons to blow up nine airliners with liquid explosives were not enough to spark some rethinking here in Britain among the Muslim community about their own role and responsibilities, it is hard to see what would be.
August 03, 2006
For better or worse
By Helle Dale
Elections used to be thought of as the gold standard of democracy. In recent times, however, it has become clear that voting itself is not enough, particularly as the willingness among politicians has grown to challenge the results. By forcing recount after recount in Florida, and by appealing the election result all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore beat a path that others have followed, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
July 27, 2006
Mideast realities
By Helle Dale
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke of creating a "new Middle East" during her ever-so-brief foray into Middle East shuttle diplomacy on Monday. It is a noble goal, and, as we watch the tragedy of the Lebanese civilian population being caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah, it is a goal that is surely highly desirable. It is also a goal that has become central to the democracy agenda of the Bush administration. But there are times when the rhetoric just seems too far from reality to make any sense, and this may be one of those times.
July 20, 2006
Olmert's course
By Helle Dale
What better illustration of the hopelessness of converting terrorist movements to political parties than the escalating violence, tending toward outright warfare, between Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah? And, yet, the world keeps hoping against hope that groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and the PLO can be transformed and absorbed by civilian, civilized society.
July 13, 2006
DPRK blackmail
By Helle Dale
North Korea's fanciful display of fireworks on July 4 has already backfired. How Kim Jong-il, the man in charge of this Stalinist concentration camp of a country, could imagine it would produce any other effect is a puzzle. In other words, Mr. Kim is about to learn the limits of blackmail — or at least he should. North Korea's somewhat pathetic show of force ought to be met at the negotiating table with a united front comprised of the five other parties of the six-party talks on North Korean nuclear proliferation and earn the country only tough consequences.
June 15, 2006
Destiny awaits
By Helle Dale
The unannounced visit of President Bush to Baghdad yesterday is the visible signal that the White House believes a turning point has been reached in Iraq. This would be good news not just for the Iraqis but for the Bush administration as well, which could definitely use some positive coverage of the war. In an election year, Iraqi and American politics have become inextricably intertwined.
June 08, 2006
Wayward thinking
By Helle Dale
It would seem a simple yet fundamental cornerstone of a successful foreign policy that you punish your enemies and reward your friends. Another would be that you should divide your enemies and unite your friends. In the strange ways of Washington, however, we have been turning these axioms upside down. The result is extraordinary bitterness among some nations that have been good friends and allies of the United States.
June 01, 2006
Blair and Bush
By Helle Dale
Among the questions at last week's news conference with President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair was the inevitable invitation to Mr. Blair to spill the beans on this own retirement.
May 26, 2006
Iraqi progress
By Helle Dale
Looking at the invariably mixed news from Iraq and the impatience here at home with the war now in its fourth year, words from an old patriotic song comes to mind, "Over there."
May 17, 2006
Trashing NSA's Hayden
By Helle Dale
At some news organizations, timing is everything. That is certainly the impression one gets from the publication of USA Today's front-page story on the National Security Agency's "massive database of Americans' phone calls," which ran last Thursday
May 11, 2006
Engaging Iranians
By Helle Dale
It may well be that there's nothing new in this week's 17-page letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President Bush. That's the view of the White House and of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who called it "broadly philosophical in character" and absent any useful details about Iran's controversial nuclear program. Chances are that Mr. Bush has better uses for his time than perusing page upon page of philosophical musings from the clearly unhinged Iranian leader, even if it is the first such missive in 27 years.
May 04, 2006
Less talk, more cash
By Helle Dale
Do the democracies of Europe have a problem with U.S. goals of spreading democracy around the world? In the drive to raise funds for the brand new U.N. Democracy Fund, which was launched on March 6, the United States and India have emerged as the biggest financial supporters. Europeans countries, on the other hand, have been downright stingy in their response.
April 26, 2006
Al Qaeda, Saddam
By Helle Dale
Bad news about Iraq are not hard to come by in current media coverage. Terrorist attacks on Iraqi citizens and U.S.tTroops are recorded day by day.
April 19, 2006
Reforming immigration
By Helle Dale
The immigration debate has taken some interesting and startling turns since Congress, pushed by the White House, decided to tackle the issue.
April 12, 2006
Bush's 'leaks'
By Helle Dale
Political season has arrivedIs the president within his right to allow reporters privileged information about his own foreign policy in order for them to understand it better?
April 06, 2006
French toast. Time for the next revolution?
By Helle Dale
The French pride themselves on their intellectual culture, and as intellectuals sometimes do, they have managed to produce a paradox from which they appear to have no exit.
March 30, 2006
Not another amnesty Immigration is a about more than politics
By Helle Dale
Watching the Senate Judiciary Committee vote for what is effectively another amnesty for illegal immigrants is pretty galling. Numerous immigration and border security bills are moving in Congress, and immigration is sure to be a hot button issue in November's mid-term election.
March 22, 2006
Freedom doctrine
By Helle Dale
In a predictable replay of the reaction that greeting President Bush's 2002 National Security Strategy (NSS), the reaction to the 2006 update of the document has focused almost entirely on the doctrine of preemption.
March 15, 2006
Trusting India
By Helle Dale
Indignation and furor have erupted over President Bush's agreement with India to permit the country to import U. S. civilian nuclear technology. The president's decision was announced last July, and came despite the fact that India never signed onto the Nuclear Non-Proliferation regime, and long since developed a modest military nuclear capability.
March 08, 2006
Russia's back
By Helle Dale
Commentary on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's visit to Washington this week has described his country as an "emerging power."
March 01, 2006
Bolton's warning
By Helle Dale
You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but that is exactly what U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's proposal to reform the deeply flawed U.N. Human Rights Commission is trying to do.
February 22, 2006
Browsing in China
By Helle Dale
In Congressional hearings last week, senior executives from some of the most powerful U.S. companies got an earful about their dealings with Communist China. How often do Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, and Cisco get lectures on their failure to stand up for human rights and freedom of expression?
February 15, 2006
Spreading the word
By Helle Dale
It is no secret that America's international-broadcasting institutions have been sadly lacking in strategic vision for years. In fact, such institutions are among Washington's most dysfunctional. Efforts to make them more efficient in the "war for hearts and minds" inevitably get stymied by political infighting, tight budgets and internecine warfare among the organizations.
February 08, 2006
Clash of the titans
By Helle Dale
The interpretation of the outbreak of violence, demonstrations and mayhem in the Muslim world against the now famous 12 cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, inevitably has to be that it is the fulfillment of Samuel Huntington's prediction of the coming clash of civilizations.
February 02, 2006
Fundamentalist populism run amok
By Helle Dale
The parliamentary election in the Palestinian Authority on Jan. 25, which gave a landslide election victory to the terrorist group Hamas, administered a major reality check to the Bush administration's democracy agenda in the Middle East.
January 27, 2006
A warming trend from the North Canadian Conservatives back in power
By Helle Dale
After watching elections in the Southern hemisphere produce a disheartening turn towards socialist populism, it was encouraging to see a win for Conservatives in Canada in Monday's elections. The result could be a far more civil tone in the U.S.- Canadian relationship and more international cooperation. This is good news.
January 13, 2006
A sober pragmatist
By Helle Dale
It is not every day one is lectured on national security by a top Israeli general, and a lecture from Ariel Sharon is not something you soon forget. Personally, I have never forgotten the afternoon in the early 1990s, when Sharon came to tea (tea, of all things!) at The Washington Times, and taught me why military men almost always make more sense than politicians.
January 05, 2006
Britain's wintry mix
By Helle Dale
The days after Christmas were the coldest in England for a quarter century. In southern England, rare snow flurries chased each other over gently rolling landscapes that offered little protection from biting winds. Had this spell of cold weather arrived just a day or two earlier, the famous London bookies would have lost 3 million pounds to those who bet on a White Christmas.
2005 Commentary
December 29, 2005
Its best of 2005?
By Helle Dale
Was 2005 really the annus horribilis you might think if you trusted only certain news publications? Consider the Dec. 19 TIME magazine cover, which advertised "The Best Photos of 2005." "The pictures on the pages that follow are ones we were haunted by this year," writes editor Richard Lacayo. In fact the images are so haunting that it takes a mental effort to remember the good things that also happened in 2005.
December 29, 2005
In the bleak mid-winter Conservatives try a ray of sunshine
By Helle Dale
The days after Christmas were the coldest in England for a quarter century. In southern England, rare snow flurries chased each other over gently rolling landscapes that offered little protection from biting winds. Had this spell of cold weather arrived just a day or two earlier, the famous London bookies would have lost 3 million pounds to those who bet on a White Christmas.
December 22, 2005
On life-support
By Helle Dale
The bad news is that the Doha round of the World Trade Organization remains on life support. The good news is that, at least, it is not completely dead. At the ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, which concluded Monday, some very hard decisions on agricultural subsidies were kicked down the road and a tentative timetable for resolving them agreed upon. At least, this averted the risk of a complete collapse. Keeping trade liberalization moving forward in the difficult areas of agriculture and services is one of the most important issues now facing the international community.
December 15, 2005
Miss Rice to the Europeans
By Helle Dale
While Americans are going about their merry December business of getting ready for Christmas, presents and eggnog, Europe has been in the throes of one of those fits of anti-American hysteria that seems to seize the old continent with predictable regularity.
December 08, 2005
Spreading the News
By Helle Dale
Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld went on the offensive against media criticism of the Pentagon's use of an independent contractor to place positive articles in the Iraqi press. "That story has been pounded in the media.
November 30, 2005
Iraqis Look to Future
By Helle Dale
Let us not snatch defeat in Iraq from the jaws of victory.
November 24, 2005
European intifada?
By Helle Dale
Amid the architectural gorgeousness and the fabulous shopping of Europe, the feeling comes easily that reality is suspended here.
November 16, 2005
Protect the 'Net
By Helle Dale
For anyone who is even slightly computer adept, the Internet has changed our world in both amazing and frustrating ways. It has made our lives easier, more difficult and, it also seems, a lot busier. In other words, the Internet is mixed blessing, but, it has to be said, it is a blessing nonetheless.
November 03, 2005
Spotlight on Syria
By Helle Dale
A broken clock is right twice a day. Somewhat of the same could be said for the U.N. Security Council. Not that the Security Council necessarily right twice a day — would that it were, but sometimes it does reach the correct conclusion, if the correct conclusion is blindingly obvious. And such moments should be acknowledged.
October 27, 2005
Clash of cultures
By Helle Dale
When historian Samuel Huntington wrote his seminal article about the "Clash of Civilizations" he did not have in mind the conflict between the United States and France, but between Islam and the West.
October 20, 2005
A vote for Iraq's Future
By Helle Dale
Iraqis again defied terrorists and the threat of force and came out this weekend to vote for their future. People who for decades were denied a voice in their own affairs by Saddam Hussein and the authoritarian Ba'ath Party for the second time this year affirmed their desire for a free and democratic way of life by endorsing the draft constitution for a united, federal Iraq.
October 12, 2005
ElBaradei's prize
By Helle Dale
Nuclear proliferation is no laughing matter. Nonetheless, last week's announcement that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2005 had been awarded to the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director-general, Mohammed ElBaradei, "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way" hardly passes the laugh test. The choice could not have been more perfect if the Nobel Committee were determined to demonstrate that Norwegians have a sense of humor.
October 06, 2005
At the crossroads
By Helle Dale
Turkey used to be a dreaded invader of Europe, but these days it is more like a patient suitor. For 43 years, since signing an association agreement, Turkey has been waiting to become a full fledged member of the Europe Union.
September 29, 2005
'We were the first'
By Helle Dale
On Sunday, the Poles cast off the legacy of Communism, once again. The weekend election gave a handy victory to a conservative coalition, tossing out the former Communists who have run the country for the past four years.
September 22, 2005
A coalition ahead?
By Helle Dale
What does Jamaica have to do with Germany's national elections? Since the German election on Sunday failed to produce a clear winner, the Jamaican flag, of all things, has been the subject of much discussion in German.
September 15, 2005
Post-Katrina frenzy
By Helle Dale
Post-Katrina frenzy
September 09, 2005
Preventing future catastrophes
By Helle Dale
It is hard to believe that the scenes from New Orleans, and the other cities of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi devastated by hurricane Katrina, are actually right here in the United States.
September 01, 2005
Women in Iraq
By Helle Dale
One of the chief charges leveled against the Bush administration and against the framers of the Iraqi constitution is that it will be a major set back for the women of Iraq.
August 24, 2005
Iraq's race against the clock
By Helle Dale
Iraq's constitutional convention has stopped the clock for three days, giving itself a new deadline of Thursday for approval of the draft constitution finished minutes before mid-night Baghdad time on Monday.
August 17, 2005
Deterring Tehran
By Helle Dale
The decision last week by Iran to resume processing of uranium at its nuclear facility in Isfahan after a nine-month hiatus is obviously an act of defiance.
August 15, 2005
Bush's War Score Card Has More Pluses than Minuses
By Helle Dale
When the U.S. president or his high Cabinet officials utter certain words, they get read as carefully as tea leaves. Anyone who has had a chance to follow the clearance process and the interagency fighting that go on before a major official speech will know just how much is at stake.
August 04, 2005
Will State undergo reforms?
By Helle Dale
Bureaucratic reorganizations of Washington government departments are not the stuff headlines are made of.
July 27, 2005
A Reality Check for Britain
By Helle Dale
If there is a silver lining to the dark cloud of the terrorist bombings in London, it is that there seems to be a stirring realization in the Muslim community in Britain, and here in the United States as well, that they are an important front line against violent Muslim extremism.
July 21, 2005
Don't blame America first
By Helle Dale
"The United Nations is only as effective as its members" is one of the arguments you will always find thrown back at you from supporters of the United Nations, whether the subject is the Iraq oil-for-food scandal or the human rights abuses committed by U.N. peacekeepers in Sudan.
July 14, 2005
London off Guard
By Helle Dale
Last week's subway bombings in London have been an awful reminder that vigilance against terrorism must be the order of the day in the long haul.
July 07, 2005
U.S. Aid to Africa
By Helle Dale
Americans are accustomed to being clobbered on the issue of foreign aid. The G-8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland, which meets today and tomorrow, is likely to bring us more of the same.
June 23, 2005
Iranian Elections
By Helle Dale
The world has been shocked, shocked to learn that Iran's presidential elections, of which the first round took place on June 17, were a sham.
June 17, 2005
Tough Love for the United Nations
By Helle Dale
U.N. reform is a hardy perennial. After all, an international organization as vast, sprawling and bureaucratic as the United Nations presents a great and inviting target.
June 08, 2005
European Disunion
By Helle Dale
One of the cheap lines used by French President Jacques Chirac in his recent flop of a campaign for the European constitution was that a "'No' to the Constitution is a 'Yes' for George Bush."
May 25, 2005
The Incredibly Shrinking Tony Blair
By Helle Dale
Politicians don't like to reveal physical problems. In fact, they don't even like to wear overcoats, which might suggest that they get cold like us ordinary mortals.
May 18, 2005
Mainstream-media bombshell
By Helle Dale
How do you put toothpaste back into the tube? If anyone has the answer, please contact Newsweek magazine immediately.
May 11, 2005
Defending Free Trade
By Helle Dale
How do you avoid losing the peace, once you have won the war? The question applies as much to Central America as it does to Iraq.
May 06, 2005
French Malaise Over Treaty
By Helle Dale
The French are in a funk. Now, it is hard to imagine anyone being in a bad mood in the spring sunshine here with the broad Parisian alleys of chestnut trees in full bloom, and the city's golden domes glittering splendidly.
April 27, 2005
When in Rome
Will Europeans get religion?
By Helle Dale
It will take a lot to bring religion back to today's Europe, where faith in the power of the welfare state has just about replaced more traditional religious observances.
April 21, 2005
Helping those who help themselves
By Helle Dale
Madagascar may not be a country that shows up on Washington's radar screens that often, but this week, it did in a very significant way.
April 14, 2005
Confirm Bolton; revamp U.N.
By Helle Dale
Beware what you wish for, lest it comes true. That sentiment could well be echoing through the halls of the United Nations this week.
April 08, 2005
A Great Pope
Goodbye to a religious leader and statesman
By Helle Dale
The great sadness and loss that will attend Pope John Paul II's funeral on Friday is tinged with the admiration and appreciation that comes from the contemplation of a life truly well lived.
April 01, 2005
Troubling Russian democracy
By Helle Dale
The Russian bear is an aging, ailing animal in bad health, but it is still a predator, and it longs for the days when it could dominate its own neck of the woods.
March 31, 2005
A Tough New Job for Karen Hughes
By Stephen Johnson and Helle Dale
Karen Hughes says she realized it was time to give up her job as a TV reporter one day when she was alone in the southbound lane of a highway driving to cover a hurricane as thousands of her fellow Texans
March 23, 2005
Annan in search of a legacy
By Helle Dale
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan is a man in search of a legacy. A legacy, however, is something you build up over time, like an edifice carefully constructed, action by action, decision by decision.
March 17, 2005
Heed the Voices of Reason
By Helle Dale
On Monday, China's National People's Congress approved a law authorizing the use of force against Taiwan if it should ever move toward a formal declaration of independence.
March 10, 2005
Opinion of U.S. on the Rise
By Helle Dale
Few nations spend as much time as America worrying about how the world perceives them. In the history of great powers or imperial powers, the American concern with likability is unmatched.
March 03, 2005
Lebanon's Regime Change
By Helle Dale
Could it be true that democracy -- having been given a good push by the Bush administration -- is breaking out in the Middle East?
February 24, 2005
Promoting Democracy Abroad
By Helle Dale
Tomorrow's meeting between President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bratislava could be the most difficult for Mr. Bush in a week that has had its share of challenging moments.
February 17, 2005
Improving U.S.-EU Relations
By Helle Dale
Next week, President Bush will cross the Atlantic in search of better relations with European nations.
February 10, 2005
Rice Dazzles Europe
By Helle Dale
Europeans have been known to value style over substance. In Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, they got both.
February 02, 2005
Islam and Democracy
By Helle Dale
Is Islam culturally and religiously in compatible with democracy? Elections in Afghanistan and Iraq surely ought to put an end to that debate -- as least as far as the desire of ordinary Muslims are concerned to vote and be heard.
January 26, 2005
Inspiring Hope for Freedom
By Helle Dale
Let no one accuse President Bush of lacking in vision or an ability to stir controversy. Ever since his soaring inaugural speech last week, intense debate has broken here and abroad about the president's words and intentions.
January 19, 2005
Letting Freedoms Ring
By Helle Dale
The rituals of swearing in a U.S. president always touch a deep chord. Goose bumps never fail some of us, nor does a sense of awe that this is possible in a country the size of the United States with such a diverse population.
January 13, 2005
Bush's Second Mandate
By Helle Dale
In a little over a week, President Bush will stand on the steps of the Capitol and raise his hand to take the oath of office for the second time.
January 05, 2005
The Blame Game
By Helle Dale
The normal human reaction to horrendous disasters such as the one that befell the tsunami stricken areas of Southeast Asia the day after Christmas is incomprehension.
2004 Commentary
December 30, 2004
Oh, What a Year
By Helle Dale
The week between Christmas and New Year's is a time to reflect. Christmas parties and dinners are over, presents have been enjoyed or are at least in the process of being exchanged, and New Year parties are still to come.
December 23, 2004
Christianity in retreat?
By Helle Dale
Many of us long for simpler times, the days when you could wish your friends and family a "Merry Christmas" without a disclaimer of a hint of irony.
December 16, 2004
Talking Turkey
By Helle Dale
On Friday, leaders of the European Union will meet to decide whether to open membership negotiations with Turkey in 2005. It could be the end of the beginning for Turkey's long, patient quest to join Europe's club of the rich. Importantly, in October, the European Commission gave qualified approval to Turkish entry.
December 09, 2004
U.N. Reforms Unlikely
By Helle Dale
Last week, yet another group of Eminent Persons reported to the U.N. secretary general on cleaning out the Augean stables of the United Nations. Such reports come around periodically, usually when the secretary general in question starts contemplating his historic legacy.
December 02, 2004
Biased coverage in Iraq
By Helle Dale
If you trust most media accounts fed to American viewers and readers, Iraq is an unmitigated disaster. There is no security throughout the country, and armed insurgents are springing up, sown like dragon's teeth by the offensive of the U.S. military forces.
November 24, 2004
Bridging the Allies' Divide
By Helle Dale
The city of Venice may not be the obvious place for a call for the moral revival of Europe. This is where Lord Byron used to swim naked down the Grand Canal between pink palaces and swaying gondolas in the early morning hours after nights of carousing.
November 17, 2004
End of the Powell Era
By Helle Dale
How we love the Washington game of musical chairs. But at least as far as Secretary of State Colin Powell is concerned, the music has stopped.
November 10, 2004
After Arafat
By Helle Dale
Like so much of his life, Palestinian leader Arafat's passing has been cloaked in drama and intrigue.
November 03, 2004
World's eyes are on election
By Helle Dale
Few presidential elections have been followed around the world with such intensity as we have seen in 2004.
October 27, 2004
Road to Prosperity
By Helle Dale
Rewarding good behavior is all the rage these when it comes to dealing with developing countries. But good behavior can be in the eye of the beholder.
October 19, 2004
A Tale of Two Elections
By Helle Dale
Americans like to think of their democracy as a model of inspiration, a shining City on a Hill, a beacon of hope for the disenfranchised of the world.
October 13, 2004
Saddam's Bluff
By Helle Dale
Would we have gone into Iraq had we known what he know today about the state of Saddam Hussein's programs for the production of weapons of mass destruction?
October 06, 2004
Wishful Thinking
By Helle Dale
Does Mr. Kerry actually believe there could have been a right war at the wrong time in the wrong place?
September 30, 2004
Strategy for War on Terror
By Helle Dale
You cannot buy a newspaper here or turn on a television set without finding the haunting pictures of hostage Kenneth Bigley staring at you day after day.
September 22, 2004
Outfoxed by Labour
By Helle Dale
most un-British spectacle broke out in the House of Commons Wednesday of last week.
September 15, 2004
The Putin Putsch
By Helle Dale
Governments react differently to acts of terror. President Bush took the war against terror on the offensive, to Afghanistan and Iraq. He chose to meet force with force, and the United States has not been hit by acts of terrorism since September 11, 2001.
September 10, 2004
Thinking Ahead
By Helle Dale
Transforming the U.S. military at a time when the United States is engaged in major operations overseas is no small undertaking
September 01, 2004
Napoleonic Retreat
By Helle Dale
No man is an island, the poet wrote, and in these days of terrorism and hostage takings, you might add that nor is any country.
August 25, 2004
Bad Breaks
By Helle Dale
Americans — can't live with them, can't live without them. That just about sums up the response of Europeans to President Bush's announcement last week.
August 19, 2004
Cloning Castro
By Helle Dale
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been called "Fidel Castro with oil." Now that description can be elaborated to -- "Fidel Castro with popular referendum."
August 11, 2004
Innocents Abroad
By Helle Dale
The question is whether anyone in Europe is thinking about the next step beyond the U.S. election. We can count on Mr. Blair to be one of the first visitors to the White House.
August 04, 2004
Intel reform, anyone?
By Helle Dale
Commission recommendations in Washington are just about a dime a dozen.
July 27, 2004
Women of Iraq
By Helle Dale
When members of Congress recently asked a delegation of Iraqi women what they thought of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the answer came right back, "What took you so long?"
July 14, 2004
Strong on "leadership," short on funding
By Helle Dale
For all the firepower the Democratic candidates directed at President Bush for the war in Iraq during the primary campaign, you would think that the Kerry-Edwards presidential campaign would be just brimming with foreign policy prescriptions.
July 07, 2004
"Shock and bore"
By Helle Dale
Summer in England has many rituals. There's village cricket, a sport that is as leisurely as it is picturesque. There's Wimpledon tennis, invariably beset by pouring rain.
July 02, 2004
Abu Ghraib Shows Limits of Carnival Barking
By Helle Dale and Stephen Johnson
The media may not be aware of it, but the Bush administration has a good story to tell about its efforts to democratize and pacify the Middle East.
June 30, 2004
A new beginning for Iraq
By Helle Dale
It would be nice to think that we can see the end of the U.S. deployment in Iraq, but that's yet too soon.
June 16, 2004
Balkan Ghosts
By Helle Dale
So much as happened in the world since the Balkan Wars of the 1990s, that the international community seems to have lost sight of the fact that the wheels of justice are still turning to bring Serbian and Croatian war criminals to justice.
June 09, 2004
The young American
By Helle Dale
On the two epic events of the last 50 years -- the waging of the Cold War and the growth of the welfare state -- Ronald Reagan was indisputably correct. Communism was evil and had to be defeated, not merely contained. And the welfare state had grown dangerously large and had to be rolled back, not simply managed efficiently.
June 02, 2004
Just In Time
By Helle Dale
What a magnificent sight — hundreds of thousands of World War II veterans gathering in the sunshine on the Mall in Washington for a tribute that is long overdue. This is not a generation that is used to boast of its heroic achievements. They fought the war, won and moved on. Fuss and fanfare is not their thing.
May 28, 2004
After the fall
By Helle Dale
Many of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, former satellites of Soviet power, are firmly anchored in the institutions by now.
May 21, 2004
Voter power
By Helle Dale
Democracies can be pesky things; sometimes you just don't know what the voters will come up with next. Even here in our over-polled United States, where taking the temperature of the voters is an industry unto itself, surprises do happen.
May 14, 2004
POWs, their jailers
By Helle Dale
Americans are struggling to comprehend what happened to the fresh-faced young people we sent to Iraq.
May 05, 2004
Old Europe
By Helle Dale
Certain Europeans threw a mighty snit when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld quipped about the Germans and the French belonging to Old Europe and the new countries coming into NATO and the European Union being the New Europe.
April 30, 2004
A Fine Romance
By Helle Dale
It is so very tempting to resort to the metaphors of domestic life when discussing the state of Trans-Atlantic relations. Throughout 2003, Americans and Europeans behaved like dysfunctional family members, who just don't seem to be able to agree on anything. Or like an old married couple who generally could not stand the sight of each other.
April 21, 2004
Food for fraud
By Helle Dale
Of the many appalling aspects of Saddam Hussein's tyranny, one of the most unforgivable was the pain and death he inflicted on Iraq's children. And even more shocking is that the program that was meant to help them, the U.N. Oil for Food program, turned out to have been disgracefully corrupt, a caricature of a foreign-aid program.
April 14, 2004
Hindsight troubles
By Helle Dale
For this president, who has made national security a main theme of his re-election campaign, a lot depends on whether Americans accept that President Bush and his national security team were doing the best they could to protect us, given what they knew.
April 07, 2004
NATO Turns East
By Helle Dale
Last week, NATO received an infusion of new blood. At this time in the half-century old alliance's lifespan, that's exactly what the defense alliance needs.
April 02, 2004
Lest We Forget
By Helle Dale
We are consumed today wondering about how we can defend our country against the scourge of radical, militant Islam and the terrorism it breeds, but caught up in the present as we are, we must not neglect the past.
March 24, 2004
Terror and Betrayal
By Helle Dale
Clear the front page — members of the Bush administration wanted to know about any Iraqi involvement in the terrorist attacks on Washington and New York after September 11. The White House cared nothing about finding the real terrorists who took 3,000 lives, and the administration has to date done a lousy job of fighting terrorism. So says former Bush administration counterterrorism official and newly minted celebrity Richard Clarke.
March 17, 2004
Spain's Day of Infamy
By Helle Dale
On March 11, terrorists hit Spain with a human catastrophe that has by now claimed over 200 lives and left more than 1400 people wounded. And on March 14, Spanish voters inflicted a great political tragedy on their country, by defeating the sitting government of Jose Maria Aznar.
March 10, 2004
Girl Power Advances: New Deal for Afghan and Iraqi Women
By Helle Dale
If you trust the report released last week by Amnesty International on "Violence against Women," there is unrelentingly bleak news for women all over the world. "Violence against women is a cancer eating away at the core of every society, in every country of the world," said Irene Kahn, Secretary General of Amnesty International, as the organization unveiled its "Stop Violence Against Women Campaign" on March 5.
March 03, 2004
Another Failed State
By Helle Dale
Sometimes there are no good choices -- just bad, worse and worst. The easiest choice certainly would surely have been for the United States to stay out of the awful mess that is Haiti. But, with a lot of well-founded misgivings and reluctance, we already have moved beyond that stage.
February 26, 2004
What's wrong with self-defense?
By Helle Dale
Beware what you wish for, so the saying goes, you might just get it. A case in point is the widespread desire to reform the United Nations. Unless we are careful, the reform movement might blow up in our faces -- and create more problems next time the United States wants to deploy its troops abroad.
February 18, 2004
Chasing the Nuclear Genie
By Helle Dale
It won't be easy to get the nuclear genie back into the bottle. No sooner had President Bush announced his very worthy initiative to combat proliferation, in a speech at American Defense University last Wednesday, than newspaper reports over the weekend detailed disturbing findings of a trail of nuclear designs from China to Pakistan to Libya.
February 11, 2004
Those elusive WMD
By Helle Dale
Ever since the chief weapons inspector David Kay told the Senate Armed Services Committee on January 28 that he has despaired of finding Iraq's stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the hunt has been on, not only for the still missing WMDs in Iraq, but for answers as to what on earth happened to our intelligence estimates.
February 04, 2004
The Bumbling Broadcast Corporation
By Helle Dale
Whatever happened to the venerable British Broadcasting Corporation? The BBC used to be known the world over for bringing you the truth as told by gentlemen, but it has fallen, and fallen hard. The case of the BBC vs. the Blair government reminds us why the world has moved beyond state monopolies. They are inefficient, can be blinded by arrogance and often have an exaggerated sense of their own power. Nowhere is this truer than in the world of media, a profession that is crowded with big egos in any event.
January 29, 2004
Kindergarten Foreign Policy
By Helle Dale
Americans don't normally elect their presidents on foreign policy, but in some way, the 2004 election looks as though it could depart from precedent.
January 22, 2004
More Speed, Less Haste: Don't Rush Elections In Iraq
By Helle Dale
They want popular elections, and they want them now. In fact, yesterday would have been better. That is the word from the leaders of Iraq's Shiite Muslim population, who have taken to the streets in massive demonstrations to press their demands. After decades of violent oppression, who can blame Iraq's largest population group for wanting to flex its political muscles? With 60 percent of the country's population, they stand to win absolute victory.
January 14, 2004
Freedom to Trade: Ups and downs of the world in 2004
By Helle Dale
The Index is now in its 10th season, and it has a proven record for economist and lawmakers. In some countries, it is used to guide government policy towards free market reforms, in others as an economic textbook at universities. For the American government and lawmakers it is a tool to evaluate the economic policies of recipients of foreign aid, among other functions.
January 07, 2004
Signs of life
By Helle Dale
It is just the luck of the British Conservatives that when their new leader finally produced a major political and philosophical credo last week, the news all but got drowned out.
2003 Commentary
December 31, 2003
Goodbye To All That: 2003 was the year of Iraq
By Helle Dale
Somehow 2003 seemed longer than just one year, more like a decade.
December 16, 2003
The Face of Evil: Saddam found in Iraqi rat hole
By Helle Dale
How infinitely appropriate that, in the end, Saddam Hussein was captured, hiding in a rat hole in Northern Iraq.
December 05, 2003
Vladimir Putin's Eyes: Russian Elections Are Part of Power Play
By Helle Dale
Remember when President George Bush gazed into the eyes of Russian President Vladimir Putin and decided he knew the man's soul, here was a man he could trust? Instead, Mr. Bush ought to have had chills running down his spine. While Mr. Bush may be many things – a courageous president in difficult times, for one – a perfect reader of the human soul he is not, as developments in Russia have demonstrated.
December 01, 2003
Two's Company
By Helle Dale
British Prime Minister Tony Blair seems determined to attempt the difficult feat of dancing at two weddings at the same time.
November 19, 2003
Italy Has Its 9/11
By Helle Dale
For Italians, November 12, 2003 will always be a day of infamy, Italy's September 11. That was the day when 19 Italian soldiers and carabinieri were killed by a suicide bomber who drove a powerful car bomb up to their compound in the Iraqi town of Nasariya.
November 11, 2003
Cleaning Out the U.N. Stables
By Helle Dale
Bringing the United Nations into the 21st century will be a Herculean task.
November 05, 2003
No Way to Treat the Gipper
By Helle Dale
Disrespect for Reagans backfires on CBS
October 29, 2003
EU Army to the Rescue? Heaven Help Us From Our Friends
By Helle Dale
Last May, people in the war torn northern Democratic Republic of the Congo received hope of help from an unexpected source. It came from none less than the European Union.
October 23, 2003
Regime Change In Iran
By Helle Dale
Iran is, in fact, one case where Europeans and Americans currently agree. A nuclear Iran would destroy the whole strategic stability of the region
October 15, 2003
General Confusion: Wes Clark's March on the White House
By Helle Dale
In the post-September 11 world, it is not strange that Democrats are pleased to find a four star general among their presidential candidates, and a telegenic one at that.
October 08, 2003
The Kay Report: Finding Needles in a Haystack
By Helle Dale
The good news is that the White House got a highly credible and eminently qualified individual -- veteran U.N. weapons inspector David Kay -- to head its investigation into Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The bad news is that no one seems to be paying the least bit of attention to the facts reported by Mr. Kay to Congress on Oct. 2.
October 02, 2003
White House Under Attack. Will We Ever Know Who Leaked?
By Helle Dale
Chances are very good that we will never know who from the White House leaked the information about Ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife to members of the press.
September 17, 2003
Trading Insults, The Cancun Free For All
By Helle Dale
In African countries like Congo, Burundi or Tanzania between 45-60 percent of the GDP derives from agriculture. These countries cannot compete in high tech or services. Meanwhile, in the United States, agriculture accounts for 1.4 percent of GDP. In most European countries, it is less than 3 percent.
September 10, 2003
The Long Haul
By Helle Dale
September 03, 2003
Happy birthday North Korea -- Not
By Helle Dale
On September 9, North Koreans will celebrate the 55th anniversary of the creation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Here's a bet that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il will celebrate in a grand way by proclaiming himself the head of a new nuclear power.
August 27, 2003
Target U.N.
By Helle Dale
It is a mistake to think that a multinational force would be less of a red rag in the face of fundamentalist radicals and of remnants of Iraq's old guard still loyal to Saddam.
August 21, 2003
What Price for a Life?
By Helle Dale
On Friday, Libya signaled that it is finally willing to accept some kind of "responsibility" for the terrorist attack that in 1988 blew the American airliner Pan Am 103 out of the sky over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. "Libya as a sovereign state accepts responsibilities [sic] for the actions of its officials," Libyan Ambassador Ahmed A. Own said in a letter delivered to the U.N. Security Council.
August 13, 2003
Between Chirac and a Hard Place
By Helle Dale
Anything can happen when you provoke the wrath of French theater workers.
August 06, 2003
Are You Being Serbed?
By Helle Dale
If the Serbian mentality was supposed to have changed since the ouster and war crimes indictment of former dictator Slobodan Milosevic, this was not evident from the recent visit of Serbian government leaders to Washington.
July 31, 2003
Military Humanitarianism
By Helle Dale
The news that President Bush has ordered three warships with some 2,500 marines to the waters off the coast of Liberia in West Africa creates an uneasy sense of déjà vu.
July 24, 2003
What You Didn't Hear in the Media
By Helle Dale
There's good news and bad news about Iraq. Wait a minute?there is good news?
July 18, 2003
Forgotten Freedom
By Helle Dale
Sometimes, I just wish I could transport some of America's many critics around the world to our local congregation in Madison, Va.
July 16, 2003
Labor Pains
By Helle Dale
It's a strange world, indeed, when one finds oneself rooting for Alistair Campbell, the slick communications strategist and miracle worker behind the scenes of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's government.
April 27, 2003
Give Iraq a Clean Slate
By Helle Dale
Give Iraq a Clean Slate: Helle Dale of The Heritage Foundation encourages debtors of Iraq - including France, Germany, and Russia - to offer the new Iraqi government relief from its debt and a better chance to rebuild.
January 22, 2003
An atrocious act in Geneva
By Helle Dale
An atrocious act in Geneva
2002 Commentary
December 17, 2002
Snow Job in the Desert
By Helle Dale
Snow Job in the Desert
July 18, 2002
The Real Case For Missile Defense
By Helle Dale
The United States is now freed from any constraints on efforts to build an effective missile defense...
November 20, 2009
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