Recently, the US and the Western media have grown sharply critical of the Karzai government in Afghanistan, but many seem to overlook how far this country has traveled from the point it was standing eight years back. Although criticized sharply for failing to establish stability in the country, Afghanistan has had numerous achievements in the last 8 years. If counted in sequence, the Afghan elections held successfully in 2004 would top the list. The bringing of cultural dynamism into Afghan society by re-establishment of televison channels and re-opening of cinema halls, for example, is appreciable. Industry has rebounded even if the road remains a long one to traverse. The mobile and telecommunication industries have enjoyed robust growth. In sports, Afghanistan won an Olympic Bronze Medal and recent success stories of Afghan National Cricket team have heartened the national mood. Thousands of Afghans are returning from decades of exile in the neighboring countries and from Europe.
After years of fierce anti-American rhetoric, Iran’s President says his country is ready for fundamental change in its relationship with the United States. Speaking to tens of thousands of Iranians gathered on the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made a conditional offer of dialogue to the Obama administration.
His comments come just a day after US President Barack Obama, pledged to re-think Washington’s relationship with Tehran. Al Jazeera’s Zeina Khodr reports from Tehran.
After the icy mutual hostility of the Bush era, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran on Tuesday made a conditional offer of dialogue to the Obama administration, saying Tehran was ready for “talks based on mutual respect and in a fair atmosphere.”
But he coupled the offer with an attack on former President Bush, calling for him to be “tried and punished” for his policies and actions in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region.
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s remarks came in a televised address to a rally marking the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 which deposed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, ended the close relationship between Washington and Tehran, and replaced it with decades of confrontation that culminated in former President Bush’s description of Iran as part of an “axis of evil.”
President Obama said Monday night that his administration was exploring ways to open a dialogue with Iran. “My expectation is, in the coming months, we will be looking for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the table, face to face; of diplomatic overtures that will allow us to move our policy in a new direction,” he said at a news conference.
William Greider has covered politics from the nation’s capital for The Washington Post and for Rolling Stone Magazine for over 20 years. He currently writes for The Nation, the oldest political journal in the country. Mr. Greider’s most recent book, Come Home America, examines the implications of our country’s predicament. He talks about the Democrats roll in deregulating the financial markets and their current dilemma between representing their funders and their constituents.
James Fallows visits Google’s Mountain View, CA headquarters to discuss his book “Postcards from Tomorrow Square: Reports from China.” This event took place on February 9, 2009, as part of the Authors@Google series.
Since December 2006, The Atlantic Magazine’s James Fallows has been writing some of the most discerning accounts of the economic and political transformation occurring in China. The twelve essays collected in Postcards from Tomorrow Square cover a wide-range of topics: from visionary tycoons and TV-battling entrepreneurs, to environmental pollution and how China subsidizes our economy. Fallows expertly and lucidly explains the economic, political, social, and cultural forces at work turning China into a world superpower at breakneck speed. This eye-opening and cautionary account is essential reading for all concerned not only with China’s but America’s future role in the world.
James Fallows is The Atlantic Monthly’s national correspondent, who has been based in China since 2006. He is a former editor of U.S. News & World Report and a former chief White House speechwriter for Jimmy Carter. His previous books include Blind Into Baghdad: America’s War in Iraq; Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy; Free Flight; Looking at the Sun; More Like Us; and National Defense, which won the American Book Award for nonfiction. He has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award four times.