Starobin was Moscow bureau chief for Business Week from 1999-2003. He has reported from Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, Europe and South America. Previous positions include reporter for Congressional Quarterly in Washington, business reporter for The Lowell Sun in Massachusetts, and public-policy case writer for the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He grew up in Worcester, Mass. and graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. in 1979. Starobin received a Masters of Science degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1981. He was an international journalism fellow for the Knight Foundation journalism program in 1998.
Updated at 10:17 p.m. on Nov. 4. Thanks to everyone who has sent in posts for this round. It is fair to say that there is a rough consensus among the bloggers that current talk about the Chi-America paradigm reflects a certain trendiness in geopolitical circles. Just as Japan was once widely seen as the ‘next big thing’ in the world, now China (and the Chi-America version of China’s rising role in the world) is often viewed in that light. For what it’s worth, I have a quasi-cynical explanation for this and a substantive one. The quasi-cynical explanation is that… Read more
Thanks to all who have contributed. If there is one word that encapsulates the exchanges so far, that word is “pessimism.” Nine months into the action-promising Obama Administration—nine months after the exit of a President who was widely criticized for giving insufficient attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—no one senses that a breakthrough is on the horizon. “Barack Obama will not solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” Dov Zakheim bluntly asserts. “Despite the hopes and efforts of the Obama Administration, this may, in fact, be the most inopportune timeframe during which to hope for a breakthrough since the Israeli-Palestinian peace process first got off… Read more
“Every ruler or elected head of state wants his opera,” Michael Vlahos notes in his blog post. Yes indeed, and it might be added that there are many varieties of opera, running from the exuberantly melodramatic to the ponderously tragic and on occasion reaching the sublime. Intriguingly, our bloggers are divided on the question of whether the Obama foreign-policy opera, with its large and diverse cast of voices, is proving an effective production. “At this point, I'm willing to give the Obama administration the benefit of the doubt and accept the idea that it's still getting its sea legs. … Read more
I’d like to start with a moderator’s privilege and say that this easily has been one of the best discussions we’ve had on this site. The balance of opinion among our experts is that the Iraq War is not over—which is not in itself a terribly surprising verdict, but what is so interesting and rewarding to read is the rich variety of perspectives, informed by history, on how the war is continuing to play out. Michael Vlahos challenges the easy assumption that “all wars end” and notes that “wars of identity can span centuries.” Dov Zakheim raises the chilling possibility… Read more
Thanks to everyone for their responses. This is indeed proving to be an intriguing exercise, just as we hoped. What is striking in the first instance is the sheer range of answers to the question—and more suggestions are of course welcome. A winner might be “nonpolarity,” a kind of geopolitical chaos, Hillary Mann Leverett says—in which case “no set of players” assumes responsibility for global order. Or a resilient China: “There is likely to be a quantum jump in China’s prestige and influence,” Michael Brenner writes. Or other non-OECD countries that so far are holding up well, like Brazil and… Read more
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