Sunjeev Bery

Tag: U.S. foreign policy

  • Misreading “Anti-Americanism” in Pakistan

    The latest news on US-Pakistan relations shouldn’t surprise anyone. According to the Associated Press, former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf used billions of dollars in US military aid for everything but the paymasters’ intended purpose: fighting Taliban militias. None of this news, however, is likely to generate much Pakistani sympathy for American taxpayers. What American officials…

  • “Israeli Media Reads the Fine Print”

    The Huffington Post 06/06/09 by Sanjeev Bery In the 48 hours since President Obama’s speech in Cairo, Israeli journalists and pundits have had a lot to say. Their comments offer insights into U.S. foreign policy that many American observers might not get at home. Some were particularly struck by Obama’s implicit linkage of Palestinian aspirations…

  • Why Deepak Chopra is wrong

    The Huffington Post 05/05/09 by Sanjeev Bery, Sahar Shafqat It is always easy to tell someone else what they need to do. Just point your finger, clear your throat, and boldly offer your advice. Don’t worry about the realities of history — just speak your mind. In his recent essay, “The Dilemma of the ‘good’…

  • The IMF and the Taliban

    Among the many factors at play in the growth of the Pakistani “neo-Taliban” is the story of poverty and a failed government response to basic human needs. With the global recession underway, things have only gotten only worse for those near the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder in Pakistan and elsewhere. As the World Bank…

  • Chris Matthews, Cold Warrior

    Amidst all the buzz around new U.S.-Cuba relations, Chris Matthews found a way to sound the old Cold War alarm.  Avoiding the messy details of real history, Mr. Matthews criticized President Obama’s call for a new U.S.-Cuba relationship: Well, I just am not a Castro fan. You know, he [Castro] bought the wrong ticket. He…

  • The Nonprofit Newspaper?

    Good reporting on U.S. foreign policy requires good reporting, period.  As newspapers shrink and reporters get laid off, accurate American discourse about our actions in the world becomes less likely.   The best (worst) example is Iraq.  Even before the Obama Administration began, flagging public interest intersected with shrinking media budgets to result in Baghdad…

  • Dollar vs. Dollar

    Until recently, a fundamental reality has been missing from U.S. media coverage of the “drug wars” in Latin America.    Time and again, our headlines have pointed to the scary “other” — the corrupt Mexican police officer, the Colombian drug trafficker, the peasant farmer who ekes out a living growing a poisonous crop. A case in…