Articles and analysis

By George Friedman

John McCain is the Republican candidate for president. This means he is embedded in the Republican tradition. That tradition has two roots, which are somewhat at odds with each other: One root is found in Theodore Roosevelt's variety of internationalism, and the other in Henry Cabot Lodge's opposition to the League of Nations. Those roots still exist in the Republican Party. But accommodations to the reality the Democrats created after World War II — and that Eisenhower, Nixon and, to some extent, Reagan followed — have overlain them. In many ways, the Republican tradition of foreign policy is therefore more complex than the Democratic tradition.

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By a special correspondent at the UK's governing Labour Party Conference

I've seen the future of the Labour Party and defence. It looks and smells like the Labour Party and defence in the nineties. In other words, its not a pretty sight for those of a sensible disposition!

Walking around the conference exhibition, the last of the defence industry exhibitors from years gone by, BAE Systems, has gone. Their only outwardly visible appearance was at an 8am Monday breakfast meeting on which we reported yesterday.

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By George Friedman

It has often been said that presidential elections are all about the economy. That just isn't true. Harry Truman's second election was all about Korea. John Kennedy's election focused on missiles, Cuba and Berlin. Lyndon Johnson's and Richard Nixon's elections were heavily about Vietnam. Ronald Reagan's first election pivoted on Iran. George W. Bush's second election was about Iraq. We won't argue that presidential elections are all about foreign policy, but they are not all about the economy. The 2008 election will certainly contain a massive component of foreign policy.

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