Council on Foreign Relations

Yuval Levin of the Ethics and Public Policy Center says Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) should orient his campaign message around an agenda of sweeping reform.

The Atlantic's Matthew Yglesias writes that Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) may have flubbed in a July 2007 debate when he initially expressed his willingness to negotiate with rogue leaders. But, Yglesias writes, the Obama campaign has since made that pragmatic view of diplomacy a cornerstone of his foreign policy agenda. Writes Yglesias, Obama's foreign policy approach "doesn’t heed the usual political advice that says Democrats should recoil in fear from anything that could be painted as weakness."

The Wall Street Journal says anti-free trade activists and labor unions have pressured Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) into committing to making various pro-labor trade reforms. Business interests are concerned that these new requirements could "make it impossible for the U.S. to sign trade deals with developing countries such as Egypt, Pakistan and India that have growing markets but lousy labor records."

The New York Times Magazine examines the evolution of Sen. John McCain's viewpoint on foreign policy and military matters, and says his time served in the Vietnam War has strongly influenced his outlook.

The Los Angeles Times says Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) "seem to be edging toward a middle ground between them" on Iraq policy. Staff writer Paul Richter says the shift can be attributed in part to the need for candidates to broaden their appeal to voters in the general election.

In an op-ed, Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal speculates that the issue of illegal immigration has faded from prominence in the 2008 presidential campaign because voters are generally "pro-immigrant but ambivalent about it." Riley says American culture is under assault not from immigrants, but from "liberal elites who reject the concept of assimilation."

T.A. Frank looks back on his experience as a factory inspector for a "corporate social responsibility monitoring" firm. He wonders if the Democratic candidates' proposals for tougher labor standards in free trade agreements are enforceable.

Guardian columnist Jonathan Steele says Sen. Barack Obama's rhetoric on Israel shows his election would not likely represent any real shift from "business as usual" in foreign policy matters.

Robert Kagan, a foreign policy adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), defends McCain’s proposed plan for a “League of Democracies.”

Gene Healy, a senior editor at the Cato Institute, says the United States "appears stuck with an imperial presidency," and looks at the drastic changes in the president's role since the Constitution was written.

Edward Luttwak writes that under Muslim law, Sen. Barack Obama's is technically an apostate. This means, Luttwak says, the hope that his presidency will improve relations with the Muslim world is unrealistic.

The Brookings Institution's Bruce Riedel lays out a new U.S. policy agenda toward Pakistan for the next president. He says the United States has failed democratic forces in Pakistan, and must change course in order to better support the country on its "torturous path to democracy." He also says the United States must "greatly intensify efforts to ensure the security of Pakistan's weapons arsenal."

Alan Dowd says it is likely that the next president will employ some aspects of the Bush Doctrine, even if they do not invoke it by name.

McClatchy analysts ask why Sen. John McCain proposed in a March 2008 foreign policy speech to oust Russia from the G-8.

Peter W. Rodman examines anti-Americanism which has increasingly become a global phenomenon.

In an interview with Newsweek, Michael Clarke, a distinguished professor of defense studies at King's College in London, discusses U.S. foreign policy in the presidential campaign season, and stresses the importance of the U.S.-China relationship. He says the next president should try to "ensure that China exercises its growing strength from within a rule-based system."

Editor-At-Large  Evan Thomas and Washington Correspondent  Pat Wingert  report  that  to  truly  tackle the greenhouse effect, will require the one thing from voters that few politicians dare to ask for and fewer achieve: massive public sacrifice. Accomplishing this would require the rhetorical skill of Barack Obama, the tenacity of Hillary Clinton and the courage of John McCain-all combined in one leader.

Senior Editor Jerry Adler reports on where the three U.S. presidential candidates stand on the environment and why some environmental advocacy groups, such as the League of Conservation Voters, which influences mainstream environmental groups, are still undecided on which candidate to endorse.

Steve Coll of the New America Foundation says political changes in Pakistan and the weakening in al Qaeda may make Osama bin Laden's capture more likely.

Examines how Senator John McCain’s approach to a foreign policy plan is leading to a competition as both realists and neoconservatives vie to be his policy advisers.