Council on Foreign Relations

Robert Kahn, CFR's Steven A. Tananbaum senior fellow for international economics, leads a conversation on the current state of the U.S. economy and the challenges that lie ahead.

As the 113th U.S. Congress considers an overhaul of the country's immigration system, Task Force members Richard Land, Eliseo Medina, and project director Edward Alden discuss U.S. policy options and political prospects for comprehensive change.

Fawzia Koofi, Afghan Member of Parliament, women's rights activist, and presidential candidate, speaks about what to expect for Afghanistan after U.S. troops withdraw in 2014.

Ed Husain hosts Bernard Haykel in a discussion of the convergences and divergences in Gulf governments' policies toward the Arab Spring, both domestically and regionally.

Ed Husain leads a wide-ranging discussion with AbdulMawgoud Dardery of the political challenges facing Egypt and the Freedom and Justice Party's vision for the country's future.

CFR Senior Fellows Robert M. Danin and Ed Husain lead a conversation on the current situation in Syria and discuss the challenges that lie ahead for the country and the international community.

Ellen Bork, director of Democracy and Human Rights at the Foreign Policy Initiative, leads a conversation on the relationship between China and Tibet and the ongoing religious persecution in Tibet.

Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, discusses the influence of the United States on common and organized crime in Central America, and offers policy recommendations for what the United States could do domestically and internationally to mitigate the violence.

Hina Rabbani Khar, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan's minister for foreign affairs, discusses U.S.-Pakistan relations, counterterrorism, and Afghanistan.

The discussion outlines a new U.S. grand strategy focused on reinvigorating solidarity between the United States and established democracies in defense of a world based on liberal principles and the rule of law.

Shanker A. Singham, chairman of the International Roundtable on Trade and Competition Policy, leads a conversation on how government-imposed anticompetitive market distortions harm U.S. exports and state and local economies.

Reza Aslan, CFR's adjunct senior fellow, leads a conversation on Iran and its role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Director General Amano discusses challenges facing the IAEA, including action plans for global nuclear safeguards and security.

Micah Zenko, CFR's Douglas Dillon fellow in the Center for Preventive Action, discusses U.S. drone strikes and their global implications.

Listen to CFR Senior Fellow Shannon K. O'Neil and former foreign minister of Mexico Jorge G. Castañeda discuss President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto and the future of U.S.-Mexico relations.

In an op-ed that appeared this week in USA Today, O'Neil argued that the main obstacle to better relations between the two countries is Americans' perceptions of Mexico and its people:

"In Americans' psyches, drugs dominate. When advertising firm GSD&M and Vianovo strategic consultants asked Americans to come up with three words that describe Mexico, nearly every other person answered 'drugs,' followed by 'poor' and 'unsafe.' Other questions reveal Americans see Mexico as corrupt, unstable and violent, more problem than partner. Americans had more favorable views of Greece, El Salvador and Russia."

Read O'Neil's USA Today op-ed "Mexico Isn't a Gangland Gunbattle."

In the November/December issue of Foreign Affairs, Castañeda and historian Héctor Aguilar Camín claim that there is a political mandate in Mexico that calls for less corruption, greater rule of law, and improved economic justice:

"Mexicans' clamor for prosperity is no longer negotiable, and today, the country is less than a generation away from becoming the full-fledged middle-class society it aspires to be. But only if it gets to work now."

Read Camín and Castañeda's essay "Mexico's Age of Agreement."

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum discusses her highly acclaimed book, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956, and the contemporary implications of Soviet policy in Eastern Europe.

Listen to CFR senior fellow Robert M. Danin discuss the conflict between Israel and Hamas and its implications for the U.S. and the region.

Julius Genachowski discusses the challenges and opportunities of the Federal Communications Commission's role in international telecommunications policy and its ongoing mission to promote Internet freedom, competition, innovation, and investment in broadband services around the globe.

Claudio M. Loser and Antoine W. van Agtmael discuss perspectives on how Latin American countries have weathered the global financial crisis and assess what is at stake for the region's economies in the future.