A Couple of Articles Worth Your Time

Two interesting opinions on/questions worth pondering about President-Elect Obama's foreign policy. In the first article "Nikolas Gvosdev, former editor of the National Interest, considers the kinds of "80 percent solutions" the Obama administration might be forced to consider, and whether it will be willing to make them." as described by the World Politics Review (WPR) Editors.

In the second "Thomas P.M. Barnett examines the rule sets the Obama administration inherits from its predecessor, and how it might redefine them to further America's global leadership." as described by the WPR Editors.

By the way, one thing should never be forgotten in regards to Afghanistan when Mr. Obama talks of essentially doubling down on winning there:

During the campaign, Obama promised to increase troop numbers in Afghanistan. It bears noting, however, that the Soviet-backed government had 329,000 men under arms when the Soviets withdrew in 1989; this is a larger force than the current Afghan National Army plus the U.S., NATO and coalition forces combined. This is why the British commander on the ground recently concluded that there is no military solution to the problem of the resurgent Taliban insurgency.