Talking a Great Game
So far, Washington's pivot to Asia has included a lot of work on security and trade. Democracy, not so much.
Hillary Clinton is approaching the final phase of an astonishing 13-day tour of the world. She's spent much of her trip in Asia, including stops in Mongolia, Vietnam, and Laos. And that, of course, is entirely in keeping with the Obama administration's interest in re-orienting U.S. foreign policy to that part of the world as part of the famous "pivot."
Hillary Clinton is approaching the final phase of an astonishing 13-day tour of the world. She’s spent much of her trip in Asia, including stops in Mongolia, Vietnam, and Laos. And that, of course, is entirely in keeping with the Obama administration’s interest in re-orienting U.S. foreign policy to that part of the world as part of the famous "pivot."
The pivot, of course, is motivated by the realization that it’s the rise of China (and certainly not a bunch of ragged Islamist revolutionaries) that poses the greatest challenge to U.S. dominance in the 21st century. It is Asia that is the new fulcrum of the global economy, and it is Asia that is home to some of the world’s most pressing global security challenges — especially now that some states in the region find themselves directly