Autor: Vance Serchuk

After holding Mogadishu for six months, Somalia's Islamists have been swept from power, ousted in a blitzkrieg attack by the Ethiopian military.

Will America’s partnership with India fall victim to politics? The Bush administration's proposed agreement on civil nuclear cooperation with New Delhi -once predicted to win approval from Congress as early as June- is under a growing cloud.

While the White House and its critics continue to spar over the war in Iraq, there is broad consensus that the success or failure of the U.S. enterprise there increasingly turns on the Pentagon’s ability to stand up indigenous security forces.

The biggest problem in Kosovo -regardless of its political status- remains governance. Although diplomats speak valiantly about the territory’s “European destiny,” Kosovo at least in the near future is more likely to resemble Moldova than the Czech Republic.

the perception of political and economic progress in Afghanistan is ultimately the key to isolating extremist groups and fracturing their ranks. In the midst of this summer's violence, for instance, approximately 200 Taliban accepted the Karzai government's amnesty offer.

This week, the heads of state of more than 170 countries are meeting to consider wide-ranging reforms for the United Nations. But any mention of the expansion of the Security Council will be off the agenda, thanks in no small part to the diplomatic exertions of the Bush administration.

Afghanistan has been treated as little more than a mark on a checklist, validating theories about the future American way of war and the universal appeal of democracy.

With China’s declaration of an anti-secession law, Washington has received a timely if unwelcome reminder of the depth of Beijing’s determination to retake Taiwan and the reality of geopolitical rivalry in East Asia.

Of these stories, one--Iraq's purported attempts to acquire uranium from Niger--is well known. The other--al Qaeda's purchase of conflict diamonds in Sierra Leone and Liberia--is not. Thus it makes a well-deserving subject for a new book, namely Blood From Stones by veteran investigative journalist and former Washington Post West Africa bureau chief Douglas Farah.

The president's electoral victory on November 2 did not settle this argument, but it gave him a new opportunity to prove his case. Ultimately, a second Bush administration must convince Americans and the world that a tolerant, democratic Middle East is not a desert mirage, but a winnable prospect. And real success must be achieved both in and beyond Afghanistan and Iraq.