The cover story of the new edition of Newsweek (June 11, 2007) features an article by Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, frequent contributor to The Washington Post and numerous other prominent publications, author of several books including The New York Times bestseller, The Future of Freedom, and host of Foreign Exchange, the weekly international affairs show on PBS. If you haven't caught Foreign Exhange, give it a try - it's arguably one of the best shows on PBS. 

The article is titled, Beyond Bush - What the world needs is an open, confident America. Here are just a few highlights from this excellent article:

On the post-Bush era:

...In any event, it is time to stop bashing George W. Bush. We must begin to think about life after Bush - a cheering prospect for his foes, a dismaying one for his fans (however few there may be at the moment). In 19 months he will be a private citizen, giving speeches to insurance executives. America, however, will have to move on and restore its place in the world. To do this we must first tackle the consequences of our foreign policy of fear. Having spooked ourselves into believing that we have no option but to act fast, alone, unilaterally and pre-emptively, we have managed in six years to destroy decades of international good will, alienate allies, embolden enemies and yet solve few of the major international problems we face.

He comes down hard on the fear-mongering of the Republican candidates (although he doesn't let the Democrats off the hook either): 

...The presidential campaign could have provided the opportunity for a national discussion of the new world we live in. So far, on the Republican side, it has turned into an exercise in chest-thumping. Whipping up hysteria requires magnifying the foe. The enemy is vast, global and relentless. Giuliani casually lumps together Iran and Al Qaeda. Mitt Romney goes further, banding together all the supposed bad guys. "This is about Shia and Sunni. This is about Hizbullah and Hamas and Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood," he recently declared.

...Such overreactions are precisely what Osama bin Laden has been hoping for. In a videotaped message in 2004, bin Laden explained his strategy with astonishing frankness. He termed it "provoke and bait": "All we have to do is send two mujahedin ... [and] raise a piece of cloth on which is written 'Al Qaeda' in order to make the generals race there, to cause America to suffer human, economic and political losses." His point has been well understood by ragtag terror groups across the world. With no apparent communication, collaboration or further guidance from bin Laden, small outfits from Southeast Asia to North Africa to Europe now announce that they are part of Al Qaeda, and so inflate their own importance, bring global attention to their cause and - of course - get America to come racing out to fight them. 

Zakaria offers some insightful thoughts on Iraq and Iran: 

...The administration has - surprise - tried to play up fears of the consequences of a drawdown in Iraq (which is always described as a Vietnam-style withdrawal down to zero). It predicts that this will lead to chaos, violence and a victory for terrorists. When we listen to these forecasts, it is worth remembering that every administration prediction about Iraq has been wrong. Al Qaeda is a small presence in Iraq, and ordinary Sunnis are abandoning support for it. "If we leave Iraq, they will follow us home," says the president. Can they not do so now? Iraq's borders have never been more porous. Does he think that Iraqi militants and foreign terrorists are so distracted by our actions in Iraq that they have forgotten that there are many more Americans in America?

...I have no magic formula to stop Iran from going nuclear, nor to change Iran's regime. But the strategy we have adopted against so many troublesome countries over the last few decades - sanction, isolate, ignore, chastise - has simply not worked. Cuba is perhaps the best example of this paradox. Having put in place a policy to force regime change in that country, we confront the reality that Fidel Castro will die in office the longest-serving head of government in the world. On the other hand, countries where we have had the confidence to engage - from China to Vietnam to Libya - have shifted course substantially over time. Capitalism and commerce and contact have proved far more reliable agents of change than lectures about evil. The next president should have the courage to start talking to rogue regimes, not as a sign of approval but as a way of influencing them and shaping their environment. 

The quotes above don't really do this excellent article justice. I don't agree with everything Zakaria has written - I'm one of those Democrats he believes are too concerned with the downside of globalization, for instance. But he is an insightful and sensible, even wise, commentator on world affairs (I think of him as the Anti-Neocon). It's an article worth reading, and it's heartening to realize that this is an article appearing in the mainstream media. You might also want to check out the Fareed Zakaria website.