Word: gelb
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Power is getting people or groups to do something they don't want to do," writes Leslie H. Gelb, former president of the Council on Foreign Relations, in his new book, Power Rules. It seems an aggressively simplistic thought for a member of the foreign policy priesthood. But Gelb doesn't define power merely as the use or threat of force. (In fact, he argues, wars usually occur when the creative use of power has failed.) Power is a combination of factors - military, diplomatic, economic, moral - that give a country the ability to make its way in the world. Gelb...
...avoidable. They tend to be written in an abstruse language that occasionally approaches English. The most commercial of them promise a new theory of the world: it is flat (economically), America's influence is waning (or waxing), the nature of power is changing, growing softer, more multilateral (or unilateral). Gelb takes a defiant step in the opposite direction, away from gimmicks and grand theories, toward a re-examination of the most basic and eternal tool in the game of nations. He does not dispute that the world has changed: globalization exists, as do Osama bin Laden and dirty weapons...
...Gelb is at his best describing the three "demons" that render America's politicians congenitally foolish and unable to project power creatively - our tendency to turn principles into dogma, domestic political pressures, and the delusion that America can do anything. George W. Bush was badly boggled by all three. His "Freedom Agenda," which wantonly promoted democracy, led to disasters like the rise of Hamas in Gaza (after Bush forced elections that neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority wanted). Bush also played domestic tough-guy politics disgracefully: his opponents were inevitably "soft on terrorism." And he played the darker avenues...
...Leslie H. Gelb, of the Council on Foreign Relations, believes the Iranians won't be interested in small accommodations and will probably hold out for more substantive discussion. That's because the Iranians have been down the road of small-bore cooperation with the U.S. before, most recently on Afghanistan, and have invariably been left with nothing to show for their efforts. "They'll wait for a [broader] conversation," he says. Only after comprehensive talks begin, Gelb says,"can there be individual acts of cooperation by each side, to show good faith...
...Opera has sold 685,000 tickets to its HD performances this season, more than double what it sold last outing. Not bad, considering it's projected to sell 820,000 tickets to the opera-house performances this year. Because each show is broadcast live, says Met general manager Peter Gelb, "it makes people feel like they're part of this global opera community." Perhaps that's why the audiences are spontaneously applauding arias and standing for their favorite singers during curtain calls. The tenor can't hear the ovation, but it's not really for him anyway...