Journal of International Security Affairs

This journal got off to a great start in the summer of 2001 with its inaugural issue that included an article by Natan Sharansky called "From Helsinki to Oslo." In issue #4, at the start of 2003, it saw that American troops would roll into Baghdad, but that it would be very difficult to "win the peace." We'd been successful in doing just that in Germany in 1945, but this journal pointed out that doing it in Iraq would be extraordinarily difficult. And the journal has discussed many of the problems with the UN.

What can we expect in the future? More insights. Right now, Abu Mazen has just been elected to take over from the recently deceased Yasser Arafat. And some folks think that Abu Mazen can do what Arafat failed to do, namely make peace. But those who look at the JINSA website will see that they feel that Abu Mazen neither can make peace nor wishes to.

I like to read journals that see things as they are, not as some folks wish they were. And I recommend this one.

A friend of mine lent me a copy of The Journal of International Security Affairs after a cover story comparing post-World War II Germany with (what is likely to be) post-Saddam Iraq caught my eye. I found the articles within to be uniformly well-written by a broad spectrum of authors (academics, policymakers, military officials, etc) from both the U.S. and abroad (India, Russia, etc).

Published by a Washington-based organization named JINSA, the tone was fair and balanced, with topics ranging from today's front-page news to tomorrow's. Notably, in an earlier issue I thumbed through, Natan Sharanksy authored an article about the Mid-East peace process. It's definitely worth a good look.