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Richard Holbrooke

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Richard Holbrooke was the chief architect of the 1995 Dayton peace agreement.

Stories from Richard Holbrooke

Why Obama
The long campaign has revealed huge differences in the two U.S. candidates
Richard Holbrooke
Project Syndicate
28/02/2009

The winner of America’s presidential election will inherit a perfect storm of problems, both economic and international. He will face the most difficult opening-day agenda of any president since – and I say this in all seriousness – the man who saved the Union, Abraham Lincoln. But a more instructive precedent is 1933, when Franklin Roosevelt offered inspiring rhetoric and “bold experimentation” to a nation facing economic meltdown and a breakdown in public confidence.

For me, the choice is simple – and not only because I am, by temperament and history, a Democrat. The long and intense political campaign has revealed huge differences in the two candidates’ positions, style, and personal qualities. And the conclusion seems clear.

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Russia Crosses the Line
Whatever Mistakes Georgia’s Government Has Made Cannot Justify Russia’s Actions
Richard Holbrooke
Ronald D. Asmus
Project Syndicate
18/02/2009

by Richard C. Holbrooke and Ronald D. Asmus

In weeks and years past, each of us argued that Russia was pursuing a policy of regime change toward Georgia and its pro-Western, democratically elected president, Mikheil Saakashvili. We predicted that, absent strong and unified Western diplomatic involvement, war was coming.

 

Sleepwalking In the Balkans
In two years time, Milorad Dodik has reversed much of the progress in Bosnia
Richard Holbrooke
Paddy Ashdown
Project Syndicate
02/11/2008

Almost exactly 13 years ago, American leadership brought an end to Bosnia’s three-and-a-half-year war through the Dayton peace agreement. Today that country is in real danger of collapse. As in 1995, resolve and transatlantic unity are needed if we are not to sleepwalk into another crisis.

Viral Soverignty
With globalization, the failure to share information about new diseases increases the risk of world epidemics going unnoticed
Richard Holbrooke
Laurie Garrett
02/10/2008

Here's a concept you've probably never heard of: 'viral sovereignty.' This dangerous idea comes to us courtesy of Indonesia's minister of health, Siti Fadilah Supari, who asserts that deadly viruses are the sovereign property of individual nations -- even though they cross borders and could pose a pandemic threat to all the world's peoples. Political leaders around the world should take note -- and take very strong action.

The vast majority of avian flu outbreaks in the past four years, in both humans and poultry, have occurred in Indonesia. At least 53 types of H5N1 bird flu viruses have appeared in chickens and people there, according to the World Health Organization.

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