By Ghassan Michel Rubeiz

Following a week of devastating economic news, the latest presidential and vice-presidential televised debates have put concerns of foreign affairs back on the campaign agenda - particularly issues of importance to Muslim-U.S. relations. Coupled with earlier campaign spin about Barack Obama's alleged Muslim roots, Sarah Palin's reference to "God's work" in Iraq, John McCain's repetitive reference to "radical Islam" and other examples of media mania about Islam, one may have the impression that the future of American relations with the Muslim world depends on the outcome of the 2008 elections.

This is not the case.

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By Jeffrey Stacey

Ever since Sarah Palin struggled to define "the Bush Doctrine" in her ABC News quiz, campaign managers, bloggers, and lots of average Americans have been in search of the meaning of the term. But when she and Joseph Biden step up to the microphones in tomorrow's debate, moderator Gwen Ifill should be asking about the Palin Doctrine.

Or should I say "a" Palin Doctrine, because it does not currently exist. Were it to be created, however, it could end up eclipsing the Bush Doctrine. A Palin Doctrine would be further to the right not only of President Bush's policies, but even of John McCain's.

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By Salil Tripathi

Three men are under detention here in London after allegedly tossing a petrol bomb at the home-office of Martin Rynja, who runs the Gibson Square publishing firm here. Gibson Square has shown the courage - or audacity, or foolhardiness - to publish "The Jewel of Medina", a novel based on the life of Aisha, the Prophet Muhammad's wife.

This is dangerous territory: Earlier this year, American author Sherry Jones discovered that Random House, which had decided to publish the novel and paid an advance for it, changed its mind and dropped the book. The publishing house did so after receiving unfavorable notices from a critic who was shown the manuscript, and following Internet chatter that suggested that the book would be highly controversial. Ironically, Random House publishes Salman Rushdie, who knows a thing or two about those who seek to silence others. When Random House pulled out of publishing the book, Rushdie expressed his disappointment, calling it "censorship by fear."

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By Antony Loewenstein

During China's milk powder crisis, with tens of thousands of babies affected by the contaminated goods, the country's blogosphere railed against corrupt officials.

One outraged blogger wrote: "What are the people in the Government doing? They just want mistresses, they want cash, but out here we're dying!"

Another said: "When they tell us some official is sacked, they are just giving us part of the story. The rest isn't reported. They just move on to other jobs."

It was the kind of brutal honesty that the internet has brought to the world's largest online market. Millions of angry netizens were openly questioning the regime's ability and willingness to manage the crisis. As it did after May's Sichuan earthquake, when thousands of citizens used the web to organize protests against shoddy builders, the web is slowly democratizing information flow in the Communist State.

It has become almost accepted wisdom that the web is an automatic democratizer, but I never accepted this doctrine.

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By Maziar Bahari

I did the following interview with Dr. Akbar Etemad for the British magazine New Statesman. Some may find Dr. Etemad's comments in support of current nuclear policy of the Islamic Goverment to be surprising. After all, he was a high-ranking official in the Shah's government, which was toppled by the current regime. Yet like millions of Iranians, who are not particularly fond of the Islamic Republic, Dr. Etemad thinks of the Iran's nuclear program as a national issue that doesn't have to do with any particular government in Iran.

I think in the light of the light of the upcoming meeting of permenanent members of UN Security Council and Germany, and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's next week's visit to New York, Dr. Etemad's interview will provide good background to any reporting of Iran's nuclear program.

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By Daniel Seidemann

I was born American. Thirty-five years ago, I chose to become Israeli. My choice in no way reflects a lack of affection for the United States. But patriotism is monogamous: I am an Israeli patriot, and a platonic friend of the land of my birth. I have never voted in a U.S. election and I belong to no U.S. political party. I see myself as an observer of, rather than a participant in, American presidential election politics.

But as a Jerusalemite, I do have a stake in the 2008 Presidential race, like it or not.

Because like in past elections, the candidates and their surrogates are trying to use me - my life, my city - to score points with voters, bolster their pro-Israel credentials, and attack their opponent.

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The Current Discussion: Does it worry you that Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee talks about issues like gun rights and abortion and teaching "creationism" in school, but has no experience in foreign policy? What does her selection say to people in other countries about how U.S. politics works?

By Chuck McLean

The selection of another incurious, ill-schooled politician with no foreign policy judgment and a simplistic "the military can solve everything" view of foreign policy will continue the dramatic slide of the U.S.'s global influence. It will also dig us much deeper into a foreign policy hole that has already brought us to an international situation more dangerous than the darkest days of the Cold War.

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By Shuja Nawaz

If the current political math holds, Asif Ali Zardari, the co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples' Party appears to be a shoo-in to succeed General Pervez Musharraf as the next regular President of Pakistan on September 6. But he will not have much time to exult. Pakistan today is facing an existential threat from Islamist militants in its Western half; its economy is reeling from the depredations of runaway inflation, food and power shortages, capital flight, falling foreign exchange reserves, and a political system riven by discord. The improbable coalition with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League (N) has fallen apart. With the object of their attacks (Musharraf) no longer around, it seems nothing more was holding them together.

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By David Amess

Tehran's brazen approach to nuclear negotiations has been fueled in part by its thus-far correct presumption that the West does not have the resolve to prevent it from acquiring nuclear weapons. The West's strategic blunder is in its determination to pressure the regime into changing its behavior rather than to seek a long-term change of regime.

It is in the interest of the international community and financial markets for Iran to have a democratic stable government. This, however, cannot be achieved by foreign military intervention or maintaining the status quo as Tehran speeds up its illegal nuclear activities in defiance of the Security Council and the UN's nuclear watchdog.

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By Mark Weisbrot

Tensions between the United States and Russia have a long history, but one only need go back to the early nineties to see how our own government threw away its chance to have a better relationship with post-Communist Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 1992, inflation in Russia was spiraling into the triple digits and the economy was collapsing. Economist Jeffrey Sachs, who was advising the government, offered a plan to get inflation under control which centered around stabilizing the exchange rate - a key element of a potentially successful anti-inflationary policy. To do this, though, it is necessary to have a good supply of foreign exchange reserves - i.e. dollars -- and Sachs thought he might get a commitment from the United States to provide these reserves. He was wrong. He didn't get the stabilization fund, nor the immediate suspension of interest payments, debt cancellation, or other aid he was seeking from the G-7.

Looking back on those events, Sachs later noted that "Richard Cheney, then the secretary of defense, and his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, were drafting the controversial Defense Planning Guidance, which aimed to ensure long-term U.S. military dominance over all rivals, including Russia. . . "

"I had supposed in 1991 and 1992 that the United States would be rooting for Russia's success as it had been rooting for Poland's. With hindsight, I doubt that this was ever the case."

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