Journal of International Studies

Vladimir Putin, nicknamed “Pootie Poot” by George W. Bush, demonstrates his first car, a Zaporozhets, to the U.S. President. (E. Draper/White House) The Seduction of George W. Bush By Peter Baker Peter Baker tells the intimate story of how Bush and Putin’s personal relationship shaped American foreign policy toward Russia. This excerpt from Baker’s new book is a rich collection of revealing anecdotes ranging from Putin’s suggestion that Bush amend the constitution to accommodate a third term to Bush’s frustrated characterization of Putin as an eighth grader who doesn’t know his facts. The A-Team Killings By Matthieu Aikins Rolling Stone Aikins examines how the lives of Afghan villagers have been caught in U.S. war efforts and how this further muddies relations with the Afghan government. This piece offers interviews with the villagers of the Nerkh district of Afghanistan, where the bodies of ten missing Afghan residents were found last Spring near an American Special Force...

China has begun “Marching Westwards” in Asia. The consequences could be huge. West’s Diplomacy Trumps China Fear How China Ends West’s Domination China’s Wild West: A Cautionary Tale of Ethnic Conflict and Development Why the West Should Relax About China Is it China’s Turn to Pivot? Here at  The Diplomat , we’ve devoted extensive attention to covering China’s many sources of friction in the Asia-Pacific region, ranging from Japan, to the Philippines and, of course, to India. Fortunately, it may have been the case that booming trade and economic promise have been the glue keeping the Asia-Pacific largely peaceful for so long despite the rise of China: an often-assertive superpower. Nonetheless, experts hardly manage to get through a conversation on China’s relationship with Japan, South Korea, ASEAN or India without referring to what these countries might be doing to “hedge” against a potential downturn in relations with China. On the contrary, China’s “hedge” in...