Leaders Who Swim Against the Tide

“A voice in the desert!” was the phrase that came to mind after I interviewed Margaret Thatcher in Tehran in April 1978. The new leader of the British Conservative Party was visiting as part of a foreign policy exploratory tour that included Washington, Paris and Bonn. The interview got off to a dicey start because of a brief elevator failure at the Hilton Hotel where the future “Iron Lady” was staying. What caught my attention was not the tone but the substance of Mrs. Thatcher’...

Read more »

Is China Ready for World Leadership?

With the United States adopting a neo-isolationist posture under President Barack Obama, could China fill part of the gap left by America’s declining influence in sensitive regions such as the Middle East? The question has been debated here and elsewhere since the start of Obama’s first term in 2009. This week it was posed with greater urgency as China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) convened in Beijing. The NPC is a peculiar beast. Stripped to its core it is a plenum of th...

Read more »