Romesh Ratnesar
is Deputy Editor of Bloomberg Businessweek and a Bernard L. Schwartz Fellow at the New America Foundation. A former Time deputy managing editor and foreign editor, he has reported from many countries around the world, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Israel and the Palestinian territories.
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Writing
Egypt: Not Just the Facebook Revolution
Bloomberg Business Week, June 2nd, 2011
Egypt's largest independent newspaper, Al-Masry Al-Youm, is showing Egyptians what a free press looks like. More than social media, that may be the key to the nation's future
How to Make More Egypts: Lessons for Western Policymakers
Time, May 2nd, 2011
It was a beautiful, sun-splashed Cairo morning, and a brass band was playing in Tahrir Square. The musicians, about two dozen in all, wore driven-snow white trousers and red military jackets with gold tassels. They performed a repertoire of short, patriotic anthems performed with gusto, if less-than-perfect technique. A crowd of onlookers began to swell, and before long, people were snapping cell-phone pictures of the band and hoisting children on their shoulders to watch.
Why John McCain Is Optimistic About Libya
Time, April 25th, 2011
The war in Libya is not going well. Muammar Gaddafi shows no sign of giving up power. His forces' siege of the rebel-held city of Misratah has killed upwards of 1,000 people, including two Western journalists...Only a few inveterate optimists seem to believe the anti-Gaddafi forces still have a chance to win. John McCain is one of them. "Gaddafi is a third-rate military power," he told me on Sunday. "This isn't the Wehrmacht we're taking on. These are a bunch of goddamn mercenaries that are highly paid
Military Spending Must Be Part of the Deficit Debate
Time, April 11th, 2011
The budget compromise reached by the White House and Congress this weekend included a "historic amount of cuts," as House Speaker John Boehner and Senate majority leader Harry Reid said in their joint statement announcing the deal. "The largest annual spending cut in our history," boasted President Obama. Media coverage of the deal hailed the "sweeping" and "across-the-board" nature of the cuts...And yet there is one, massive piece of the federal budget that these brave hawks dared not touch: defense. Not a solitary penny of the $38 billion in spending cuts will come out of the Pentagon's coffers.
In Defense of Inconsistency
Time, March 28th, 2011
Ten days ago, a besieged Arab leader decided to crush his country's democracy movement. First, he called in 2,000 foreign troops to suppress the uprising. Then he declared martial law and cut off phone and Internet services. At dawn he deployed tanks to clear the streets and ordered his forces to arrest or shoot anyone who tried to resist. Government troops surrounded and seized a hospital used by demonstrators to treat their wounded. Medical personnel were prevented even from taking away the dead bodies. "Shocking and illegal conduct" is how the U.N.'s High Commissioner for Human Rights described reports of the regime's "arbitrary arrests, killings [and] beatings of protestors."
Japan Quake: How to Avoid the Next Disaster
Time, March 14th, 2011
It is too soon to know just how much devastation the Japanese earthquake and tsunami have caused, in human or economic terms. The death toll may climb into five digits. Damage to Japan's nuclear power plants could result in sickness and dislocation for hundreds of thousands more. The country's economy, which has already endured two decades of stagnant growth, is now threatened by a stock-market collapse and a massive increase in national debt.
Arab Regimes’ Nepotism Problem
Bloomberg Business Week, March 9th, 2011
On June 23, 2008, a cable arrived at the U.S. State Dept. from the American ambassador to Tunisia, Robert F. Godec. Its subject was corruption, cronyism, and graft in the North African nation, as practiced by relatives of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. "Whether it's cash, services, land, property, or, yes, even your yacht, President Ben Ali's family is rumored to covet it and reportedly gets what it wants," Godec wrote. The cable documented the luxuries amassed at public expense by what Tunisians called "the Family"—from airlines and hotels to radio stations and beachfront mansions.
Libya: The Case for U.S. Intervention
Time.com, March 7th, 2011
In a much discussed speech at West Point two weeks ago, Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued that the U.S. should get out of the business of fighting the kinds of open-ended ground wars that it has waged for the past decade in Iraq and Afghanistan. Any future Defense Secretary who advocated sending "a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should 'have his head examined,'" Gates said, quoting Douglas MacArthur. That line was celebrated by antiwar doves, who instantly claimed Gates as one of their own, and condemned by conservative hawks, who called him a defeatist. But both sides managed to miss Gates' real point...
Dealing with Dictators: My Meeting with Muammar
Time.com, February 28th, 2011
About a year and a half ago, I spent some time with Muammar Gaddafi. He was in New York City to address the U.N. General Assembly and was staying in a nondescript concrete building on Manhattan's East Side. Through the American p.r. firm that managed his Western press coverage, Gaddafi had agreed to be interviewed by Michael Elliott, the editor of TIME International, and me. Michael and I made our way through a gauntlet of machine-gun-toting cops, secret-service agents and assorted swarthy tough guys. While we waited for Gaddafi, members of his all-female praetorian guards paced the room, dressed in desert khakis, black berets and leopard-skin stiletto heels. We were given only one ground rule for the interview: when directing questions to Gaddafi, we were to refer to him as "Brother Leader."
The U.S. and Mubarak: What Would Reagan Do?
Time.com, February 7th, 2011
"You will be visiting Berlin at a time of ferment," Secretary of State George Shultz wrote to his boss, Ronald Reagan, on May 11, 1987. The confidential memo was included in the briefing materials given to Reagan before a trip to Europe, which would include a speech in West Berlin. "Your address ... offers the chance to call for the lowering of East-West barriers and an improved situation in Berlin," a city that had been divided for 40 years.
Rawhide Revealed: New Books About Reagan
Time Magazine, February 6th, 2011
Twenty years ago, Journalist Lou Cannon published an 800-page book, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, which would become the quintessential political biography of the 40th President. (Barack Obama pored over it during his Christmas vacation.)
Peter Thiel: 21st Century Free Radical
Bloomberg Business Week, February 3rd, 2011
Never mind enormous yachts: Peter Thiel is spending his billions on space travel, life extension, artificial intelligence, and paying top students not to go to college
The Myth of Homegrown Islamic Terrorism
Time.com, January 24th, 2011
There is a specter haunting the U.S. It is "one of the things that keeps me up at night," Attorney General Eric Holder said last month. North Carolina Representative Sue Myrick, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has warned President Obama that "there is no doubt" the problem has become "a global threat." The incoming chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King, plans to convene hearings next month on the danger "that threatens the security of us all."
Why U.S. Should Cheer Tunisia’s Risky Revolution
Time.com, January 17th, 2011
What are we to make of the tumult in Tunis? Few uprisings in recent memory have materialized as suddenly and produced results as swiftly as Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution. Just one month ago, former President Zine el-Abdine Ben Ali and his clan luxuriated in the kind of outrageous fortune that only two decades of U.S.-backed, kleptocratic rule can buy: beachfront villas, pet tigers, ice cream flown in from St. Tropez. Now they can't even keep their rooms at Euro Disney.
Who Failed on Haiti’s Recovery?
Time.com, January 10th, 2011
One year ago, in the wake of the Haiti earthquake, Bill Clinton wrote in TIME that "given the right organization and support, Haiti could become a self-sustaining and successful country." That hasn't happened. Despite the best intentions of many around the world, including the former President himself, Haiti is still a basket case.
Holbrooke’s Legacy: The Power of Limited War
Time.com, January 3rd, 2011
The untimely death of Richard Holbrooke last month has occasioned numerous paeans to his signal professional achievement: the Dayton peace accords of 1995, which ended four years of war in Bosnia. To some of Holbrooke's admirers, that diplomatic masterstroke — as well as Holbrooke's quip, as he lay dying, that his doctors find a way to "stop the war in Afghanistan" — are rebukes to those who extol the virtues of American military power.
The 20-Year Miracle
Bloomberg Business Week, September, 30, 2010
There won't be many birthday parties for Berlin this year. The city's main thoroughfare, Unter den Linden, is still jammed with tourists, and the Prussian-era museums, destroyed by Allied bombs during World War II, have been restored to their former glory. The cafés and bars of Mitte, in what used to be East Berlin, overflow with polyglot congregations of artists and hipsters. But Berliners are staying stoic about Oct. 3, 2010—the 20th anniversary of German unification, an event that ended four decades of German division and closed the books on the Cold War.
Ground Zero: Exaggerating the Jihadist Threat
Time Magazine, August 18, 2010
hould Muslims be allowed to build a mosque at Ground Zero? Merely posing the question is an act of deliberate distortion. As its defenders point out, the Community Center at Park51 will occupy not a solitary inch of the 16-block site on which the Twin Towers stood. Once built, the center will indeed house a mosque, "open and accessible to all" — but also a swimming pool, basketball court, auditorium, library, day-care facility, restaurant and cooking school.
Good Neighbors
Time Magazine, July 5th, 2010
The world stage is not an easy place for the U.S. these days. The war in Afghanistan has become, speaking charitably, an unwinnable quagmire. Iran's nuclear program continues to steam ahead. The Middle East peace process remains mothballed. Our closest ally seethes about the Obama Administration's bullying of "British" Petroleum. At the World Cup, shoddy officiating nearly cost the U.S. a place in the second round. Even our wins turn into ties.
The Iranian Optimist
Stanford Magazine, July/August 2010
A FEW DAYS after Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election, a prominent Iranian poet fired off a desperate email to Stanford professor Abbas Milani. Iran's ruling mullahs had declared incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the victor, despite overwhelming evidence that opposition candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi won more votes. Millions of Iranians poured onto the streets of Tehran to protest, the biggest show of discontent since Ayatollah Khomeini seized power three decades ago.
The U.S.-Israel Spat: Just a Sideshow
Time Magazine, March 18, 2010
The Obama Administration is calling Israel out. "An insult," huffed David Axelrod after the Israeli government welcomed Vice President Joe Biden to the Holy Land by announcing plans to build 1,600 new housing units in East Jerusalem. The Israelis are sending "a deeply negative signal," Hillary Clinton told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a 43-minute phone call after Biden had left the country. Israel's ambassador to Washington was quoted calling it the biggest "crisis" between the U.S. and Israel in the past 30 years.
Avigdor Lieberman: Politically Incorrect
Time Magazine, July 13th, 2009
For a man reputed to be Israel's biggest loudmouth, Avigdor Lieberman speaks softly. His flat, Russian-accented baritone rarely rises above a murmur. He's not a shouter. But when Lieberman talks, people listen — less because he is Israel's top diplomat than because of his knack for saying decidedly undiplomatic things.
An Offer Burma Can’t Refuse
Time Magazine, May 15, 2008
The disaster in Burma presents the world with its worst humanitarian crisis since the 2004 Asian tsunami. The ruling military junta says that more than 30,000 people are dead; the U.N. estimates the figure at perhaps 100,000. The number of Burmese at risk of starvation and disease could reach nearly 2 million. Unless the victims receive immediate help, the death toll could conceivably approach that of the entire number of civilians killed in the genocide in Darfur.
Viewpoint: Obama Failing Sri Lanka Test
Time Magazine, May 12th, 2009
During the campaign, Barack Obama hinted at how his future Administration might act to stop suffering in the world. American foreign policy should focus on more than just killing terrorists; it needs to address "challenges of the 21st century" such as "climate change and poverty, genocide and disease."
Viewpoint: Sarah Palin’s Foreign Policy Follies
Time Magazine, September 27, 2008
It takes a hard heart not to like Sarah Palin. She has a winning personal story. She can be poised, charming and funny. As she showed at the Republican National Convention, her ability to deliver set-piece speeches — a big part of the job for all politicians, but especially Presidents — is considerable. On balance, she's probably an asset to John McCain. But we should stop pretending that she is ready now or will be ready anytime in the foreseeable future to be Commander in Chief.
An Inside Look at Hamid Karzai’s Rising Woes
Time Magazine, September 26th, 2006
Hamid Karzai is a hard man to see. Even for those who gain access to the Presidential Palace in Kabul, his office is nearly invisible, tucked into the corner of a two-story building and marked only by a plainclothes security guard who sits outside its wooden door holding a machine gun. The interior of the office is adorned with large Afghan rugs, cream-colored sofas and a marble fireplace; behind Karzai's desk is a bookcase that prominently displays the collected writings of George Washington. From the serenity of that perch, it's tempting to gaze down at the blossoming rose garden below and convince yourself that the war being waged to save Karzai's country is far, far away.
Portrait Of A Platoon
Time Magazine, December 29, 2003
The patrol has lasted an hour, the three humvees slashing and darting through hairpin turns and blind alleyways, looking for attackers. It's 9 o'clock on a clear, mild December night in Adhamiya, one of Baghdad's oldest neighborhoods and these days among the most restive. The soldiers are out to draw fire. They cruise the streets and make themselves targets in order to flush insurgents into the open.