You can know what's going to happen before it happens

Foreign Affairs is an excellent journal published by the Council on Foreign Relations which is a foreign policy think tank that has included pretty much every Secretary of State since it was founded. There are people around the world who think that this think tank is part of a conspiracy that controls the world and despite the fact that the statement is absurd, the Council does pretty much dictate what the US government is going to do, and since the US is by far the most influental nation in the world I guess there are some grains of truth to this, although I wouldn't call it a conspiracy since they are telling you exactly what they want to do in this journal. Nevertheless, I guess that makes it a more interesting read.

After you start reading this for a while you'll start to understand what's going on around the world with respect to our actions abroad and you'll understand what the people making the decisions were thinking when they made them.

Mandatory reading

Foreign Affairs is mandatory reading for the serious student of global diplomacy. The comments, essays and book reviews in this bimonthly publication are always well researched, written and presented in a straightforward fashion. Moreover, Foreign Affairs will consistently crystallize contemporary thinking on a vast array of foreign subjects.

I often wonder how Editor James Hoge manages to regularly tap the finest minds in the world for each issue. Certainly, the editorial staff of this outstanding publication is dedicated to the highest standards of excellence as well making sure that Foreign Affairs represents provocative worldwide cutting edge schools of thought.

Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, France, Mexico or Colombia...you name it, Foreign Affairs examines it in great detail. To this end, there is no hot spot in global affairs that does not considerable academic or journalistic attention. Foreign Affairs will also focus on sensitive issues such as French Anti-Americanism or Bush's Nuclear Follies with clear and concise observations. I cannot think of a mainstream publication in the United States with the courage and vision to cover such important ground.

Authorative Source of Foreign Affairs Information

Foreign Affairs magazine is one of the most authorative, primary source of information regarding geopolitical and economic affairs. Although principally a medium for elites to express their opinion regarding what is happening around the world, this material can allow anyone in the world, even in remote regions, to feel quite connected with those in power.

Written in clear, concise English, it is surprisingly readable considering the subject matter. Don't expect any pictures, however: there are none. However, if you want information on Iraq, North Korean, Iran, and the UN, this is your source of material. Some of the subject matter, of course, is biased: sometimes Clinton croonies contribute material, which I quickly ignore by averting my eyes. But the magazine is not meant to be a source of objective material: there is no reporting, the way you find in The Economist; all of it is first-person essays.

Michael Gordon