At the halfway point between 2010 and 2011, the United States is facing numerous challenges, as well as opportunities. Two wars are still raging in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Middle East peace process has stalled. Concerns about global terrorism, nuclear proliferation and climate change dominate the headlines, all against the backdrop of financial instabilities in many realms, including our own. Yet the promise of new technologies, the information revolution and engaged citizens hold out hopes for innovation and problem-solving.
What should be the major priorities for the U.S. in the second half of 2010? Is it possible to create the political will for positive change? Madeleine Albright and George Shultz address the challenges.
Bio
Madeleine K. Albright
Madeleine Albright is the first woman to become a United States Secretary of State. She was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 5, 1996, and was unanimously confirmed by a U.S. Senate vote of 99-0. She was sworn in on January 23, 1997.
Albright now serves as a Professor of International Relations at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service. In addition to her PhD from Columbia University, she also holds Honorary Doctors of Laws from the University of Washington in 2002, Smith College in 2003, University of Winnipeg in 2005, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2007 and Knox College in 2008. Secretary Albright also serves as a Director on the Board of the Council on Foreign Relations
Marvin Kalb
Marvin Kalb is a James Clark Welling Presidential Fellow at The George Washington University and Edward R. Murrow Professor Emeritus at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He is also a contributing news analyst for National Public Radio and Fox News Channel. In addition, he is frequently called upon to comment on major issues of the day by many of the nation's other leading news organizations.
George P. Shultz
George P. Shultz is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
He was sworn in on July 16, 1982, as the sixtieth U.S. Secretary of State and served until January 20, 1989. In January 1989, he rejoined Stanford University as the Jack Steele Parker Professor of International Economics at the Graduate School of Business and a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution.
He is a member of the board of directors of Fremont Group and Accretive Health. He is chairman of the J. P. Morgan Chase International Council and chairman of the Accenture Energy Advisory Board. He is also chairman of the California Governor's Council of Economic Advisors and co-chairman of the Committee on the Present Danger.
He was awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, on January 19, 1989. He also received the Seoul Peace Prize (1992), the Eisenhower Medal for Leadership and Service (2001), and the Reagan Distinguished American Award (2002). He is the recipient of the Elliot Richardson Prize for Excellence and Integrity in Public Service, The James H. Doolittle Award, and the John Witherspoon Medal for Distinguished Statesmanship.
The George Shultz National Foreign Service Training Center in Arlington, Virginia, was dedicated on May 29, 2002.
General objectives that guide the activities and relationships of one state in its interactions with other states. The development of foreign policy is influenced by domestic considerations, the policies or behaviour of other states, or plans to advance specific geopolitical designs. Leopold von Ranke emphasized the primacy of geography and external threats in shaping foreign policy, but later writers emphasized domestic factors. Diplomacy is the tool of foreign policy, and war, alliances, and international trade may all be manifestations of it.
I don't agree with what Shultz is advocating at all. No one wants Iran to build a nuclear weapon but they'd be crazy not to. The U.S. and Israel are threatening Iran with destruction. Iran is building a nuclear weapon as a deterrent in order to protect itself. If he doesn't want Iran to build a nuclear weapon then he should be criticising U.S. foreign policy which flatly refuses to negotiate with Iran despite its many attempts to use diplomacy to settle issues such as nuclear proliferation.
It's funny how when a republican is in office we run a deficit and it's ok (dick Cheney"Deficits don't matter") but when a Democrat is in office, republicans cry about runaway spending. Each party screws some of us and helps a a few. Every one I talk to seams to vote for the lessor of to evils. Two parties is not a choice, is not a healthy democracy.
The two parties care more about them selves and their ability to be elected than they do about America. Public service has become self service
member. 
