Trouble rising overseas

Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008 | 2:07 a.m.

We already know that the next president of the United States will inherit a troubled economy weighed down by a collapsed housing market, high gasoline prices and tight credit. Because of the ineptitude of the Bush administration in the area of international relations, the next president will also have his plate overflowing with messy foreign affairs issues.

It would have been more than enough to be saddled with the problems in Iraq, Iran and North Korea. The next president can now add Russia and Pakistan to that list.

The foray by the Russian military into neighboring Georgia has rekindled tensions between the United States and Russia not seen since the Cold War. Those tensions are bound to increase if Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is able to persuade NATO ministers in Europe to punish Russia for its invasion.

Although the administration may have the best intentions in trying to protect democracies such as Georgia, the next president undoubtedly will be left with the delicate task of trying to repair this country’s strained relations with Russia. That should be a high priority because we can ill afford to return to the acrimonious times, including the arms race, we experienced a generation ago.

The announcement Monday that Pervez Musharraf will step down as president of Pakistan because of internal political pressure will present a different set of problems, depending on his replacement. Already there has been mounting evidence that most Pakistanis do not share our quest to stamp out terrorism in that region of the world.

The next U.S. president is going to have to convince Pakistan’s new leader that it is in that nation’s best interests to support American military forces in their battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan and in rooting out al-Qaida terrorists in the tribal areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

No president in recent memory has left office with the world completely at peace, but the growing number of global hot spots indicates we are less safe than we were when President Bush took office in 2001.