Freedom is fundamentally the possibility of standing on a street corner and shouting “There is no freedom here!” — Yoani Sanchez
Cuban dissident Yoani Sanchez is fond of comparing Cubans to little birds in a cage – captives who are given free education, food, and water but who are …
“When force is necessary, we will continue to do so in a way that reflects our values and strengthens our legitimacy, and we will seek broad international support, working with such institutions as NATO and the U.N. Security Council.”
– President Obama (2010 National Security Strategy)
Is it time for the international …
“A state too expensive in itself, or by virtue of its dependencies, ultimately falls into decay; its free government is transformed
into a tyranny; it disregards the principles which it should preserve, and finally degenerates into despotism.”
— Simon Bolivar
Regrettably, the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez did not heed the sage words …
“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible”
– Vince Lombardi
Will Secretary of State Kerry prove to be a master of the foreign relations game by overcoming the seemingly impossible? Or will he have a hard time finding his footing on the slippery geopolitical …
“To work with all our heart and all of our might to make sure that America is secure, that our interests are promoted and our values are respected.”
- Former Secretary of State Clinton
If only former Secretary of State Clinton had remained true to the words she uttered so many times …
“Should the proper referent for security be the individual not the state?”
In the wake of the recent Newtown massacre that claimed the lives of 26 innocents, Americans have begun to understand that the boogieman they need to fear most lives amongst them and not in a cave in Afghanistan. …
“The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.”
— Thomas Jefferson
Dear President Obama,
Congratulations on winning your second term in office. I wish you the best as you work with your team, and the Congress, to chart a course to strengthen our economic and national …
“The public sees no reason to get involved in foreign adventures. So you have to whip them up. And to whip them up you have to frighten them.”
- Noam Chomsky
So here we go again. Nine years after the invasion of Iraq, the mainstream press marches in step to …
“First They Ignore You — Then They Ridicule You — Then They Fight You — Then You Win”
Mahandas Gandhi
Will technology fundamentally change the relationship between the nation state and citizens? Are hyper-connected citizens a threat to or opportunity for government? These are the kinds of questions that the political ruling …
“Human Security Is The Primary Purpose Of Organizing A State In The Beginning.”
– Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN
In the wake of the Arab Spring, and in light of the ongoing global economic disorder, world leaders would be well advised to examine their understanding of national security. Recent events paint a picture of …
“Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons”
~ R. Buckminster Fuller
Much has been made about how the late technology giant Steve Job “changed our lives”. The Discovery Channel, not to be outdone by all the media hoopla surrounding his death, will air a one-hour documentary on …
“The only thing we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
One hundred years hence, when historians study the factors that led to the economic decline of the United States, it is likely that they will mark the first week of August, 2011 as a …
So here we are my fellow Americans, starting a fresh week after learning some pretty dark news. For starters, we learned that the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday downgraded the credit rating of the United States, stripping us of our gold medal and replacing it with a …
The U.S. Department of State is quickly establishing itself as the most forward leaning U.S. public organization to embrace the use of technology to usher in a new era of open government. The latest example that Secretary Clinton is committed to helping other nations to press the ‘reset’ button on how …
“At the State Department, we recognize that stand-alone government-to-government diplomacy is no longer enough. From Secretary Clinton down, we are embracing new media and new technologies as vital tools for what we call 21st Century Statecraft.”
Judith A. McHale, Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs
Throughout the Middle East, and …
