I just returned from a fourteen-day tour of the Middle East. As dictators falter and topple left and right, this is certainly an exciting time to be in the region. “The new Middle East,” you might call it. Simmering resentment, propelled by youth movements, disappointment in the status quo, and a sense of serious social […]
This piece originally appeared in The Hill’s Congress Blog today. I am repeating it here. The petition to which Dr. Slakey refers seeks to close what some believe is a dangerous loophole in U.S. efforts to prevent the spread of technologies that can be used in covert nuclear weapons programs. It picks up on a […]
Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi continues to show the world if he’s going down it won’t be easy. He’s vowed to fight to the end and is ramping up his military actions. According to recent press reports Libyan aircraft dropped bombs near the oil refinery in the port town of Marsa El Brega. Judging from the conflicting […]
So there’s now officially a debate on the right about the idea of lawfare. One side says: the U.S. is in danger because its weaker enemies are using international law to undermine its objectives. The other side says: there’s nothing to worry about because international law, and even domestic law, is fairly impotent when it […]
The “Arab Revolt of 2011” continues to roil, and events are moving so quickly that the Egyptian Revolution that so shocked the world has already mostly fallen to a secondary headline following reports of what is effectively a civil war and humanitarian crisis in neighboring Libya. And yet, Egypt still matters quite a lot as […]
To what degree are the current protests throughout the Middle East a product of high food prices? A recent Voice of America article noted that though the major causes of the revolts in the Middle East are government oppression, corruption, unemployment, and poverty; “experts say the rising price of food was one of the sparks […]
Been off the blogging sphere recently because of travel; now that I’m back home in Colorado thought I would give my thoughts on the Libyan situation. As I write this, according to press reports, anti-government forces are in control of most of the eastern portion of Libya, to include a large segment of the oil […]
Long viewed as a safe investment in times of economic turmoil, the US dollar, also known as ‘Greenbacks,’ may be losing its safe haven appeal as it suffers strong downward pressures resulting from rising oil & commodity prices, high Federal budget deficits, soaring national debts and economic uncertainty in the aftermath of several financial crises.
I’ve never been more proud to be a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. I spent a few happy years in Madison way back when. It was just past the days of the anti-war demonstrations, and I was generally apolitical about things for a brief time in my early 20s, but it’s a great little […]
It is very easy to think you understand what it is the IAEA, or, as it is called in so many media stories, the “UN Nuclear Watchdog”, can actually do to detect a covert nuclear weapons program or the diversion of nuclear material. You envision IAEA safeguards inspectors busting down doors like nuclear superheroes, pointing […]
International educators have been stressing the importance of universal education for years, as leaders, NGOs, and research all attest that it is the must sustainable way aid developing countries. Universal education is the best way to reduce poverty and increase public health and living standards for people across the globe. Universal Education is goal #2, […]
Here are two radical proposals for Afghanistan. Neither of them has yet been attempted by the United States. They are: engage in counterinsurgency and attempt to make peace deals with the Taliban. As I’ve noted before (here, here, and here), though there’s a lot of talk of counterinsurgency, the current NATO effort does not very […]
I flagged an event to you recently, “The Climate for Renewable Energy,” cosponsored by the government of Navarra and NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. There were some excellent presentations made by the impressive group of panelists assembled for the evening. The President of Navarra, Miguel Sanz Sesma, noted that his province has developed a “comprehensive […]
Four Americans were hijacked at sea and killed by Somali pirates this week. The U.S. responded to the yacht hijacking by sending a fleet of ships, including the U.S.S. Enterprise, to shadow the pirates and negotiate for the hostages. The ships had been in the region monitoring the growing pirate threat along with other allied […]
Early this morning (2-25-11), Mexican gunmen armed with short rifles and driving trucks equipped with strobe lights, and in one case, missing license plates, once more attempted to box in a US government-owned vehicle (OGV) driven by US anti-drug agents a short distance from the US border on the Mexican side.
One of the Mexican gunmen in the lead vehicle was also, according to reports, wearing a badge around his neck. . .