This film is riveting. It is a fictional look at the hunt for and eventual killing of Osama bin Laden, the man who is believed to have masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States. Jessica Chastain rightfully won the best actress in a drama at the Golden Globes. She has also […]
Not as cold, certainty not as crowded as four years ago, and definitely a great day for national celebration. Leading by example, the peaceful transfer—or continuation in this case—of political power on display for the entire world to watch, as U.S. President Barack Obama publicly retook his oath of office in front of the National […]
October 2012 marked the 50th anniversary of the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Communist China launched a surprise attack across the Himalayas to “teach India a lesson,” according to Chinese Premier, Zhou Enlai. After 32 days of fighting and embarrassing Indian defeats, the Chinese announced a unilateral ceasefire and withdrew behind the McMahon Line, the de-facto boundary […]
Nearly nine years ago, Senator Hagel charted out “A Republican Foreign Policy” in the July/August 2004 issue of Foreign Affairs. Hagel summarized this foreign policy with seven principles: 1) Leadership in the Global Economy: “The rule of law, property rights, advances in science and technology, and large increases in worker productivity all have contributed […]
Following the failure of his nomination of Susan Rice to head the Defense Department, President Obama has nominated Chuck Hagel, 66, a former Republican senator and Vietnam veteran as the next Secretary of Defense. Hagel was awarded two Purple Hearts for wounds he received serving as an infantry squad leader in Vietnam, then entered the […]
“The present recalls past transition points —such as 1815, 1919, 1945, and 1989—when the path forward was not clear cut and the world faced the possibility of different global futures.” The recently published “Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds” report from the National Security Council does indeed make for interesting reading, full of interesting tidbits of […]
“Much of the future of the world in the 21st Century will depend on how well China and the United States sustain growth in our own economies, manage our relationship with one another, and together address challenges facing the global economy.” These words were spoken last week by Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and […]
This week the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged China-located affiliates of the big five U.S. accounting firms with breaking securities laws by failing to provide documents from their audits of nine U.S.-listed Chinese firms under scrutiny. The SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) are demanding that the accounting companies, BDO […]
With the election of President Barack Obama to a second term as President of the United States, the operational realities of an exit strategy for U.S. forces to leave Afghanistan by 2014 began to be put into place. Obama campaigned strongly on the notion of turning the security of Afghanistan over to the national forces […]
Alan Dershowitz made a profound statement Wednesday night at an event I attended in New York City. He said Israel could never rely on another country for its defense and security. He was, of course, talking about the situation with Iran and the United States. The last year and a half has been full of […]
The Iranian government has always been sensitive to Persian satellite TV programs beamed from various Western countries into Iran, in particular from the United States. While some Iranian TV programs by the diaspora advocate regime change in Iran, some offer merely entertaining programs including the latest TV series from Turkey, South America and the United […]
On November 20th, the M23 rebels entered Goma, the capital of the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — positioned on the border of Rwanda and the shores of Lake Kivu. By seizing the city with a population of one million people, the rebels struck their biggest blow since they mutinied […]
Friday, November 23, 2012 commemorated the fifth celebrated (but fourth annual) national Native American Heritage Day during the twenty-second celebrated National Native American Heritage Month (formerly National American Indian Heritage Month). The Bureau of Indian Affairs is touting the promising results of the “historic meeting” between the Hopi Nation, Navajo Nation, and Secretary of the […]
Over the decades the opportunistic Turkey has dictated its Middle Eastern relations based on shifts in the regional balance of power. In the early 1990s up until around 2006, Turkey was finely enmeshed in Western sentiments and policies. But beginning in 2006 it recognized a leadership vacuum in the Middle East and began attempting to […]
U.S. President Barack Obama is returning to Asia for his first overseas trip since winning re-election. He will attend, for the second consecutive year, the East Asia Summit which is viewed by the U.S. as the emerging eminent multilateral forum for regional leaders from 17 other states to discuss salient strategic and security issues. The […]