I’m looking forward to the State of the Union address tomorrow night; it promises to mark the back-to-business start of Obama’s second term and the official proclamation of his agenda. While I would understand if the bulk of the speech is taken up with matters of domestic policy, I do hope to get a few […]
Hillary Clinton’s testimony before Congress the other week brought the country’s attention back to the Benghazi attack of Sept. 11, 2012. It is a topic that I find fascinating, less for what it says about U.S. foreign policy than for what it says about domestic politics and the processes of perception and interpretation. In this […]
As the U.N. Security Council is determining what future role it should play in Somalia based on the recent report of the Secretary-General, the major developments of the political track of the United Nations approach are overshadowed by the security and humanitarian developments during the previous four months. These conditions support the report’s conclusion that […]
“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 during her […]
Judging by the budget gridlock the answer seems to be no. As mentioned in my last blog, I spent last week in San Diego attending West 2013, a Navy/ Marine focused conference co-sponsored by AFCEA International and the U.S. Naval Institute. The conference theme was: Pivot to the Pacific What Are the Practical & Global […]
Departing Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s farewell letter is not the usual five paragraphs consisting of gradiose claims and bromides for the ages. At more than 3,750 words, it is the length of a college term paper or a magazine feature article. As interesting for what it leaves unsaid as for what it says, it says […]
It may be a small cause — the World Hijab Day Facebook page has around 8,000 likes — but there’s no denying the reasoning behind the campaign: “Better Awareness. Greater Understanding.” Women worldwide, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, are invited to spend a day in hijab to experience modest dress (and because we’re in the 21st […]
“More than ever, foreign policy is economic policy. The world is competing for resources and global markets.” John Kerry Considering the positive trend of the past eighteen months, Somalia is en route to recovery, and, in due course, to re-engineer a better state from the ground up. The caveat being: in the long term, this […]
On January 24, during his confirmation hearing to become secretary of state, Senator John Kerry discussed the relationship between U.S. foreign policy and the U.S. economy. In well-phrased remarks that I expect will be quoted for some time to come, he noted: …as a recovering member of the Super-Committee, I am especially cognizant of the […]
The history of Radio Liberty is the stuff of Cold War legend: dissidents huddled around a contraband radio in some dimly lit room in a cold and dreary gulag, hoping desperately to hear that the world recognized their suffering and that the promise of liberty was still within reach. Funded by the U.S. over decades, […]
Just a few weeks after France launched an intervention aimed at rooting out Islamist Ansar Dine rebels in northern Mali, French and Malian forces retook the historic desert city without resistance and to the cheers of local citizens. However, the city’s ten months under Islamic rule still had consequences, not just for the people living […]
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 […]
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