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The energy boom upends arguments about the inevitability of U.S. strategic decline A previous post peered into the crystal ball to argue that America’s strategic prospects are dramatically brightening due to an unexpectedly improving energy outlook and the looming revitalization of its manufacturing base.  This thesis cuts against the reigning anxiety about the nation’s economic course […]

While this blog often posts about many of the current issues in food security, there are also opportunities to present ideas about the future of food.  The Atlantic’s “The Future of X” channel recently looked at “The Future of Food” through an interview with Nicola Twilley, writer of the Edible Geography blog. Watch the video […]

The roster of countries agreeing to forgo enrichment and reprocessing technologies has risen to two.  As the time ticks down to expiration of its bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement with the U.S., the government of Taiwan has announced that it is prepared to renounce any right to enrich or reprocess nuclear fuel.  Despite the fact that […]

Currently, a key question for U.S. policymakers is how to engage with and/or support new governments in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. For those of you interested in the topic of U.S. foreign assistance to the Middle East, I strongly recommend a new Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) paper, The Federal Budget and Appropriations for […]

One of the greatest problems in the post-Cold War era has been what to do with the leftover highly enriched uranium [HEU], also known as weapons-grade uranium. When the US and USSR were engaged in the nuclear arms race, tons of the stuff was produced in the hopes it would never be used. The 1993 […]

  The United States has designated one-third of its counties as federal disaster areas in order to authorize emergency funding for them to cope with some of the worst drought in nearly 60 years, according to John Eligon’s article in The New York Times. The extensive drought zone falls within some of the country’s largest […]

The first comprehensive history of U.S. foreign policy on Facebook. The Foreign Policy Association is proud to announce the launch of the Foreign Policy Timeline on Facebook. Utilizing one of the latest tools offered by the popular social media site, the Foreign Policy Timeline begins at the founding of the FPA  in 1918 and offers viewers […]

Shanghai-based Wison Offshore & Marine Ltd. announced on June 1, 2012 that it had been awarded a contract by the Exmar Group for the engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of the world’s first Floating LNG Liquefaction, Regasification and Storage Unit (FLRSU), according to gCaptain.com. The facility will be used by Exmar and located on the […]

In global health news this week, I have updates to previously covered topics. World leaders have committed money and support to family planning, spearheaded by the Gates Foundation. The CIA’s fake vaccination program, part of efforts to ferret out Osama Bin Laden, has contributed to a ban on polio vaccinations by the Taliban controlling the […]

Yesterday’s Review section of the Sunday New York Times carried an “analysis” piece by journalist Scott Shane, “The Moral Case for Drones,” which was really more in the nature of a news story reporting that a group of political scientists and moral philosophers believe there is in fact a strong moral case to be made […]

This last week I watched part of Niall Ferguson’s “Civilization: The West and the Rest” series, one of two video segments exploring aspects of Western culture that have set it apart from others. The show is visually rich, with splices of early 20th century footage and modern cityscapes, with Ferguson himself often on camera and […]

Housing nearly half a million people, the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya been a growing haven for those fleeing drought, famine and chaos in neighboring Somalia, albeit one with problems of its own.  This past week, aid agencies reported that funds needed to keep servicing the camp are falling short by nearly $25 million. “The […]