A Few Magnificent Things That Happened in 2021
Feeling bleak? Well, 2021 wasn’t all bad — here are a few astounding things ordinary people won at home and abroad.
Democratic Progress in Honduras, Setbacks in El Salvador
The last decade saw democratization in El Salvador and brutal repression in Honduras. Suddenly, those trends appear to have reversed.
The “Selling” of Degrowth
Can those who advocate hitting the brakes on economic growth get their message across before it’s too late?
War with Russia?
Here’s what Washington, Moscow, and Kyiv can do to avoid the next world war.
The NDAA and the Militarization of America
The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) was passed by Congress and signed into law by the president on New Year’s Eve of 2011. Activists and other critics charge that the NDAA authorizes the indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens, but supporters counter that the law entails no new powers of detention for the federal government.
In a sense, both sides are right.
Lady Gaga Unwittingly Serves the Cause of Arms Control
Rep. Edward Markey is calling for deep cuts to the entire nuclear-weapons triad: missiles, aircraft, and submarines.
“Bilateralizing” Relations between Peru and Venezuela
After President Ollanta Humala’s state visit to Venezuela Jan 7, and despite some adverse reactions to the visit in Peru, Humala announced that the two countries have “succeeded in turning away from the bilateral politics of the past in which nothing major had been accomplished in diplomatic, commercial and cultural relations.”
Offshore Everywhere
Make no mistake: we’re entering a new world of military planning. Admittedly, the latest proposed Pentagon budget manages to preserve just about every costly toy-cum-boondoggle from the good old days when MiGs still roamed the skies, including an uncut nuclear arsenal. Eternally over-budget items like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, cherished by their services and well-lobbied congressional representatives, aren’t leaving the scene any time soon, though delays or cuts in purchase orders are planned. All this should reassure us that, despite the talk of massive cuts, the U.S. military will continue to be the profligate, inefficient, and remarkably ineffective institution we’ve come to know and squander our treasure on.
Is China Reentering the Great Game?
Many countries have contributed to Afghanistan’s reconstruction. But it’s only been since 2007 that China has attracted attention with its investments. In November 2007, the Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) won the tender to invest over $2.9 billion to develop the Aynak copper mine, which is the second-largest copper deposit in the world. This was not only the second-largest investment in Afghanistan in recent years – equivalent to one-third of all foreign aid spent in the country between 2002 and 2007 – but it also raised China to the top tier of investors. In a more recent deal in October 2011, the PetroChina Company Ltd (CPNC) plans to invest about $300 million in three oil fields in northern Afghanistan.
Sequential Drone Attacks Double the Brutality
The United States attacks rescuers of its own drone attacks as well as mourners at funerals of their victims.
Using Pro-Life to Sell Nuclear Disarmament
Is the cause of disarmament helped if the pro-life movement hitches its wagon to it?
Playing One Side Off the Other Only Hurts Pakistan in the End
Pakistan walks a tightrope between the United States and the Taliban.
Syrian Repression, the Chinese-Russian Veto, and U.S. Hypocrisy
On Saturday, Russia and China vetoed an otherwise unanimous UN Security Council resolution condemning the ongoing repression in Syria and calling for a halt to violence on all sides, unfettered access for Arab League monitors, and “a Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations or ethnicities or beliefs.”
Although the joint Russian and Chinese veto of the resolution is inexcusable, the self-righteous reaction by U.S. officials betrays hypocrisy on a grand scale and fails to take into account a series of policy blunders that have contributed to the tragic impasse.
Bipartisan Strategy Takes Shape To Close Overseas U.S. Bases
At a time when bipartisanship on Capitol Hill has essentially disappeared, an intriguing example of cross-party consensus has emerged in a relatively obscure area of foreign policy: closing overseas military bases.