All Commentaries
Wanted: an Accurate Assessment of Arab-Iran Animosity
When it comes to Arab-Iran animosity, a distinction needs to be made between the feelings of the ruler and the people.
Missile Defense: Pie in the Sky
What to do with a defense instrument that does not work in practice, agitates neighboring regional powers, and costs a lot of money in times of economic crisis? Common sense would suggest you abandon it. NATO, however, has a different idea. As part of the NATO Strategic Concept Review to be finalized at the end of November at the Lisbon Summit, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has proposed to adopt missile defense as a mission.
START Now
After 65 years, is there anything new to say about nuclear weapons? Their immense and almost incomprehensible destructive power is well known. Their tenacious endurance as the weapon, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, is an unavoidable fact as nine nations currently stockpile these world menacers. Their super-power allure to emerging states remains untarnished despite international treaties discouraging proliferation.
60 Second Expert: Cuba and Congress — Who Will Change First?
After nearly half a century of frozen relations with Cuba, Congress is considering steps that could create thousands of American jobs and establish a valuable cultural exchange between the two countries. On June 30, the Travel Restriction Reform and Export Enhancement Act (HR 4645) narrowly passed the House Agriculture Committee by a 25-20 vote. If enacted, this bill would finally allow Americans to travel to Cuba and reduce restrictions on agricultural exports to the island. Although it must still pass the House Financial Services Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee before reaching the House floor, this event is noteworthy because unlike similar measures that have died in committees, HR 4645 was actually brought to a vote.
‘Aspirational’ vs. ‘Operational’ Military Budget Cutting
Quiz: Who said this? “Is it a dire threat that by 2020 the United States will have only 20 times more advanced stealth fighters than China.”
Israel v. Palestine Brings Out the Jewish in Me
Is holding Jews to a higher standard helpful to peace in the Middle East?
Where Does the Administration Get Off Calling Missile Defense “Proven”?
Calling missile defense “proven” is not only a disingenuous move by the Obama administration, but a dangerous one.
Top U.S. Leadership Endorses Unified Security Budget
In 2010 for the first time, the Secretaries of Defense and State and the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff have all expressed support for a unified national security budget (USB). This endorses the recommendations of the Task Force on a Unified Security Budget, which releases its yearly report (link) today.
A Unified Security Budget for the United States, FY 2011
Somewhere on the list of 2010 milestones should be this: It was the year that unified security budgeting won the endorsement of the U.S. executive branch’s top leadership. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton first made this endorsement in May, during the Q&A following her speech supporting the new National Security Strategy. Joining her in the endorsement, she said, were Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Adm. Mike Mullen, who both “wrote really strong letters to the House and Senate leadership and the appropriators and the budgeteers to make the case that we have to start looking at a national security budget.”
Starving Africa’s Future?
In what may be President Obama’s most significant foray into changing U.S.-Africa policy since his election in 2008, the United States is embarking on a new initiative to boost agricultural production in the global south. Feed the Future (FTF) came out of the G8 summit in L’Aquila in 2009 where developed country leaders committed to acting to “achieve sustainable global food security.” Obama pledged $3.5 billion over three years toward this goal, in hopes that other rich nations would also make significant investments in agricultural development.