All Commentaries
Goodbye to Defense’s Gilded Age?
The recently passed financial bailout package has drawn the ire of citizens throughout the United States. Both conservatives and liberals have condemned Congress and the White House for rescuing Wall Street titans, who caused the economic death spiral in the first place, by transferring an enormous fiscal burden to middle- and working-class taxpayers. At a time when people are losing their homes and struggling to make ends meet, many Americans find the bailout’s $700 billion price tag to be simply outrageous.
Postcard from…the UN
For the first time in history, African farmers have directly addressed the UN General Assembly. Ndiogou Fall, the president of the Network of West African Peasant and Agricultural Producers’ Organizations (ROPPA), and Elisabeth Atangana, who heads the Federation of Peasant Organizations of Central Africa, spoke on behalf of the people most directly and disastrously affected by the current food crisis.
Bittersweet Economy
Devouring sugar is a dubious way to jumpstart the day. It’s also a dubious way to jumpstart our faltering global economy. Yet our leading scientists, policymakers, and energy mavens are pinning their hopes on sugar.
Burma’s New Charter: Radical Change or Fig Leaf?
After a drafting process of more than 15 years, Burma unveiled its new constitution in February. The 194-page document has generated a widely disparate response. In May, just days after tropical cyclone Nargis hit Burma and killed tens of thousands of Burmese, the military government reported that 92 percent of the population supported the new constitution in a referendum vote.
Understanding the U.S.-Iran Crisis
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from Phyllis Bennis’ book Understanding the U.S.-Iran Crisis: A Primer.
Review: A Thousand Hills
A little over a decade after a terrifying genocide left a million people dead, Rwanda has recovered enough to become a tourist destination in central Africa. As veteran journalist Stephen Kinzer reports in his new book A Thousand Hills, Rwanda is an orderly, peaceful, and economically developing oasis in an otherwise strife-torn region. Kinzer points to Rwandan leader Paul Kagame as the prime mover behind this transformation. Ever the cautious journalist, Kinzer knows the pitfalls of this great-man approach to history. “Naïve outsiders, eager for success stories from Africa, are quick to praise any promising leader. Sometimes they are too quick,” he writes. And indeed, fellow journalist Mark Fritz took Kinzer to task in The Washington Post for being too quick himself.
A Memo to the Next President: Think Globally
With a global economic slowdown and a deepening food crisis, the biggest foreign policy priority for the next President must be building a global economy that benefits poor and working families in the United States and around the world.
What’s So Funny?
It used to be that prospective politicians chose law school as the first step in their career path. Future politicians may skip law school altogether and try out for the Saturday Night Live team instead.
A Fat Budget for Weapons, Thin for Diplomacy
In their first debate, Barack Obama and John McCain will audition for the role of change agent. Here’s one thing the moderator needs to ask: how they would change the military-led foreign policy of the past eight years.
Book Review: Spies for Hire
If you think you’ve even got a vague notion of how the shadowy side of the U.S. government operates, do yourself a favor and read Spies for Hire: The Secret World of Intelligence Outsourcing (Simon & Schuster, 2008). This book is a wide-open window into the creepy new corporate world of spydom that may keep you awake at night.