Mexico’s House of Deputies has brought the country to the cusp of a police state. The reform to the National Security Law now before the lower house would grant sweeping military powers to the executive and limit congressional oversight of domestic military activity.
In After 9/11: Leading Political Thinkers about the World, the U.S. and Themselves, researcher Tobias Endler explores the role and aspirations of public intellectuals and how they reach out to their preferred audiences.
It would be nice to see America expand its cache of good will cache to enhance our diplomatic — as opposed to military — capital.
The latest WikiLeaks dump confirms that American officials have been slow to recognize and treat mental health disorders in Guantanamo detainees.
Deterrence — or Mutual Assured Destruction — isn’t all that’s kept us from blowing each other up in a nuclear war.
As radioactivity levels continue to spike in Fukushima, Obama’s support for nuclear power is unwavering.
Facing the challenges of a world at the edge — from Japan to the Greater Middle East, from a shaky global economic system to weather that has become anything but entertainment — the United States looks increasingly incapable of coping.
The shell game that defense cuts have become underscores the need for an independent review of the budget.
A secret operation to run guns across the border to Mexican drug cartels — overseen by U.S. government agents — threatens to become a major scandal for the Obama administration. The operation, called “Fast and Furious,” was run out of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) office in Phoenix, Arizona. ATF sanctioned the purchase of weapons in U.S. gun shops and tracked the smuggling route to the Mexican border. Reportedly, more than 2,500 firearms were sold to straw buyers who then handed off the weapons to gunrunners under the nose of ATF.
“Virtual deterrence” — demobilizing nuclear weapons but retaining production capacity — could backfire on the disarmament advocates who think it’s a step in the right direction and lead to nuclear war.