It’s too hot and it’s getting even hotter here in DC!
And this is where it gets difficult for me to admit. In my ignorant understanding of economics, the idea of a balanced budget does not seem like a bad idea. You make sure you can pay for what you use. The questions I want answers to are what are the benefits and what are the costs associated with a balanced budget?
Follow the Money: DPRK Style
After a stalemate of slightly over three years, diplomats are resuscitating the Six Party Talks, negotiations started in 2008 between the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China in an effort to denuclearize North Korea, officially the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and mitigate the brinkmanship of the Kim Jong Il regime.
The Linked Challenges of Global Climate Change and Local Peace
The UN Security Council recently met to debate the risks of climate change to global peace and security. Yet, practical measures to address these goals remain superficial, off-target & isolated. Now is the time to shift our focus from direct environmental impacts to broader threats at a local level.
Debunking a Phenomenon: the “Arab Spring” Misconception
The so called “Arab Spring” has been a popular notion in American media. US academics, journalists and politicians speak of the most recent Middle Eastern revolutionary movements as a single and similar wave of reform that they deem as one that could be defined along racial lines. Not only is this approach methodically flawed, but it also overrides a sense of remarkable national pride for individual nations.
Politicizing Famine Relief in the Horn of Africa Will Cost Lives
Humanitarian assistance is supposed to be provided impartially, on the basis of need and without concern for the politics of who is right. Civilians should not be punished for the sake of making political points or achieving a military victory. What is needed now is a singular focus in getting the access and supplies needed to prevent mass starvation. Politics can wait.
Turkey in the Unpredictable Middle East
Mastery of style and charismatic personalities are constants of Turkey’s celebrated leaders and incumbent Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is no exception. But what counts for an effective foreign policy is not noise but outcomes. With the right ingredients, Turkey will be in an enviable position to fully utilise its strategic geography, NATO membership and web of relations to advance Turkish interests in the region.
Judaisms, Christianities, Islams
There is no single normative Islam, Christianity, or Judaism. All world religions encompass diverse components and we might as well come to grips with the internal diversity of religions. After generations of theological harmonization, we recognize the obvious and admit that there is no single Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, but only Judaisms, Christianities, Islams.
A Silk Route to Peace
The Taliban remains a very deeply rooted part of Afghani social and political life. Consequently, they cannot be ignored. The Taliban should be won over with a comprehensive set of policies deploying not just negotiations and reconciliatory talks, but also the creation of a political framework that will engage the Taliban in a positive role that is most conducive to Afghanistan’s progress.
Today, we are all Norwegians
The Norwegian massacre has a potential to be a game-changer in European security. The phrase may be overused, it may be a cliché, and it may ultimately not be of any practical use beyond a symbolic show of empathy, but as Norway mourns, we can only intone: Today, we are all Norwegians.
The Rising Tide of Islamophobia
The unspeakable tragedy in Norway is a wakeup call about the dangers of right wing political and religious extremism and Islamophobia which threaten the democratic fabric of American and European societies. They create a social cancer whose metastasis impacts not only the safety and security of Muslims but also, as the attacks in Norway demonstrate, all citizens.
