News & Commentary
September 7, 2010
Jack Miles, The Australian - "Why Obama is Not Using His 'Bully Pulpit'"
The Australian
"The American presidency is a "bully pulpit", as Theodore Roosevelt called it, and many lately have been calling for the current President to make more frequent, higher-profile visits to that pulpit. They don't use the word preach, but clearly they want more than routine statements from No-Drama Obama." More...
August 22, 2010
Bennett Ramberg, The Japan Times - "Weak START for the Mindset of Deterrence"
The Japan Times
"A strange sense of deja vu is gripping Washington these days, as the debate over ratification by the U.S. Senate of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with Russia heats up. Spats have broken out among the Obama administration, future presidential contenders, senators, and arms control and defense experts." More...
August 22, 2010
Tom Plate, The Japan Times - "Flying the Humanitarian Flag Among Muslims"
The Japan Times
"What's the one major issue the West absolutely and totally must get right in the years ahead? If the obvious answer is not peaceful international relations with an increasingly assertive China, then it has to be the West's ever-more complicated relationship with the world's Muslims." More...
August 20, 2010
Bennett Ramberg, The Huffington Post - "Is Iran's Bushehr Reactor a Weapons Generator, a Hostage, Just Another Power Plant -- or All Three?"
The Huffington Post
"The commencement of operations at Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor this weekend marks a culmination of the country's long saga to acquire atomic energy. The 1,000 Mwe plant will be the sole nuclear power station in the Middle East. On its face the installation does not pose proliferation risks. It is a light water reactor fueled with low enriched uranium. Typically, countries do not use such plants to produce weapons usable plutonium But closer examination reveals a facility that could present such a risk as well as a radiological hostage to neighbors concerned about Iran's nuclear weapons program. These facts only serve to complicate the region's already complex nuclear situation." More...
August 2010
Robert C. Bonner, PODER- "The Cartels Can Be Defeated"
PODER
In an interview with prominent Mexican news magazine PODER, Council member and US-Mexico Border Security Task Force Co-chair, Robert C. Bonner argues that not only is it possible to defeat the Mexican drug cartels, it is an absolute necessity in order to release the legitimate institutions of government from their grasp. He differentiates between Plan Colombia and the Merida Initiative, dismisses the “war” on drugs terminology, and defines what defeating the cartels will entail in this important commentary. More... (Please note this article is written in Spanish)
July 27, 2010
Colin Robertson, The Globe and Mail - "Let’s Act Like an Energy Superpower"
The Globe and Mail
"It’s time for Canada to play the energy card and announce the fast-tracking of a new pipeline to the Pacific, and to encourage Asian investment in our oil patch. The Americans, especially those charged with national security, will get the message." More...
July 26, 2010
Seán J. Kreyling & Llewelyn Hughes, Journal of Energy Security - "Understanding Resource Nationalism in the 21st Century"
Journal of Energy Security
"Resource nationalism in oil-importing states appears on the rise. Oil price volatility underpinned by demand growth has led China, India and others to increase state support for national-flag firms in order to increase the state’s energy self-sufficiency. Both Chinese and Indian National Oil Companies (NOCs) have made energy investments worldwide, including in Sudan and Iran. Long-standing oil importers such as the United States and Japan have also[Kreyling, Sean J] reenergized policies designed to increase domestic production of crude and crude substitutes, or have subsidized national-flag firms, in the name of energy independence." More...
July 26, 2010
Nancy E. Brune, Journal of Energy Security - "Latin America: A Blind Spot in US Energy Security Policy"
Journal of Energy Security
"For more than a decade, America’s relationship with Latin America could most accurately be described as unfocused engagement, driven by reactions to events or crises at best and benign neglect at worst. Apart from intermittent efforts to secure free trade agreements (NAFTA and CAFTA), combat drugs (Plan Mérida and Plan Colombia), and weigh in—often too late and too sheepishly—to political events (Honduran Presidential crisis or President Hugo Chavez’s saber rattling), the US has failed to engage the nations of resource-wealthy Latin America in any strategic manner." More...
July 20, 2010
Abraham F. Lowenthal, America Economia - "Challenging Stereotypes about Latin America"
America Economia
"It is important to overcome two stereotypes about Latin America and the Caribbean that are all too common in the United States. One is an excessively optimistic view of the region, often a result of projecting U.S. ideology and experience, combined with wishful thinking. The other is an excessively bleak vision of the region, often grounded in notions of U.S. superiority." More...
July 15, 2010
Jerrold Green & William Loomis, The Huffington Post - "The Ghosts of Abu Ghraib Exorcised?"
The Huffington Post
"The events that transpired at the US run Iraqi detention center, Abu Ghraib, were a black mark on the US military and hurt the prestige and credibility of the US worldwide. And although incarceration for those captured on the battlefield can range from horrific to barely tolerable, the US military began an unusual experiment in Afghanistan that is without precedent and promises to continue under the leadership of General David Petraeus. On a recent visit to Afghanistan, as part of a California-based Pacific Council on International Policy delegation, we visited prisons and holding facilities both in the environs of Kabul as well as at Bagram Airfield. Although hosted by the US military, we were free to speak openly to American military personnel, diplomats, contractors, and Afghan detainees." More...
July 12, 2010
Colin Robertson, The Foreign Exchange - "Indispensable Ally’? Better to be a ‘Reliable Partner"
The Foreign Exchange
"Writing a foreign policy review in a foreign ministry is like a visit from Harry Potter's dementors: the energy is sucked out of the system. It inevitably becomes an exercise in corporate justification and an effort to rationalize the current state of affairs, rather than innovate." More...
July 2010
Reza Aslan, Foreign Policy - "What We Got Wrong"
Foreign Policy
"The spontaneous protest movement that erupted on the streets of Iran in June 2009 both amazed and baffled observers around the world. From the moment the first demonstrations broke out in Tehran after the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the media (and I include myself in that epithet) had a difficult time grasping the meaning of what came to be called the Green Movement. Indeed, our very use of the semantically empty term "Green Movement" became a tacit admission that we had no idea who these people really were and what they really wanted." More...
July 2010
Robert C. Bonner, Foreign Affairs - "The New Cocaine Cowboys"
Foreign Affairs
"Mexico is currently suffering from the same sort of drug-related violence that plagued Colombia during the 1980s. Mexico and the United States can learn a great deal from Colombia's example, including that they must build law enforcement capacity and not rely solely on military force." More...
July 2010
Abraham F. Lowenthal, Foreign Affairs - "Obama and the Americas"
Foreign Affairs
"The Obama administration has not yet delivered on the promising new policy for Latin America and the Caribbean it announced last year, but it still can." More...
June 23, 2010
Colin Robertson, National Post - "Jaw-Jaw is Still Better Than War-War, Just Very Expensive"
National Post
"The term ‘summit’ was coined by Winston Churchill for face-to-face diplomatic encounters between leaders. Summitry is predicated upon the idea that better personal relations between leaders can yield diplomatic benefits or as Churchill put it, ‘jaw-jaw’ is better than ‘war-war’. This was particularly important during the Cold War when the intent was to encourage the leaders of the Soviet Union and United States to reach for the red telephone rather than the red button." More...
June 18, 2010
Patrick Del Duca, Los Angeles Daily Journal - "When Language and Law Intertwine"
Los Angeles Daily Journal
"Parties to transnational commercial and financial deals communicate with each other in languages of their choice. Sooner or later, however, one or more of the parties, whether as part of making or enforcing the deal, will necessarily interact with governmental authorities. Examples of such authorities include a count, a registrant of security interested in collateral to secure repayment of credit, or a regulatory body. Almost universally, such an authority mandates that an official language be used for any interactions with it.." More...
June 18, 2010
Seth Freeman, The Huffington Post - "Hope for Literacy -- and for Women"
The Huffington Post
"Unless a volcano erupts or an earthquake hits, Guatemala is not a country often mentioned in North American news or very much in the consciousness of people north of the border. A few months ago, before traveling to Guatemala in March, I was among those who couldn't have told you just where it is or exactly how to spell its name." More...
June 17, 2010
Mira Kamdar, Foreign Policy - "Couples Retreat"
Foreign Policy
"French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have long had a testy relationship, but at the EU Summit they'll need to patch things up quickly to save the union -- and possibly their own governments." More...
June 15, 2010
Abraham F. Lowenthal, Latin America Advisor - "What Was Accomplished at Last Week's OAS Meeting?"
Latin America Advisor (Inter-American Dialogue)
"I cannot comment first-hand on the most important aspects of the meeting—the informal discussions and consultations, in private meetings and corridor exchanges, about a variety of issues among the Foreign Ministers and other officials who attended. Certainly one advantage of the annual General Assembly is its capacity to convene senior officials from throughout the Americas, providing them a convenient forum for such exchanges on a mutually acceptable basis, without requiring that everyone travel everywhere!" More...
June 9, 2010
Mira Kamdar, The Huffington Post - "Gandhi and Gaza: Israel's Raj Debacle"
The Huffington Post
"The organizers of the Palestinian aid flotilla have achieved a stunning victory over Israel in the international court of public opinion. It is a victory that Gandhi would well have understood. By pitting unarmed protestors on a humanitarian mission against a government steeped in the logic that the best defense is a strong offense, the flotilla achieved the inevitable outcome: the martyrs won, Israel lost." More...
June 8, 2010
Bennett Ramberg, Washington Times - "Syria's Nuclear Challenge"
Washington Times
"Now that the 189 parties to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty have recommitted themselves to the NPT following the May treaty review conference, it is time to renew efforts to translate words into deeds. The first serious step will come this month as the United Nations Security Council attempts to impose new sanctions to force Iran to halt its dubious nuclear programs." More...
May 26, 2010
Nina Hachigian, Politico - "Embrace New Security Strategy"
Politico
"When the Obama administration releases its new national security strategy Thursday, it is sure to spark a sharp debate, for the plan is grounded in core progressive foreign policy principles that stand in sharp contrast to mainstream conservative doctrine." More...
May 18, 2010
Bennett Ramberg, The Huffington Post - "Sri Lanka's Civil War Legacy One Year Later"
The Huffington Post
"Civil wars are particularly nasty affairs pitting neighbor again neighbor. Let bygones be bygones would certainly be a better approach. But when ethnic groups, like a a badly matched couple, can't get along, when anger mounts, when violence erupts, divorce is the better course. Whatever the outcome, the results can linger in the fabric of the disputants for decades, but civil war adds a particularly detrimental legacy." More...
May 12, 2010
Cari Guittard Newswire – CPD Blog & Blogroll - "Hidden Power"
Newswire - CPD Blog & Blogroll
"This week I’m obsessed with the notion of Hidden Power. Am reading Kati Marton’s most excellent book on the subject, which focuses on Presidential marriages that shaped our nation’s history. And as the wife of Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, what Kati has to say about hidden power should have us all taking notice." More...
May 10, 2010
Sarah Bachman, Yale Global Online - "Dealing with Disasters in a Connected World"
Yale Global Online
"Natural disasters have struck since the earth’s beginning, but one dramatic change is underway: A global telecommunication network and the internet’s social media have shrunk the world, speeding news about any disaster as well as speeding delivery of succor for victims. News of recent massive earthquakes in Haiti, Chile and China first arrived on other shores not as television video or professional news bulletins, but as amateur reports and images sent by cell phone and internet. Further expansion of the global electronic network, keeping it censorship-free, would contribute to improved worldwide response to future calamities." More...
May 8, 2010
Warren Christopher, The Los Angeles Times - "On Track on Foreign Policy"
The Los Angeles Times
"During the 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised he would end our diplomatic isolation and pursue "engagement" in foreign affairs. His opponent tried to turn his proposal against him by saying it would be reckless and naive. Obama regarded his election as a mandate for engagement, and no campaign promise has been more faithfully carried out by his administration. Engagement is not in itself foreign policy. But it is a crucial part of the process by which we seek to advance our international goals, and one in which the country can and should invest great human and political capital." More...
May 6, 2010
Abraham F. Lowenthal, Latin America Advisor - "Has Obama Kept His Summit of the Americas Promises?"
Latin America Advisor (Inter-American Dialogue)
"No doubt the Obama administration has been unable to sustain the unrealistically high expectations raised by his extraordinary personal background, rise and election, and then by the contrast between its first rhetoric and modest actions, and George W. Bush's image in the region. The promised new beginning with Cuba has not amounted to much. The Administration’s trade policies have been confusing at best. The promised high priority for comprehensive immigration reform has been slow to become evident. And the handling of both the Honduran imbroglio and the Colombian bases issue left considerable room for improvement." More...
May 5, 2010
Ahmed Rashid, Miami Herald - "Terrorism's New Hub in Pakistan"
Miami Herald
"Information is still emerging about suspected Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad, a Pakistani-born U.S. citizen who apparently spent time here from July until February. Court documents indicate that Shahzad received bomb-making training in Waziristan, the known haven of numerous groups and extremists." More...
May 4, 2010
Abraham F. Lowenthal, América Economía - "Has the Obama Opportunity Ended?"
América Economía
"Most Latin Americans responded enthusiastically to Barack Obama’s election and to his first statements and actions on U.S. relations with Latin America. President Obama’s statement at the Trinidad Summit of the Americas that his administration sought a relationship “without senior and junior partners” epitomized what was attractive about the Obama vision. For many Latin Americans, however, the past few months have been disappointing, as the Obama administration failed to follow through on, or even reversed, its first positive steps." More in English HERE, in Spanish HERE.
May 3, 2010
Nina Hachigian, Center for American Progress - "The Right Atmosphere: A Chance for China to Demonstrate Leadership on the Exchange Rate"
Center for American Progress
"China today will place Zhu Min, a senior Peoples' Bank of China official, at the right hand of International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn at a time when China's voting strength at the IMF also is set to increase. China's increasingly important role at the IMF and World Bank, which also boosted China's voting clout earlier this year, may well be behind persistent reports that China’s leadership is preparing to announce the gradual appreciation of the yuan as part of its growing responsibility for the stability of the international economy." More...
April 30, 2010
Bennett Ramberg, The Huffington Post - "Prospects for the Nuclear Nonproliferation Review Conference"
The Huffington Post
"Spring 2010 has offered a bounty of arms control. First came the new START treaty that promises to reduce Russian-American deployed nuclear arsenals. Then the Washington D.C. nuclear terrorism summit garnered the consensus of nearly 50 leaders to expedite efforts to reduce the vulnerability of nuclear materials to terrorist diversion. While neither measure marked a revolutionary dampening of atomic risks, we can still welcome the incrementalism. Now comes the final nuclear arms control leg of the season, the May 3, three-week Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference that convenes in New York. But this meeting will be different." More...
April 23, 2010
R. Sean Randolph, San Francisco Business Times - "Dollars and Sense: China After Google"
San Francisco Business Times
"This year started with two events of global significance: China passed the United States to become the world’s largest automotive market, and China passed Germany to become the world’s second-largest exporter. With surging mobile phone use, it was already the world’s largest telecommunications market, and with nearly 340 million users, its largest web market. On the other side of the ledger, China passed the U.S. to become the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and Google announced that it would close its mainland site due to sophisticated Chinese hacking. Get ready for more headlines like this as China’s economy continues to surge, and its government becomes more assertive." More...
April 12, 2010
Nina Hachigian, Center for American Progress - "From Renegade to Defender and Beyond?"
Center for American Progress
"China’s overall record on nuclear proliferation has dramatically improved over the past decades, and its actions show that Beijing will increasingly play by the rules on some global issues. But this week’s nuclear security summit in Washington, D.C. offers President Barack Obama an opportunity to encourage China to move to the next level—to become a true steward of the nuclear nonproliferation system, as fits its increasing influence on the global stage. Beijing can do so by supporting a more effective nuclear nonproliferation regime and joining the international community to punish those states that break the rules." More...
April 7, 2010
Tom Plate, The Japan Times - "How Google got too hot for China's kitchen"
The Japan Times
"Perhaps Google's moguls indeed were naive to think that China would cease being a censorship regime as time went on. But that's not the issue. The Chinese government can censor all it wants, any time it wants, for whatever reason it wants; after all, it is a sovereign state. But when it agrees to do business with an American company whose core business is servicing clients in a reasonably open way, it has a responsibility to not muck around with that business. If Beijing couldn't stand the heat that Google's e-mail operations brought into the country, it should never have let it into the kitchen." More...
April 7, 2010
Bennett Ramberg, The Huffington Post - "Does Obama's Nuclear Deal Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War?"
The Huffington Post
"After a yearlong negotiation, this week President Obama's first foray into nuclear disarmament will consummate in the signing of a new treaty that will reduce the deployed strategic arsenals of Russia and the United States from roughly 2000 to 1500. The accord marks a down payment on the president's ambition to promote a world without nuclear weapons. But follow-up talks will face daunting hurdles, most importantly deflating continuing Russo-American distrust, conservative nuclear bureaucracies committed to the nuclear enterprise and concerns about other nuclear armed states and those looming. Overcoming these barriers to achieve the president's vision will be difficult." More...
April 2, 2010
Tom Plate, Khaleej Times - "Chinese Soup - Hot and Sour"
Khaleej Times
"It may be that Zhu Rongji is the most important Chinese political figure since the death of Mao’s relatively enlightened successor Deng Xiaoping, I don’t know. As China’s previous premier (number two of the whole place) he was certainly the key technical engineer of China’s audacious and epochal move into the World Trade Organisation... And as Professor Richard Baum reminds us in his new book, he certainly was able to keep his cool: As troops were entering Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989 ready to bash heads, they were doing no such thing in Shanghai, even though the streets were also jammed with protesters." More...
April 1, 2010
Bennett Ramberg, GlobalPost - "If at first you don't succeed, try sanctions again"
GlobalPost
"Having failed to talk Iran out of its nuclear program the Obama administration has ramped up efforts to get the Security Council to endorse a new round of sanctions... The failure of U.N. penalties in the past naturally raises questions about why new sanctions will be more successful. History provides perspective with a glimmer of hope. Scholarly studies have examined scores of cases and come to a somber conclusion that economic sanctions -- trade and financial restrictions to change the target's strategic behavior -- don't work most of the time... Such findings feed today's pessimism that sanctions against Iran likewise will fail. Ultimately, that may be true, but a careful re-examination of cases provides a more nuanced conclusion." More...
March 26, 2010
Stanley Lubman, The Wall Street Journal - "Rio Tinto Trial Shines Harsh Spotlight on Chinese Criminal Justice"
The Wall Street Journal
"While the facts of the alleged conduct of four employees of the British-Australian company Rio Tinto Ltd. who were on trial this week for taking bribes and infringing trade secrets are obscure, the trial starkly exhibits some key characteristics of Chinese criminal justice. It demonstrates the usual limits on the ability of defense lawyers to fully represent their clients, a disturbing lack of transparency, and the impact of political influences on the proceedings and the outcome. Criminal justice has moved only partially and irregularly toward a level of legality that it lacked under Mao, and is an object of concern to Chinese law reformers as well as to foreign observers." More...
March 22, 2010
Stanley Lubman, The Wall Street Journal - "Strengthening Enforcement of China's Environmental Protection Laws"
The Wall Street Journal
"In the face of ongoing serious damage to China’s environment caused by 30 years of historic economic development and weak enforcement of China’s environmental protection laws, environmental litigation is growing and a small number of experimental environmental courts have been established... The new courts represent a modest experiment, and although very few cases have been brought to them, several recently-decided cases illustrate their promise. But enforcement of anti-pollution laws remains hampered by familiar systemic problems in Chinese governance, including tension between growing acknowledgment about the extent of pollution and continuing emphasis on maintaining a high rate of economic growth." More...
March 5, 2010
Abraham F. Lowenthal, San Diego Union Tribune - "U.S.-Brazil relations are critical"
San Diego Union Tribune
"Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on President Lula da Silva of Brazil this week, hoping, among other things, to receive Brazil's support in the United Nations Security Council for imposing stricter sanctions on Iran in response to that country's nuclear program. Lula pre-empted her message even before they met by opining that it would not be prudent to back Iran against a wall. The dispute highlights Brazil's willingness and capacity to carve out an independent world role, not necessarily antagonistic to the United States but not subordinate to Washington." More...
February 27, 2010
Peter Katona, Huffington Post - "Is Our Health Care System a Homeland Security Liability?"
Huffington Post
"As the earthquake in Haiti reminds us, large-scale disasters often occur without warning and, absent adequate planning, medical supplies and staffing, can tax global medical resources and logistics capabilities to the brink. Other potential disasters, like the recent slowly evolving swine flu pandemic, provide an unmistakable warning. The last six-months' labored and expensive efforts to deploy public health staff at all levels to deal with vaccine production and distribution should be a wake-up call for everyone. Unless we repair our capacity to cope with major medical crises on our own homeland, large populations will be vulnerable during the serious challenges that are sure to come." More...
February 17, 2010
Robert C. O'Brien and Stephen G. Larson, CBS News - "Don't Forget Afghanistan's Justice System"
CBS News
"President Obama has reaffirmed our commitment to winning in Afghanistan and American and British Marines are on the offensive in Marjah. Winning in Afghanistan requires that we, our coalition allies and Afghan forces, defeat the Taliban insurgency, end the rampant narcotics trade, and overcome pervasive corruption among Afghan officials. A key to success in dealing with all three areas is rebuilding the Afghan justice sector. The task is large and will take time, but with a real partnership between the Coalition and Afghan police, prosecutors and judges, accountability, and patient dedication, it can be accomplished." More...
February 15, 2010
Bennett Ramberg, The Guardian - "Libya's lessons for Iran"
The Guardian
"International efforts to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons will be given a new lease on life this month, as France assumes the presidency of the UN security council... But, even were a revived Franco-American effort to succeed in getting the UN organ to endorse targeted penalties to hamstring the financial underpinnings of the Revolutionary Guard and other Iranian elites, the proposed measures appear to be too modest. They add little to three prior sanction resolutions... Moreover, despite the pain they impose, economic sanctions historically have a poor record of prompting countries to change fundamental policy. But there is a notable exception to this pattern: Libya's decision in December 2003 to abandon its nuclear weapons programme." More...
February 8, 2010
Tom Plate, The Jakarta Post - "We all thought the Japanese walk on water!"
The Jakarta Post
"Once upon a time — not so long ago in fact — the word 'Toyota' was a synonym for 'quality,' even 'reliability.' Even that’s under recall now. In a stunning reversal, the Tokyo-based auto giant is starting to back-pedal big-time. More than two million cars, from no less than eight model-lines, are being recalled, due to widespread performance-safety reports... Good news for America? Sure, in the sense that what’s not good for Toyota can prove great for General Motors (not to mention Ford). Last month, the latter realized a 24 percent increase in sales, and GM’s up-tick was also anything but shabby." More...
February 7, 2010
Byron Auguste, The Washington Post - "Five myths about how to create jobs"
Washington Post | McKinsey Global Institute
"With the unemployment rate in the United States lingering just below 10 percent and the midterm elections just nine months away, job creation has become the top priority in Washington. President Obama has called for transferring $30 billion in repaid bank bailout money to a small-business lending fund, saying, 'Jobs will be our number one focus in 2010, and we're going to start where most new jobs do, with small business.' The fund is among several measures -- tax incentives, infrastructure projects, efforts to increase imports -- that the White House has proposed to help boost employment. As Americans consider the various approaches, we must have realistic expectations. We need to debunk some myths about what it takes to stimulate job growth." More...
February 2, 2010
Rob Asghar, LA Daily News - "Evangelicals export wrong set of Christianity's values"
LA Daily News
"The New Testament stressed that universal human imperfection made it impossible for one person or one country to claim moral superiority over another. Yet evangelicals championed America's supposed cosmic battle against evil. They didn't see irony in taking a more pre-emptive approach to war in Iraq than what Muslims and other generic monotheists have historically favored. They claimed they had clear vision in seeing that many Muslims are our enemies, ignoring that Jesus and Paul scandalously said enemies were there for the government to bomb but the church to love." More...
February 2010
Patrick Del Duca, ABA Section of International Law's Mexico Committee Newsletter - "Mexico Update"
American Bar Association (ABA)
As Mexico wrestles with such important goals as achieving sustained economic growth, attracting additional foreign investment, confronting narco-trafficking, and consolidating its multi-party democratic system, establishing a criminal justice system that is widely-accepted as affording the rule of law and imparting justice to all concerned stakeholders is a critical step. Council member Patrick Del Duca, as co-chair of the ABA Section of International Law's Mexico Committee, contributes importantly in this dialogue on the emerging reform of Mexico's criminal justice system and the challenges ahead. More...
January 31, 2010
Ernest J. Wilson, The Huffington Post - "Google, China and U.S. Foreign Policy"
The Huffington Post
"The reality is that Google and the other huge information and communications (ICT) companies that now dominate the U.S. economy have always punched below their weight in foreign affairs. But now that Google has stepped out ahead of the pack and taken an aggressive stance against the government of arguably the second or third most powerful country in the world, we may be witnessing a new stage in U.S. international relations: what might be called Silicon Valley's new foreign policy." More...
Ernest J. Wilson, a Pacific Council Board Member, hosted a teleconference for members on this topic. Please find a description of the session and a recording of the discussion HERE.
January 27, 2010
Robert C. Bonner, The Huffington Post - "A Bi-national Blueprint for a Smarter Border"
The Huffington Post
"Mexico is in the throes of a battle with organized drug cartels that will determine who controls the legitimate institutions of government. The outcome is of vital interest to the United States. As a recent report by a distinguished group of American and Mexican border experts makes clear, Mexico's success depends heavily on how effectively both nations manage our shared border. The report of the joint task force of the Pacific Council on International Policy and the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations lays out a strategy that will contribute to the defeat of the major drug cartels and at the same time improve the efficiency and security of our border." More...
January 22, 2010
Josh Lockman, The Huffington Post - "Plotting the Next Moves in Obama's Chess Match with Iran"
The Huffington Post
"As President Obama surveys the perilous landscape of the Middle East after his first year in office, his next moves in the chess match over Iran's nuclear weapons program could be decisive. While the President should be commended for vigorously engaging with the Iranian regime, now is the time for stronger action. The acquisition of nuclear weapons by this regime not only constitutes a grave threat to the United States and the security of our allies, but could also solidify the regime's tenuous grasp on power, potentially dealing a fatal blow to the aspirations of the Iranian people for reform, freedom and human rights." More...
January 6, 2010
Mikkal E. Herberg, The Diplomat - "Asia's Challenging Energy Future"
The Diplomat
"The stunning recent rise in oil and energy prices has catapulted energy to near the top of the economic and security agendas from Beijing to Tokyo to New Delhi and Seoul. Although prices have declined, energy remains critical to the future economic prospects of every country in the region. Asia’s explosive energy demand growth over the next decade, especially in China, is likely to intensify a series of critical and growing energy challenges." More...
January-February 2010
Abraham F. Lowenthal, The American Interest - "Fresh Start or False Start? Obama's Partnership Initiative in Latin America"
The American Interest
In the January-February 2010 issue of The American Interest, Pacific Council President Emeritus Abraham F. Lowenthal considers whether President Barack Obama's initial approach toward Latin America and the Caribbean will endure, or fall victim to the law that "the urgent pushes out the important." More...
January 2010
Geoffrey Garrett, Global Policy Journal - "G2 in G20: China, the United States and the World after the Global Financial Crisis"
Global Policy
In the January 2010 issue (Vol. 1, Issue 1) of Global Policy, former Pacific Council President and current member Geoffrey Garrett describes the post-global financial crisis world as one in which continuing economic imbalances in the relationship between China and the United States (which he calls a de facto G2) will cause further frustration and conflict. The G20, he believes, will be the best institutionalized means for managing these tensions. More...
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