In The News

Wall Street Journal: Myanmar Court Holds Journalists Investigating Rohingya

Jon Emont April 11, 2018
Government leaders who engage in shameful behavior strive to limit press freedoms. A Myanmar court is holding two Reuter journalists for reporting on the Rohingya crisis. The minority Muslim group has no citizen rights in the Buddhist nation and the military burned villages and forced as many as 700,000 people to relocate to Bangladesh. “Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been investigating alleged...

BBC News: Chemical Attack in Syria

April 9, 2018
More than 40 Syrians including children were reported dead after a chemical weapons attack in Douma, a town once held by Syrian rebels. International investigators cannot enter the area besieged by war. Syria’s brutal regime, supported by Russia, has focused attacks on areas once held by rebels where evacuations of fighters and family members are underway, reports BBC News. Russia offers no...

Huffington Post: $1 Billion Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia

Nick Visser and Nick Robins-Early March 30, 2018
The Trump administration plans to approve a $1 billion dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia, including “around 6,700 anti-tank missiles and $300 million in parts for the Saudis’ helicopters and tanks,” explains the US State Department. The deal is controversial due to the ongoing Saudi role in Yemen’s civil war. Since March 2015, the Saudi state has carried out lethal airstrike campaigns as part of...

NPR: Syrian War Enters 8th Year

Colin Dwyer March 16, 2018
With Russia’s help, the Assad regime slowly crushes multiple opposition groups. Seven years of war have been hard on civilians, leaving up to 500,000 people dead, more than half the population displaced, and government and militia forces accused of war crimes by the Human Rights Council. “For weeks the Syrian government has been bombarding the suburbs with shelling and airstrikes, aiming to...

The Atlantic: “CNN Effect” Dies in Syria

Uri Friedman March 1, 2018
Broadcasts of atrocities can prompt government action. While research has not confirmed a positive link, analysts suggest that 1990s reporting from Iraq, Somalia and Bosnia contributed to public expectations for US intervention. Despite an abundance of real-time reporting, the CNN effect may be a mirage for Syria: “the Syrian government’s relentless bombardment of the besieged rebel enclave of...

The Miami Herald: The US Pushes Latin America Into China’s Arms

Andrés Oppenheimer February 9, 2018
The Monroe Doctrine, a US policy adopted in the early 19th-century, warned other powers to stay away from Latin America. Today, as the United States nags and overlooks the region, China has made gains. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a speech on February 1 describing the region as a US priority and warned that China has more influence. Latin America’s total US imports shrunk from 50...

Washington Post: “Here Is What My #S---hole Looks Like”

Paul Schemm and Eli Rosenberg January 12, 2018
The United States is a country of immigrants. Ancestors of many citizens arrived destitute – from Europe, Asia and Africa – in search of opportunity and thrived. In a meeting, Donald Trump was reported to have rejected a legislative deal on immigration and asked, “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” before suggesting that immigration policies focus on places...