In The News

Bad Policies Caused the Lampedusa Tragedy

Hans-Jürgen Schlamp October 10, 2013
A boat carrying 500 refugees sank just within sight of the Italian island of Lampedusa. More than 250 died and more are missing. The refugees from Somalia, Eritrea and other hopeless states took off from African coast just 160 kilometers away. Europe has failed to offer a political solution to the refugee crisis. More than 200,000 refugees have landed in Lampedusa since 1999 with up to 20,000...

US-Japan Defense Accord Upsets Seoul

Shim Jae Hoon October 10, 2013
Japan and South Korea are each close with the United States and could be strong allies, after adequate atonement and forgiveness for historical atrocities. But instead the gulf is widening, as indicated by a terse exchange between the two leaders attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, suggests journalist Shim Jae Hoon. The most recent point of contention: US-Japan Defense...

Lessons From Negotiating With the Taliban

Marc Grossman October 8, 2013
Pakistan released the Afghan Taliban’s second in command to catalyze a peace process. It’s not the first effort. In trying to end fighting in Afghanistan and secure a sustainable representative government for Afghans, from mid-2011 to March 2012, the United States tried encouraging Taliban members to work with the Afghan government. Those talks failed, explains Marc Grossman, the US Special...

Our Democracy Is at Stake

Thomas L. Friedman October 4, 2013
A Republican plan to approve parts of the US budget piecemeal, starting with the popular national parks, would allow a small minority to control spending and end health care, education or other programs favored by Democrats. Thomas Friedman, of the New York Times, argues that “the future of how we govern ourselves is at stake.” He points to structural changes in US politics, including political...

Sweden's NSA Spy Links “Deeply Troubling”

David Landes October 3, 2013
The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament continues to hold hearings on electronic mass surveillance of European citizens. During the hearing a journalist suggested that “Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment (Försvarets radioanstalt, FRA) provided the United States National Security Agency (NSA) access to the Baltic underwater cables,” reports...

Latin America: Anti-US in Words, Not Deeds

Luisa Parraguez, Francisco Garcia Gonzalez, Joskua Tadeo October 1, 2013
An avalanche of secrets exposed by a former National Security Agency contract worker is complicating US relations with southern neighbors. Reports allege that the United States spied on countries regardless of poor or good relations. Stopping the Bolivian president’s plane in Europe for a few hours to search for Edward Snowden may be a hiccup compared with allegations that the NSA compromised...

Beginning of the End for Washington

Ron Fournier October 1, 2013
Unable to agree on a spending bill, the US legislature has orchestrated a partial shutdown for US government operations. A minority group in the US House of Representatives is demanding a delay in implementing a health care law in exchange for its approval of the spending bill. The legislative impasse undermines US citizen confidence in government, and could be a defining moment for young voters...