In The News

Trade War Backfires: International Business Times

Arthur Villasanta March 7, 2019
As economists had warned, the US trade war is causing pain for both Chinese and US businesses. The US trade deficit hit $621 billion in 2018, the largest level since 2008. The US Department of Commerce reports record US imports of $2.6 trillion in goods for the year. The trade deficit in goods was $891 billion with a surplus of $270 billion for services. “Particularly galling for the Trump...

All The Presidents’ Meals: Foreign Policy

C.K. Hickey March 5, 2019
Since 1933, the White House has hosted 14 administrations and almost 400 state dinners. Culinary trends emerged during the various periods that represented the societal zeitgeist. State dinners were characterized by modesty during the 1930s through the 1950s, gradually transforming into lavish cuisine from the Kennedy administration onward. The changes in taste also reflect sensitivity-driven...

South America and Venezuela: Foreign Affairs

Oliver Stuenkel March 3, 2019
Since the wave of democratization in the 1980s swept the continent, South America has strengthened intraregional connections in an effort to reject foreign intervention, especially from the United States and the West. Brazil led the charge in ensuring that its neighboring countries would not resort to authoritarian governance. For some time, multinational organizations, created to bring about...

Questions Over US Security Clearances

March 1, 2019
Nepotism and rejection of evidence and expert opinions characterize the Trump administration. The New York Times reports that the president ordered his chief of staff to grant top security clearances to Jared Kushner, despite numerous concerns raised by security, law-enforcement, intelligence and legal staff. Trump and his family have previously denied any clearance shortcuts. John Kelly, former...

Sexual Abuse of Migrant Youth in US: Axios

Caitlin Owens, Stef W. Kight and Harry Stevens February 26, 2019
The US Department of Health and Human Services received more than 4,500 complaints of alleged sexual abuse against unaccompanied minors between 2014 and 2018. The Justice Department received 1,300 more complaints. There may be some overlap. Border agents separated immigrants and children attempting to enter the country when they suspected the adults were not parents or had a criminal background....

Showdown Over Aid for Venezuela: New York Times

Nicholas Casey, Anatoly Kurmanaev and Ernesto Londoño February 23, 2019
Venezuelans have suffered for years from shortages of food and other necessities due to economic mismanagement by the regime led by Nicolás Maduro since 2013. More than 10 percent of the country’s population has already fled, the violence exacerbating a refugee crisis International aid supplies are waiting near the border in Brazil and Colombia. Opposition leader and head of the country’s...

US Cities Burn Recyclables: Guardian

Oliver Milman February 22, 2019
China stopped accepting 12 forms of imported recyclables for processing and set stringent conditions on contamination as of January 2018. Developed nations do not have adequate domestic markets for handling the waste and did not prepare citizens, packaging firms or cities for the change. So recyclables pile up, with most landfilled and incinerated rather than processed for reuse. “The dilemma...