In The News

Sunday Express: US Midterms and Foreign Policy

November 5, 2018
The world awaits the outcome of the US mid-term elections, which will decide all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 seats in the Senate. If Democrats win either chamber, the president’s policies will face new scrutiny: A “Democratic majority's greatest influence will be oversight, the ability to call hearings and, if necessary, subpoena witnesses, as they chair committees like...

The Economist: El Salvador’s Óscar Romero Canonized

October 31, 2018
After 40 years, the Vatican canonized El Salvador’s Archbishop Óscar Arnulfo Romero as a saint, and the Economist describes this as a “controversial” choice: “Often seen as ideologically left wing, he was above all a martyr for his faith and his church.” In the 1970s, El Salvador’s long-ruling coffee oligarchy and army were confronted by left-wing trade unions and peasant groups, with aid from...

New York Times: Hate Poisons America

October 30, 2018
A ready supply of high-powered guns combined with hateful online rhetoric and brutal attacks on specific communities – the most recent a shooting in a Pittsburgh synagogue and bombs mailed to leading Democrats – demonstrate how hatred can consume entire societies. Americans no longer feel safe in their schools, workplaces, places of worship or entertainment. In Pittsburgh, the gunman shouted, “...

Medium: Lawsuits Stifle Environmental Opposition

Rebecca Renner October 29, 2018
Environmental activists strive to delay development of sensitive lands. In turn, development firms rely on courts to stop the interference. Maggie Hurchalla, 77, opposed development of 2200 acres of sugarcane fields near Lake Okeechobee and pollution described as the source of red tide outbreaks along Florida’s coasts. Her activism focused on public water supplies and storage and transfer of...

Washington Post: Bomb Targets and Trump’s Words

Philip Rucker October 25, 2018
Nationalism is defined by Oxford Living Dictionaries as “Identification with one's own nation and support for its interests, especially to the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.” The extreme ideology regarding any criticism as threat is especially dangerous when so many challenges are global in scope. Yet Donald Trump proudly proclaims his stance as nationalist and...

Reuters: “Existential Crisis” at WTO

Tom Miles October 24, 2018
The World Trade Organization plans reforms after the United States has blocked appointments and threatened withdrawal. “At stake is the effectiveness - even the survival - of a key stabilizing force in the global economy,” reports Tom Miles for Reuters. “Since its founding in 1995, the WTO has stopped governments from arbitrarily raising trade barriers and disrupting the flow of goods.” The WTO...

Los Angeles Times: Is the US Facing a Border Crisis?

Cindy Carcamo October 23, 2018
A caravan of migrants originating in Honduras is headed to the United States. Now in Mexico, the migrants number more than 7,000, picking up more people along the way as group travel provides security and draws attention to fears about political instability and gang violence at home. The US president has threatened to use the military to forcibly stop the migrants from approaching the border to...