U.S. and the World
Lack of U.S. Remittances Stagnates Guatemalan Economy
The financial crisis in the United States seems to be having a direct effect on Guatemala’s economy. Remittances from Guatemalan migrants in the United States to their native country in Central America have dropped dramatically in the past year. A... read more
Why Worry about the Taliban When the Afghan Government Legalizes Rape?
The United States wanted to bring democracy to Afghanistan, and now they have it, including the ugly side of electoral politics. In a move to shore up his support for the upcoming election, President Hamid Karzai signed a law that legalizes rape w... read more
Surgeon to be Released from Guantánamo after 7 Years
Ayman Saeed Batarfi, an orthopedic surgeon from Yemen, is set to become the second prisoner released from Guantánamo Bay by a Justice Department task force. The government agreed last Friday to let Batarfi go after holding him for seven years. The... read more
The Strange Case of the Missing Ex-FBI Agent
What happened to Robert Levinson? That’s what his family and former colleagues at the FBI would like to know. Levinson, a 28-year retired veteran of the bureau, disappeared two years ago off the coast of Iran, last seen on Kish Island, where consu... read more
Drug Cartels Halt Production of Hollywood Film
The ever-expanding violence of the drug trade in Mexico is now impacting Hollywood. Production of the film Queen of the South was called off last week after numerous death threats were levied at the director, Jonathan Jakubowicz. Starring Eva Mend... read more
Mythical Defense Cuts: Steve Chapman
Conservatives have already begun to lament so-called defense cuts for the U.S. military by the liberal Obama administration, says Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman, even though the facts prove otherwise. Chapman cites research by MIT defense... read more
U.S. Wasted $3-5 billion in Iraq Reconstruction…Next Stop—Afghanistan
If the Obama administration wants the US mission in Afghanistan not to become the money pit Iraq has been, then it needs to start reading. The special inspector for Iraq reconstruction has released a nearly 400-page report on what the United State... read more
US Envoy Holbrooke Blasts Wasteful Anti-Opium Efforts in Afghanistan
The United States appears to be losing yet another war (on drugs), this time in Afghanistan, as Richard Holbrooke recently announced that the $800 million a year spent by the US on counter-narcotics would be better allocated helping Afghan farmers... read more
Air Force Plans Enormous Spy Blimp
On Thursday, Pentagon officials unveiled a $400 million project to develop a prototype of an unmanned spy aircraft that would resemble a high-tech dirigible. Dirigibles have been decidedly out of fashion since the infamous Hindenburg accident on M... read more
First All-Female Marine Team at Work in Afghanistan
U.S. Marines in Farah Province, Afghanistan, are using an all-female unit to interact with Afghan women in a region in which male Marines talking with women would be considered culturally unacceptable. A similar program has already met with succes... read more
Can Iran Make a Bomb...Whose Word to Trust?
On March 2, Navy Admiral Michael Mullen, the chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN that he believed that Iran has enough “fissile material” to build a nuclear bomb. His position was supported by the Israeli government. According to a pre... read more
When Will the Last Troops Come Home…Really?
On Sunday, the Obama administration brought sighs of relief to many Americans by announcing the first reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq—12,000 over the next six months. (Current troop strength in Iraq is 142,000.) But those who are old enough to re... read more
Mexico’s President Shines Light on Use of U.S. Weapons by Drug Cartels
In an interview with Le Monde, Mexico’s president, Felipe Calderón, defends his government’s U.S.-supported war against drug cartels, which took the lives of more than 6,000 people last year. However, Calderón also believes that Americans, and Pre... read more
Withdrawing Combat Troops from Iraq…Kind of, Sort of, Maybe
Last week, in a speech to a roomful of Marines at Camp Lejeune, President Obama announced that by August 31, 2010, the United States combat presence in Iraq will end. However, conflicting statements from the White House and the Pentagon have cast ... read more
Iraqi Refugees Choose Return to Danger in Iraq over Poverty in U.S.
The Salt Lake Tribune shines a light on a small but growing trend: refugees from Iraq who came to the United States to seek safety and a better life, but find so few opportunities in the U.S. that they are risking danger by returning to Iraq. The ... read more
The Danger of Manufacturing Decline: Patrick J. Buchanan
Writing in favor of the creation of a new industrial policy for the United States, Pat Buchanan cites some grim facts. “As a source of American jobs, manufacturing, for the first time in our history, fell below health care and education in 2001, b... read more