In Iraq, Messy is Better
A close election indicates a strengthening democratic process
Post Tagged with: "Brookings Institution"
Do Conservatives “Just Hate All Taxes”?
In a generally well-written article, HPR staff writer Will Rafey recently addressed the need to raise the gas tax “to make the private cost of driving a car reflect its actual social costs: global warming, air pollution, traffic congestion, and highway maintenance,” and how difficult this has become in the current political climate. I have no disagreement with the thrust [...]
Compassionate Conservatism Confounded
Faith-based initiatives face tough political realities
Reassessing Plan Colombia
Turning from the coca fields to the cocaine market While anti-drug policy rarely makes headlines in American politics today, the issue dominates politics in Colombia. The South American country is a hotbed for cultivation of the coca plant, the key ingredient in cocaine production. As of 2007, the Office of National Drug Policy reported that 167,000 hectares of the country’s [...]
How the Taliban Came Back
And what it may mean for the U.S. strategic dilemma With fraud-ridden elections, a growing insurgency, and expanding Taliban influence, Afghanistan is at its most critical crossroads since the overthrow of the fundamentalist regime eight years ago. A report leaked last month revealed that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, has requested 40,000 [...]
In Need of Assistance
Reforming foreign aid at home In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, President George W. Bush made a sweeping commitment to global economic development. In early 2002, he declared, “We fight against poverty because hope is an answer to terror. We fight against poverty because opportunity is a fundamental right to human dignity.” Development was to be a vital [...]
The Shia Awakening
Sunni-Shia conflict and the logic of containment In 2003, for the first time in history, the Shia were poised to take control of a major Arab state. But the toppling of the Sunni-dominated regime in Iraq was followed by horrifying levels of ethnic violence, bringing the divide between Sunni and Shia to the forefront and highlighting the tendency of sectarian [...]
It’s Not All ‘Gentrification’
The connection between economic diversity and urban renewal Urban areas have a tendency to build upon themselves. Perhaps as long as cities have existed, they have been in the process of being ‘renewed.’ In modern urban America, the issue of renewal is intricately intertwined with the concept of gentrification, whereby the demographics of a neighborhood shift to favor wealthier individuals. [...]
After the Oil Price Crash
Understanding the impact on oil-exporting countries On June 23, 2008 the price of oil peaked at over U.S. $140 a barrel, and by the following February fell drastically to below $39 a barrel. As Venezuela, Russia, and oil-dependent economies across the Middle East saw their oil revenues dry up over the course of a few months, a devastating impact seemed [...]
