International Analysis

10 Syria Questions for John Kerry and Chuck Hagel

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 09/03/13 By Michael Shank This week, as members of Congress queue to ask Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, questions about Syria and about the Obama administration’s […]

Treading the Dangerous Path of Unilateralism

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/31/13 By Michael Shank Secretary of State John Kerry’s case for military action against Syria – made when Congress was still in recess and when most of America had already commenced Labor Day Weekend vacationing – sounded an awful lot like President George W. Bush’s […]

Prevention Better Than Punitive in Syria

CNN 08/29/13 By Michael Shank and US Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) Editor’s note: Michael Shank is director of Foreign Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation. U.S. Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) is the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The views expressed are their own. The Americans don’t want […]

Syria Needs Real Help, Not American Bombs

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/27/13 By Michael Shank If the United States was genuinely interested in preventing an escalation of violent conflict in Syria, we would impatiently pursue all preventive mechanisms available to us – from international law to international diplomacy to international weapons inspection – before adding more […]

Finding Hope in Somalia

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/20/13 By Michael Shank As Doctors Without Borders announced last week that they’re quitting Somalia after 20-plus years in the country due to an increase in violent attacks, the need for new solutions to this crisis is key. The answer to the rebel group al-Shabaab’s […]

Our Moral Obligations in Somalia

WASHINGTON POST 08/19/13 By Michael Shank When pundits and politicos in Washington think of Somalia, the first thing they likely think of is al-Shabaab, the violent rebel group that sprung from the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union that once ran the country.  That’s especially true in light of […]

Somalia on the Brink

THE DAILY BEAST 08/16/13 By Michael Shank Despite the news that Doctors Without Borders is quitting Somalia after 20-plus years in the country, due to an increase in violent attacks, the biggest war waged in Somalia right now is not between the rebel group al-Shabaab, the fledging government of Somalia, […]

My Surprising, Startling Experience in Somalia This August

FOX NEWS 08/16/13 By Michael Shank When Americans think of Somalia, famine or violence comes to mind — a fair perception because the country has suffered both — or they think of the movie “Black Hawk Down” about U.S. attacks in Mogadishu. The reality in Mogadishu, however, and throughout Somalia, […]

What Would MLK Think of America’s Modern Wars?

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/15/13 By Michael Shank This month, Washington – and the world – commemorates the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington. While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s progressive dreaming of a world where racial and economic equality is commonplace may have been […]