THE HILL 11/07/07 By Michael Shank In the Nov. 6 article “Pakistan’s emergency may mean its aid is cut,” Sens. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) are teaching the U.S. Defense and State departments a valuable lesson vis-a-vis the critical importance of a consistent U.S. foreign policy. Contrary to […]
News International 10/31/2007 By Michael Shank Brand America has taken some knocks of late. Apparently, the not-so-burnished brand is hurting business sales abroad (so much so that ad execs met in New York last month to troubleshoot) and eroding our reputation as a positive force in world affairs. The tide […]
Foreign Policy in Focus 10/04/2007 By Michael Shank It is generally understood that trees are good for the environment. That the forest will be an important ally in preventing global warming is a less known fact. The European Union (EU), however, seems bound to change that. Deforestation and fossil fuel use […]
Foreign Policy in Focus 09/25/2007 By Michael Shank and Shukria Dellawar Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai recently came out swinging at the West again, this time on the topic of opium eradication. Responding to the latest UN report showing an opium production increase of 17% in 2007, Karzai accused the international […]
International Herald Tribune/Daily Star Egypt 08/14/2007 By Michael Shank For those of us who believe in diplomacy, Senator Barack Obama’s recent pledge to dialogue with Cuba, North Korea and Iran offered a much-needed ray of hope. Amidst the security tough-talk by Democratic presidential hopefuls, at least one leading candidate was […]
International Herald Tribune/Daily Star Egypt 08/12/2007 By Michael Shank and Samatalis Haille Prominent Somali intellectuals and parliamentarians from sub-clans once constituting the core of the defeated Islamic Courts Union claim that old rivals are dominating the government and unwilling to share power. Oddly, the international community tolerates this refusal and […]
News International 08/06/2007 By Michael Shank United States Presidential Candidate and Senator Barack Obama’s speech on August 1, 2007 at the Wilson Center, a think tank in Washington D.C., confirmed what many feared: the Democrats will continue, unabated, a war on terror that bears exact resemblance to the one waged […]
JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE OPERATIONS Vol. 3, No. 1, July-Aug 07 By Michael Shank United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ recent commentary that “things are slowly, cautiously headed in the right direction” in Afghanistan convinced very few. General Dan McNeill, commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, seconded the […]
News International 06/30/2007 By Michael Shank A disconcerting trend is making its rounds among democratic nations. Countries are closing their doors to one of democracy’s key tenets, that of free speech. The United States paved the way in Iraq by closing newspapers that failed to report favourably. Now US allies […]
Richmond Times-Dispatch 06/28/2007 By Michael Shank Regardless of whether or not one believes in climate change, no American wants the United States to be the world’s top greenhouse-gas emitter. Thus, Americans were thankful that China was queuing up to surpass the U.S. as the globe’s No. 1 producer of carbon […]