South America

Congress Should Scrutinize Pending Trade Pacts

POLITIX 07/05/13 By Michael Shank President Barack Obama’s decision to suspend trade relations with Bangladesh due to worker safety concerns sets new a precedent for two major trade deals on the administration’s docket – the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). These proposed pacts […]

We Need a Legal Immigration Process Fair for All

FOX NEWS 11/24/12 By Michael Shank and Sonia Manzano No longer can the President of the United States defer dealing with immigration. While it was barely a campaign issue, for America to continue avoiding comprehensive immigration reform is plainly inexcusable. When President Obama takes up immigration reform in 2013 he […]

The Surprising $1.5 Trillion Fix to the Fiscal Cliff

POLITICO 11/24-25/12 By Michael Shank and Sonia Manzano No longer can the President of the United States defer dealing with immigration. While it was barely a campaign issue, for America to continue avoiding comprehensive immigration reform is plainly inexcusable. When President Obama takes up immigration reform in 2013 he must […]

Need a Thoughtful, Efficient Legal Immigration Process

AL JAZEERA 11/21/12 By Michael Shank and Sonia Manzano No longer can the President of the United States defer dealing with immigration. While it was barely a campaign issue, for America to continue avoiding comprehensive immigration reform is plainly inexcusable. When President Obama takes up immigration reform in 2013, he […]

World Bank Needs Jeffrey Sachs

THE HILL 03/01/12 By Michael Shank With Robert Zoellick stepping down from the World Bank helm, there is no better time for a development economist with solid on-the-ground and substantial international experience – like Dr. Jeffrey Sachs – to take his place. There are three clear reasons for this. The […]

Restarting Relations with Venezuela

WASHINGTON TIMES 03/26/10 By Michael Shank Traveling recently in a congressional staff delegation to Venezuela, I found my experience was not too dissimilar from my previous experiences in Syria and Iran. This is not to say that I am aggregating these three states into some kind of axis-of-evil or rogue […]

Americans Find a Rash of Contradictions in Venezuela

ROLL CALL 03/24/10 By Michael Shank Traveling recently on a Congressional staff delegation to Venezuela, my experience was not too dissimilar from my previous experiences in Syria and Iran. This is not to say that I am aggregating these three states into some kind of axis-of-evil or rogue state conglomerate, […]

Tough Stand on Musharraf is Critical for U.S.’s Credibility

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 […]