HUFFINGTON POST 09/29/14 By Michael Shank and Casey Harrity Authors Michael Shank and Casey Harrity published a policy brief this month as part of FCNL’s “Shared Security” series. For the full 20-page “Security in Yemen” report, click here. Below is the executive summary excerpted from the report. Yemen is on […]
CDN 08/08/14 By Michael Shank WASHINGTON, August 8, 2014 — As the US-Africa Leaders’ Summit concludes with well over $30 billion in commitments from the U.S. government, World Bank and private companies, it is important for President Barack Obama to move beyond the Summit’s primary focus on big business expansion, […]
POLITIX 08/07/14 By Michael Shank As President Barack Obama hosts the Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington D.C. this week, it’s important for the president to put on the front-burner policies that promote peace on the continent. Instead of prioritizing counter-terrorism, resource extractive or aid-only agendas – which is what has […]
CNN 06/26/14 By Michael Shank and Najla Elmangoush Editor’s note: Najla Elmangoush is the dean of Centre of Gender Studies at the Libya Institute for Advanced Studies in Tripoli. Michael Shank is the associate director for legislative affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation and adjunct faculty at George […]
FOX NEWS 02/01/14 By Michael Shank From a political perspective, defending Turkey’s blend of political Islam and neoliberal economic policies was not terribly difficult a decade ago. After all, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan helped build the 17th largest economy in the world and what would be the sixth largest […]
AFP 10/07/13 WASHINGTON (AFP) – By ordering risky raids against Islamic extremists in Somalia and Libya, US President Barack Obama has shown a renewed readiness to use force while trying to keep the scope limited. The twin commando operations in the lawless African states came even while the US government […]
RT 10/07/13 Secretary of State John Kerry has justified the capture by US forces of a terrorism suspect in Tripoli as ‘legal and appropriate’. He thus responded to Libya governments’ demand for explanations over what happened. Kerry has reacted to the ‘kidnapping’ complaint from the Libyan government by recommending it […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 09/24/13 By Michael Shank President Barack Obama’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly today deserves some fact checking. There were multiple assertions that skewed reality and are worth debunking as a result. First, Obama questioned “whether the United Nations can meet the tests of […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 09/09/13 By Michael Shank Syria’s welcoming this week of Russia’s proposal to put its chemical weapons under international control should put a pause on the Obama administration’s frenzied full court press this week – vis-à-vis invasion – which includes six television network interviews, a live […]
WASHINGTON POST 09/05/13 By Michael Shank There are three fallacies floating around Washington regarding a war with Syria, rhetoric that has the potential to dangerously dictate how Congress will determine authorization. A failure to address these fallacies, furthermore, puts us squarely on the cusp of another intractable war, one that […]