US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 03/07/13 By Michael Shank and Kimairis Toogood When it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, the Republic of Georgia must feel like history is close to repeating itself. Georgia lost 20 percent of its sovereign territory to de facto Russian control in 2008 and now […]
CNN 02/03/14 By Michael Shank and Des Browne Editor’s note: Des Browne is the former U.K. Secretary of State for Defense. Michael Shank is the associate director for legislative affairs at the Friends Committee on National Legislation. The views expressed are their own. Iran has begun implementing the Joint Plan […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 10/10/13 By Michael Shank and Lawrence Wilkerson As inspectors begin destroying Syria’s chemical weapons stockpile, the days and weeks ahead are absolutely critical. While we laud the progress initially instigated by talks between the U.S. and Russia, we feel strongly that our diplomatic efforts going […]
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 […]
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 […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/15/13 By Michael Shank and Rachel Kent That South Korea and North Korea resumed talks this week, but failed to reignite inter-Korean economic cooperation by reopening the complex at the Kaesong Industrial Zone, puts the fight over the North’s nuclear fight program in the political […]
ROLL CALL 06/07/13 By Michael Shank and Kathy Zager The news that Russia is proceeding apace with arms shipments to the Syrian government, or that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the European Union are keen to arm the Syrian rebels, does not automatically kill the Syrian peace talks in […]
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR 03/24/08 By Michael Shank and Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) The United Nations tackled the task of troubleshooting climate change last month. Between holding special General Assembly meetings at headquarters in New York, bringing 100 environmental ministers to Monaco in the largest meeting of ministers since Bali, and […]
THE HILL 02/06/08 By Michael Shank In the article “Club for Growth goes after Gilchrest with ad buy” (Feb. 1), caustic conservatives, wielding a weighty $590,000 in television ad spending, queue to attack Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.) prior to Maryland’s Feb. 12 GOP primary. Those in Washington favoring a deliberative […]
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH 09/13/07 By Michael Shank and US Representative Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD) Russia, Canada, and the United States are rushing to the North Pole in a pioneer-like land grab for an estimated 25 percent of the world’s unknown oil and gas reserves. One wonders when we will learn. Oil and […]