HUFFINGTON POST 04/22/16 By Michael Shank This was a big week for the United Nations, which came out strong on climate and the sustainable development goals and witnessed major milestones in recent months. First, on climate, post-Paris, there were over 160 countries signing the deal at UN headquarters on Earth […]
MSNBC 2/10/16 By Michael Shank Bernie Sanders’ foreign policy — or apparent lack thereof — is not an oversight that’s unique to the presidential candidate. It’s representative of a pervasive problem within the progressive movement. Progressive elected officials in America are more often raised on domestic issues: lobbying on healthcare, […]
HUFFINGTON POST 4/17/15 By Michael Shank As Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan made his rounds recently in the Middle East, talking with Iran about ending sectarianism in the region, and with Egypt about freeing political prisoners, he would’ve done well to start at home. There’s much to do, and Erdogan […]
HUFFINGTON POST 03/12/15 By Michael Shank Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent attack on the West for “hate speech” and misattributing terrorism during the Paris attacks is ironic. Erdogan is erroneously doing both already: labeling the Gulen movement a terrorist organization and using hate speech to characterize it. In fact, […]
HUFFINGTON POST 03/03/15 By Michael Shank With Yemen politics in perpetual disarray – as President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi escapes house arrest, rescinds his resignation, seeks refuge in the south, and a transitional council commences in the capital – the country’s economy and currency remain on the brink of collapse, water […]
NATIONAL INTEREST 01/26/15 By Michael Shank and Des Browne We are facing a new security threat, and, if left unaddressed, it has the potential to kill thousands of people in a single summer. We are talking, of course, about climate change. A new study authored by the British Met Office […]
DAILY BEAST 11/13/14 By Michael Shank and Casey Harrity Guns, drones, and special forces were not enough to stabilize Yemen, and they won’t be enough to stop ISIS. Remember the so-called “Yemen model,” the seeming success story for a U.S. policy targeting terrorists that President Barack Obama pointed to a […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 11/06/14 By Michael Shank and Casey Harrity Yemen is teetering on the verge of an all-out sectarian civil war. Recent peace deals may prove to be fleeting. The Houthis, a Zaydi-Shiite group based in northern Yemen, stormed the capital, Sanaa, over one month ago, resulting […]
GLOBAL BRIEFING October 2014 By Michael Shank The USA’s air strikes on ISIS positions could inadvertently exacerbate Iraq’s problems, given the recent history of the West’s interventions in the country Iraq continues to pose a conundrum for the international community. Many in the West feel that Iraq is perpetually ungovernable […]
HUFFINGTON POST 09/30/14 By Michael Shank and Jamila Raqib The Occupy Movement has returned and is resurrecting itself in Hong Kong. But in this case, the “occupying” is not associating itself with the Occupy Wall Street of recent years. Instead, a new political initiative in Hong Kong – called Occupy […]