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 07/15/13 By Michael Shank and Matt Southworth The House Foreign Affairs Committee heard a compelling case recently for better oversight and accountability of war funding. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen delivered the agency’s final oversight report to the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North […]
THE GUARDIAN 07/09/13 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Steve Cohen The Department of Defense is spending more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to buy Russian-made aircraft for an Afghan aviation squad that lacks the troops and expertise to operate or maintain them. We know about this example of […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/08/13 By Michael Shank Framed as the biggest trade deal in the history of the world, trade representatives from the United States and the European Union meet in Washington this week to begin transatlantic trade talks. This is one of two major trade deals on […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/01/13 By Michael Shank The scandal at the Internal Revenue Service illustrates well the critical importance of an inspector general in keeping an administration accountable, regardless of which party holds the presidency. Had it not been for the Office of the Inspector General within the […]
NATIONAL JOURNAL 06/24/13 By Michael Shank President Barack Obama must go big on climate change this Tuesday primarily because there will hardly be a better political moment available to him. If President Obama uses his speech to go soft — with meager caps on carbon emissions, weak investments in renewable […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 06/19/13 By Michael Shank and Cassidy Regan As the U.S. government gears up to militarize more of the Middle East by arming rebels in Syria, we are witnessing a similar mission creep toward the African continent. Not merely in the more obvious military interventions into […]
POLITICO 06/17/13 By Michael Shank and Wayne Gilchrest U.S.-Iran diplomacy got a boost recently with the White House nomination of Samantha Power as the next U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. While Power, who chaired President Barack Obama’s Atrocities Prevention Board, is not shy about military intervention, her work with […]
POLITIX 06/15/13 By Michael Shank and Kate Gould Iran’s presidential elections on Friday offered a rare opportunity for the world’s media spotlight to shift from focusing on Iranian officials, donning white lab coats flanked by metallic centrifuges, to the Iranian people. Tens of millions of Iranians headed to the polls, […]
THE HILL 06/12/13 By Michael Shank and Sabina Dewan Last week, a high-level panel appointed by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon released its recommendations for a global development agenda when the Millennium Development Goals expire at the end of 2015 and when approximately one billion people will still […]