US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 03/31/14 By Michael Shank Returning in March from transatlantic dialogues in Poland and Germany in which I and other policy types from Washington discussed the situation in Ukraine and Crimea with our policymaking counterparts from Warsaw, Berlin and Kiev, there is little question that we […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 03/17/14 By Michael Shank and Clint Holmes Ukraine would be wise to take a lesson from Bosnia’s economic and political turmoil. Post Arab-Spring, and now in Eastern Europe, we are witnessing the repercussions of societies that failed to deliver economic stability and growth for their […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 03/11/14 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 […]
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 […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 02/04/14 By Michael Shank and Elizabeth Beavers We need an international agreement before the U.S. modus operandi becomes the international norm. It is time for an international conversation – and, ultimately, a treaty – on the use of drones. It is naïve to carry on […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 01/13/14 By Michael Shank That the Pentagon admitted, this month, to sending its military back into Somalia after a 20 year absence of explicit involvement (never mind the extensive covert operations in the country), should trouble anyone who cares about security on the Horn of […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 12/16/13 By Michael Shank, Daniel L. Davis, and Shukria Dellawar As the December 31st deadline for the U.S.-Afghan Bilateral Security Agreement gets pushed back, given unresolved disagreements over the post-2014 U.S. presence, it is clear that American clout in Kabul is not what it once […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 12/11/13 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Scott Peters Despite clear warnings of a new climate normal, we still have not made significant progress in Congress to address the root causes. Global climate change has resulted in devastating consequences, but Congress and the president remain […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 12/06/13 By Michael Shank and Kate Gould With the United States and Iran finally on a path toward resolving the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, a member of Congress on the House Armed Services Committee is playing the spoiler, urging the United States to prepare […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 12/02/13 By Michael Shank It appears that Fethullah Gülen, a U.S.-based Islamic preacher from Turkey who promotes peace and tolerance, and the schools associated with his religious Hizmet movement can’t get a break. They were first targeted in America, via discrimination aimed at the Turkish […]