WASHINGTON POST 08/19/13 By Michael Shank When pundits and politicos in Washington think of Somalia, the first thing they likely think of is al-Shabaab, the violent rebel group that sprung from the military wing of the Islamic Courts Union that once ran the country. That’s especially true in light of […]
THE DAILY BEAST 08/16/13 By Michael Shank Despite the news that Doctors Without Borders is quitting Somalia after 20-plus years in the country, due to an increase in violent attacks, the biggest war waged in Somalia right now is not between the rebel group al-Shabaab, the fledging government of Somalia, […]
FOX NEWS 08/16/13 By Michael Shank When Americans think of Somalia, famine or violence comes to mind — a fair perception because the country has suffered both — or they think of the movie “Black Hawk Down” about U.S. attacks in Mogadishu. The reality in Mogadishu, however, and throughout Somalia, […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 08/15/13 By Michael Shank This month, Washington – and the world – commemorates the 50th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington. While Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s progressive dreaming of a world where racial and economic equality is commonplace may have been […]
NATIONAL JOURNAL 08/12/13 By Michael Shank Having just returned from Somalia last week, and after meeting with the Minister of Natural Resources, the imperative to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy is increasingly becoming a moral one, not merely an environmental or financial one. In Somalia — where the […]
CNN 08/02/13 By Michael Shank Editor’s note: Michael Shank is director of foreign Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, an advocacy group based in Washington, DC. The views expressed are his own. Last weekend, in response to a deadly attack on the Turkish embassy in Somalia that killed […]
US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/29/13 By Michael Shank There are few ideas that convey the idea of “shared security” better than global warming. When the world warms up, when the sea levels rise, and when the extreme weather patterns wreak havoc, we are all in it together – either […]
RIA Novosti 07/15/13 By Maria Young In the last two weeks, US government-funded news broadcaster Voice of America has received more than a dozen requests for news stories it has produced for foreign audiences to be made available to listeners in the United States, something that hadn’t been allowed since […]
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 […]