Positive Energy in Foreign Policy

“Let us try to get rid of fear and base our thoughts and actions on what is essentially right and moral, and then gradually the crisis of the spirit will be resolved.” –I. K. Gujral, 1997 When one examines foreign policy, one sees the United States pursuing its ideological and material interests in the Middle … Continue reading →

Recognition at the UN: What Does It Mean?

A United Nations General Assembly vote on Thursday followed through with something that had been at least partially expected since September 2011: Palestinians were granted “non-voting member state” status, upgraded from its former status as an “entity”. The vote was overwhelming, and demonstrated, if nothing else, that the world at large holds great sympathy for … Continue reading →

Stay the Course on Iran

Let’s get real: the prevailing strategy to deal with potentially nuclear Iran is working. Not only is it working, but it is the best course of action for the United States to take. This strategy involves steadily increasing economic sanctions, covert action under the codename “Olympic Games,” to disrupt the development of nuclear weapons producing … Continue reading →

Reassert Critical Education: Toward a Cultivated Intellectual Humanism

The University of Southern California launched its World Bachelors in Business degree, due to begin in the Fall 2013 term. Students of this program will enter into intensive courses of study at three universities in three different countries. The benefits are obvious: a fuller knowledge of how business is done in different cultural environments, and … Continue reading →

I Want a Thoughtful President

They’re both smart and capable, and have the capacity to govern reasonably. Neither candidate will diverge radically from the governing agenda (the menu) and stance (choice) that the administration has taken thus far. We have checks and balances to ensure that, at least in the domestic realm, the executive is not the key. I’d like … Continue reading →

Trust in International Cooperation

Sorry, Brian Rathbun. How disappointed I was to discover that the creeping improvement in bilateral relations has threatened to stall as a result of Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari’s speech to the UN General Assembly. Addressing the UN’s largest body, Zardari used the dispute over Jammu and Kashmir as an example of the failure of … Continue reading →

Reading the Debate

For some reason, in the past two elections, it seemed as though the presidential debates were further from election day than in this one. Perhaps that’s why everyone is up in arms about Obama’s shaky debate performance, Biden’s resolute one, and the character of the moderators. No, I know that isn’t true. The media is … Continue reading →

Turkey, Syria, and the Conflict Spiral That Isn’t

Given the recent increase in Turkey’s rhetoric and action, international observers have a right to be worried that the Syrian conflict, sometimes known as a civil war, could spiral out of control. However, Turkey will not be so bold as to incite a war with Syria. Not while the conditions are so uncertain. After months … Continue reading →

Ideologies at the General Assembly

What a timely convention of the UN General Assembly it was. In case the coverage mass of the Arab Spring throughout 2011 overshadowed the coverage of crises that have occurred since, US President Barack Obama’s speech has revealed the nature of the point at which we exist in political history, such that the leader of … Continue reading →

Amartya Sen and the Reach of the Public Intellectual

In his early school days, Amartya Sen remembers being influenced by Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore’s doctrine of inclusiveness: “Whatever we understand and enjoy in human products instantly becomes ours, wherever they might have their origin… Let me feel with unalloyed gladness that all the great glories of man are mine.”[1] The personal humanism and humanity … Continue reading →