NORTH AMERICA
Ap Photo
November 19, 2008
"Obama and Ozdemir: Breaking Barriers"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
"Cem Ozdemir, 42, was elected Saturday as co-leader of the Green Party, capping a career in the German and European parliaments that started in 1994. In terms of breaking color and ethnic barriers, this equals or even tops the historic first elected American Black president, because the nature of European societies is so much less pluralistic and culturally-racially-ethnically less egalitarian than American society."
November 18, 2008
Securing the Bomb 2008
Book
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Associate Professor of Public Policy and Project on Managing the Atom Co-Principal Investigator Matthew Bunn provides a comprehensive assessment of efforts to secure and remove vulnerable nuclear stockpiles around the world, and a detailed action plan for reducing the risk of nuclear terrorism. Securing the Bomb 2008 was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). The full report, with additional information on the threat of nuclear terrorism, is available on the NTI website.
November 18, 2008
Preventing Nuclear Terrorism: An Agenda for the Next President
Report
By Matthew Bunn, Associate Professor of Public Policy; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom and Andrew Newman, Research Associate, Project on Managing the Atom
Matthew Bunn and Andrew Newman outline specific steps that President-elect Obama should take to reduce the threat of nuclear terrorism to a fraction of its current level during his first term in office. This paper summarizes the recommendations in Securing the Bomb 2008 and provides additional detail on organizing the U.S. government to prevent nuclear terrorism and on steps that should be taken during the transition and the opening weeks of the new administration.
AP Photo
November 17, 2008
"Real Conflicts and Imaginary Ideologies"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
"We must sort out the real causes of conflict from the manufactured stresses and imagined threats of the many ideological warriors on both sides who still plague and hamper us all."
AP Photo
November 11, 2008
"A Parting Word of Thanks"
Op-Ed, The Jerusalem Post
By Chuck Freilich, Senior Fellow, International Security Program
"Today we know that Saddam Hussein did not have WMD, but to those of us in the US and Israeli governments at the time, who were sincerely convinced that he retained a residual program, it was an analytical reality. We were very wrong, but we were not irresponsible, nor malevolent. Israel, in case you have forgotten, took the threat very seriously and distributed gas masks, deployed forces and asked the US for antimissile defenses."
AP Photo
November 12, 2008
"Inspiration for Climate Change"
Op-Ed, Boston Globe
By Robert N. Stavins, Albert Pratt Professor of Business and Government; Member of the Board
"...[W]ill Obama work with Congress to develop climate strategies that are scientifically sound, economically sensible, and thereby politically pragmatic? Will he take on the difficult task of crafting meaningful climate legislation?
The only politically feasible approach that can make a real dent in the problem is a comprehensive, upstream cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 50 to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The declining cap will increase the cost of polluting, thereby discouraging the use of the most carbon-intensive fossil fuels and providing powerful incentives for energy conservation and technology innovation."
AP Photo
November 10, 2008
"Joy in America"
Op-Ed, Agence Global
By Rami Khouri, Senior Fellow, The Dubai Initiative
"George W. Bush and his band of zealots used the anger-based emotional high after 9/11 to simultaneously misdiagnose themselves, their enemies, their friends and their place in the world. Consequently, they pursued catastrophic domestic and foreign policies. Obama must beware such pitfalls. He and his senior officials must understand more accurately how the United States and the world actually interact, in good times or bad, in order to forge policies based on credible analyses that are free of self-congratulatory emotionalism or pride."
AP Photo
November 7, 2008
"America Needs a New Style of Leadership: It's Time to Retire the 'Big Man,' Heroic Warrior Model of Leadership"
Op-Ed, U.S. News and World Report
By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
"Smart warriors, however, know how to lead with more than just the use of force. As Gen. David Petraeus demonstrated in Iraq, hearts and minds also matter, and smart warriors need the soft power of attraction as well as the hard power of coercion. Indeed, an oversimplified image of warrior-style leadership in President Bush's first term caused costly setbacks for America's role in the world. It is not a manly modern Achilles or the strongest alpha male who makes the best warrior leader in today's communication age. Military leadership today requires political and managerial skills...."
AP Photo
November 7, 2008
"The New President and the Future of American Power"
Op-Ed, Daily Star
By Joseph S. Nye, Sultan of Oman Professor of International Relations
"The challenge for Barack Obama is that more and more issues and problems are outside the control of even the most powerful state. Although the US does well on the traditional measures of power, those measures increasingly fail to capture much of what defines world politics, which, owing to the information revolution and globalization, is changing in a way that prevents Americans from achieving all their international goals by acting alone....As the world's largest economy, American leadership will remain crucial. The problem of American power in the wake of the financial crisis is not one of decline, but of a realization that even the most powerful country cannot achieve its aims without the help of others. Fortunately, Barack Obama understands that."
AP Photo
November 6, 2008
"Use Campaign Energy for Government's Real Work"
Op-Ed, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
By Debra Decker, Associate, International Security Program/Project on Managing the Atom and Regina Ryan
"Instead of outsourcing government work to private companies, the Barack Obama administration should devise a program to bring private individuals in, not as costly contractors, not as stifled civil servants, but as low-paid but happy "volunteers." There are only limited opportunities available now....These would be people who may not want to have a 20-year career in government but who like the idea of service and have the skills so needed in government today...."
