Did you ever think that there’s more going on in the world than what you hear on CNN/MSNBC/FOX? Are you interested in global events, but feel like you need an advanced degree to really understand what’s going on? Don’t worry, I have one.
The goal of "The 101" is to breakdown some of the complex issues in international affairs, to give you the background and context you need to better understand them, to raise some questions that the purveyors of conventional wisdom are missing, and to do it all in a way that you won’t need a PhD in International Affairs to understand.
Political Cynicism on Display in the Falklands
One of my earliest memories of foreign affairs from my childhood was the brief war between Argentina and Great Britain over the small, wind-swept Falkland Islands in 1982. In response to the Argentine seizure of the islands, which they call Islas Malvinas and claim as their own, the British sent a naval flotilla halfway around the world to retake them. Without GPS, YouTube, broadband satellite uplinks or any of the other tools of modern journalism, I remember watching the progress of the British fleet on the nightly news as a red dot on a map slowly, very slowly, making its way down the length of the Atlantic Ocean towards the Falklands.
A $700 Billion Boondoggle
One of the key initiatives that President Obama announced during the State of the Union address was a freeze on federal spending increases, and one key area of spending he made a point of exempting was the defense budget. That reminded me of this essay on US military spending by the Cato Institute’s Doug Bandow. He does a fine job of listing the threats the United States faces in the world and our analyzing our ability to meet them, but one statistic jumped out at me: for 2010 the Pentagon budget will be roughly $700 billion, this, Bandow notes, is only a little more than the inf
Chinese Reality
“I reject your reality and substitute my own.”
- Adam Savage, Mythbusters
Perhaps “reality” can be added to the list of products being produced in great quantities by China these days. In the past year, China talked boldly about their environmental leadership, military prowess and effectiveness in dealing with separatists within their own borders – all topics where the Chinese version of events sounds impressive, at least until you compare it with reality.
Haiti and the United States, A Complex Past
It’s been just over a week since an earthquake unleashed an epic wave of destruction across Haiti. And even as bodies of both the living and the dead continue to be pulled from the rubble of Port-au-Prince, conservative commentators are already using the tragedy to launch into an attack on foreign development aid programs.
A Canadian Conundrum
When putting together my “Stories You May Have Missed in 09” post, I was surprised to see that two of the six news stories I highlighted involved Canada. I suppose that I share the same conceit as many of my fellow Americans, we tend to view our neighbors to the north as just too familiar to really consider them a “foreign” country. Our two lands share the longest de-militarized border in the world, we’ve been at peace for nearly two full centuries since the end of the War of 1812 – save for a little mid-19th century
What To Watch For In 2010
Last week I talked about a few stories from 2009 that didn’t receive the attention that perhaps they should have. This week I’ll take a look forward and discuss a few of the events likely to shape global politics in 2010.
Stories You Might Have Missed: Goodbye '09 Edition
As 2009 fades into history the urge for anyone with access to a media outlet is to compile some sort of year-end list. I am not going to put together a list of top stories or year end awards, but in the column below I am going to highlight seven stories that I think deserved more attention than they received, either because they challenged the conventional wisdom in international affairs, help to explain where our world is or where it may be heading, or, in the case of the science story at the end, because it is just too bizarre not to note. So without further ado, here is my humble year-end collection:
The US Navy, Climate Change Believers
The Politics of Pipelines
It’s winter in Europe, time for snow, St. Nicholas, and the annual Russia-Ukraine dispute over natural gas supplies. On Wednesday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned his counterparts in Ukraine not to try to modify a 10-year gas supply contract between the two countries.
Somali Pirates and the Future of International Relations?
Is the future of international relations being written in the waters off the coast of Somalia?
Obama's Missed Uyghur Moment
It could have been a powerful image – America’s first multicultural president promoting the benefits of an ethnically-diverse society to the Chinese – but during his trip to China this week, Barack Obama chose to steer clear of comments that could be perceived as lecturing the Chinese on their (poor) human rights record, and that included any reference to their treatment of their Tibetan and Uyghur ethnic minorities.
