Kudos to Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN) for recognizing that current “rhetoric and legislation [which] are focused primarily at climate change” are out of step with the concerns of most Americans. A January poll by Pew Research Center found “dealing with global warming ranks at the bottom of the public’s list of priorities; just 28% consider this a top priority.” The Senator frames his new approach in this way:
Religious violence in Nigeria is becoming as visible as the government’s inability to control it. On Sunday, ethnic violence ravaged the southern city of Jos. Men armed with machetes wreaked havoc on southern villages in retaliation for the violence that claimed 200 lives in January. Outbursts of religious violence are not unknown to Nigeria. Riots and violence between Muslims and Christians have claimed over 2,000 lives between September 2001 and 2008. In July 2009, Boko Haram, members of an Islamic extremist sect, launched multiple attacks in Northern Nigerian states that left …
Admiral Yin Zhuo of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) this week declared that China has an interest in Arctic exploration. Although China has no direct access to the Arctic, this did not dissuade the Admiral, who claimed that no one had sovereignty over the region. Admiral Yin was last heard making the argument that the PRC should establish a permanent base in the Gulf of Aden area, in order to support Chinese anti-piracy operations.
In a retaliatory response to the U.S. government’s unwillingness to eliminate domestic cotton subsidies, Brazil has announced higher tariffs on over 100 American goods ranging from cars to ketchup. Trade issues are central to the bilateral relationship between Brazil and the United States. Brazil is an attractive export destination for U.S. manufacturing, parts and capital equipment sectors. The United States has been the largest source of Brazil’s imports in these sectors, with the U.S. producers responsible for about a 15 percent share. The already thriving Brazilian market for U.S. exports has great …
The PRC announced this past week that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) budget would increase by about 7.5% in 2010. This marks the first time that the PLA budget has had an increase of less than 10% in nearly a decade. But don’t jump the gun. It is far from clear that it represents anything with implications for China’s long-term challenge to US predominance in the Asia Pacific. Chinese defense spending figures are notoriously unreliable, important more for the political signals they send than actual spending. The scale of the …
President Barack Obama says he will have his health care bill passed by the House before he leaves for Australia on March 18th. Nobody outside the White House believes that is going to happen. Next week’s blown deadline will join a crowded graveyard of past deadlines including July, August, and September. But blown deadlines are not the only reoccurring storyline from this health care debate. President George Bush economic adviser Keith Hennessey has paired thirteen 2009 health care headlines with thirteen 2010 headlines. See if you can tell which are …
The White House’s National Economic Council’s September 2009 report, A Strategy for American Innovation: Driving Towards Sustainable Growth and Quality Jobs, informs us: “A strong economy, but too reliant on precarious, bubble-driven growth, is unsustainable.” And it is true: our government should not try and inflate bubbles in order to spur short-term economic growth. Which is why the White House should read today’s The New York Times article on the Spanish solar program that President Barack Obama so often holds out as a model for our country to follow:
Another day, another stream of health care fantasy from the White House. A quick look at two health care events from yesterday, one in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and the other in Tawas City, Michigan, clearly exposes the yawing gap between the Obama administration’s health care rhetoric and cold hard legislative reality. First in Glenside, President Barack Obama turned up the volume on his already tired “final push” for health care reform. In addition to the usual litany of false claims about the legislation in Congress (in fact, you don’t get to …
According to Roll Call, during a Democrat strategy session last week Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) broached the idea of suspending earmarks during the 2010 appropriations process. And even though the reasons cited were mostly political – this fiscal restraint would come as welcome relief to the average everyday American. Earmarks have long been considered an emblem of Washington, DC corruption, waste and abuse. Earmark supporters will make such arguments as “the total amount of spending on earmarks is minimal,” or “why should we let bureaucrats spend federal dollars, when we …
Despite insurgent threats to murder Iraqis who dared to vote in the parliamentary elections, yesterday’s Iraqi elections went as well as could be expected. There were dozens of bombs that exploded in Baghdad and other cities, killing at least 36 people, but many Iraqis shrugged off the violence and risked their lives to vote. The turnout was estimated to be about 62 percent of Iraq’s 19 million eligible voters, which is down from the estimated 76 percent turnout in the last parliamentary elections in December 2005. But a positive sign …
