The Obama Administration has stated on numerous occasions that there is “no way, no how” the New START treaty, a nuclear arms control agreement between the Russian Federation and the United States, will limit U.S. ballistic missile defense options. However, ongoing exchanges of opinions on this question show that the issue is far from clear. Reporter Josh Rogin, in his recent critique of an amendment that Senator Jim DeMint (R–SC) offered to the resolution of ratification for New START in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) disparages the Senator’s effort. …
You should think twice the next time you invoke the Constitution or argue that the federal government is overreaching its power. According to The Economist, you may well have succumbed to “The Perils of Constitution Worship.” Lexington, who writes about American politics for The Economist, attacks the Tea Partiers and our own First Principles Initiative, amongst others, for buying into what he calls the “myth” of the American Founding: “there is something infantile in the belief of the constitution-worshipers that the complex political arguments of today can be settled by …
Great Britain’s most prominent scientific body significantly softened its position on global warming after 43 of its members complained that the previous position did not take into account dissenting evidence. Although the Royal Society’s climate change guide still asserts that greenhouse gas gases resulting from human activity contributes to warming, it does so more prudently: There is very strong evidence to indicate that climate change has occurred on a wide range of different timescales from decades to many millions of years; human activity is a relatively recent addition to the …
In 2007, the director general of Britain’s internal security service described al-Qaeda and its associated groups as, “the main national security threat that we face today.” Revelations that al-Qaeda linked terrorists planned to carry out Mumbai-style attacks in Germany, France and Britain once again underscores this fact. The capture and interrogation of a German national returning to Europe from a Pakistani training camp revealed a fledgling plan to terrorize European cities through murderous shooting sprees. Through a series of attacks and attempted attacks, Islamist extremists have declared war on Europe …
The Heritage Foundation is proud to congratulate the graduates of the 2010 session of the Heritage Congressional Fellowship. The occasion was marked with an inspiring address (to be published shortly!) by Judge Janice Rogers Brown of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on “Rebirth, Revival, or Requiem: The Return of the Forgotten Man.” The Heritage Congressional Fellowship (HCF) is an educational program for junior-level Capitol Hill staffers that focuses on the principles of conservatism, current issues, and skill improvement. With forty staffers graduating this year (and 60 or so attending …
As Congress vacates Washington to campaign, they promise (or threaten) to return after Election Day to clean up the mess they leave behind. As Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE) told a Heritage Foundation audience, it’s unclear whether the post-election session will be lame ducks. Or dead ducks. Or Daffy Ducks. Nelson had a cute line, but there’s nothing cute about Congress’ unfinished business, nor about the problems the uncertainty creates for the country. Headlines show the leftover mess will be big and confusing. “Democrats to stuff 20 bills into post-election lame-duck …
President Barack Obama’s promise that “if you like it you can keep it” may be this generation’s “read my lips—no new taxes,” claim. New Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick recently said “Medicare Advantage remains strong and a robust option for millions of seniors who choose to enroll or stay in a participating plan today and in the future.” But seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans offered through one Massachusetts insurer are about to find out otherwise. Harvard Pilgrim, the state’s second largest insurance company, plans to …
The White House would like nothing better than for Americans to forget their incompetent handling of the Gulf oil spill. And if a complicit national media had anything to do with it, they would get their wish. Not once since the spill occurred, have any serious questions been leveled at the White House about their bungled response to it. Not once did a national reporter ask the president why he blocked permits to protect a fragile coastline. Not once did the president address why he needlessly delayed skimmers and clean-up …
With due respects to Abraham Lincoln, one can say that Venezuela is a “house divided against itself.” The question for the Obama Administration is how long this important nation can remain half free and half a Hugo Chavez fiefdom. A powerful tug-of-war is underway between those who support Chavez’s radical, anti-American program of “Socialism of the 21st Century” and those in Venezuela who have had enough and believe that tyranny, repression, and economic misery take root in the accumulation of unchecked executive power. Chavez took a pummeling in the September …
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev arrived in China on Sunday to expand energy cooperation between the two countries. The new deal includes building a 13-million-ton-per-year oil refinery in the city Tianjin within two years. Russia would supply 70 percent of the oil for the $5 billion refinery in a 20-year deal. In August, Russia opened its section of a 625-mile (1,000 km) oil pipeline from Skovorodino in the Far East to China. The pipe connects Russian oil fields with Daqing, a major oil production region in northeastern China. Russia is also …
