Transparency in government took a huge step forward on January 3. On that day, President Obama signed into law the Smith–Mundt Modernization Act as an amendment to the 2013 Defense Authorization Bill. With the new revision, State Department foreign programming may be broadcast in the United States, though it may …
During the same week that France announced it has retreated early from Afghanistan, the tiny NATO-aspirant country of Georgia announced that it has doubled its troop contribution to the NATO-led mission. The Taliban, unsurprisingly, issued a statement calling on other NATO members to follow France’s example. For the sake of …
C’est la vie. Such is life in the French Republic, where unemployment is high, growth is low, and government is big. Since the global recession the French economy has been on life support, burdened by the suffocating presence of government in the economy and labor laws that reward lethargy. Thankfully, …
Last week, India assisted the U.S. in securing dialogue-partner status in the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC), a 20-member grouping of littoral nations of the Indian Ocean. India and the U.S.—as well as other Indo-Pacific nations such as Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia—share an interest in maintaining …
On Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to Algeria to discuss the ongoing security crisis in Mali. Clinton’s visit not only revealed Washington’s increasing openness to military intervention in northern Mali, but it also highlighted Algeria’s regional influence and complicated relationships with its southern neighbors. Since Islamist militants occupied …
Francois Hollande won election to the French presidency by promising that more government spending would lead to quick economic growth. He sharply criticized the “austerity”—i.e., sudden spending cuts—proposed by his opponent. A few months later, Hollande has come full circle. In addition to a tax increase that has wealthy French …
Last weekend, the people of France took a sharp turn to the left, and the rest of Europe may be on the brink of rebuking its recent tack toward fiscal responsibility. With Sunday’s election of French Socialist leader Francois Hollande, France has leapt backward toward the policies that have helped …
French President-elect François Hollande campaigned on bringing all French troops home from Afghanistan by the end of the year. Therefore, if this election promise is kept, NATO will have a gap of 3,300 troops to fill in an important area of Afghanistan during an important stage of the campaign. Currently, …
