My Blog Posts

• After UNESCO, Will Congress Defund Nuclear Non-Proliferation Next?
  11/08/2011 10:32:40 AM EST
  After the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted on October 31 to admit Palestine as a full member-state to the organization, the U.S. defunded UNESCO in accordance with a U.S. law from 1990.   The law restricts funding to any United Nations organization that accepts Palestine as a full member before an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.  With the Palestinian Authority (PA) actively seeking membership in U.N. organizations, the UNESCO rebuff could mark a U.S. trend in defunding other U.N. organizations.  Blanket application of the law is of particular concern because it could lead the U.S. to defund organizations that directly contribute to U.S. and global security, especially the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). After failing to secure an expedient vote in the U.N. Security Council on Palestinian statehood, the PA applied for membership at UNESCO.  Ibrahim Khraishi, a Palestinian official at the U.N. in Geneva, told the Associated Press, “[w]e are working on [membership], one by one" to gain greater recognition for an internationally recognized Palestinian state at the U.N. White House spokesperson Jay Carney said of the move: "Today's vote at UNESCO to admit the Palestinian Authority is premature and undermines the international community's shared goal of a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”   The next international organizations to vote on whether to admit Palestine as a full member could be the World Health Organization and IAEA.  
• Without Qaddafi, Without Nukes
  10/21/2011 03:12:15 PM EST
  Muammar Qaddafi has been killed and his forty-two year dictatorship in Libya is over. After seizing power in Libya by a military coup, Qaddafi renounced the Libyan constitution and upheld his rule through a combination of force and admiration from his cult-like following.  He amassed wealth with Libya’s oil, waged wars with neighboring states and was behind the explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1994 that killed 270 people, including 189 Americans.   When Libyans began to call for the ouster of Qaddafi seven months ago and NATO jets joined their campaign, it was unclear how this revolution would end.  In the nuclear non-proliferation community, however, there was a collective sigh of relief because Libya had given up its nuclear weapons program in2004.  Qaddafi could not use them against his people in revolt. Under an agreement with the U.S. and U.K. that promised normalized relations with Libya, Qaddafi relinquished his entire nuclear weapons program.  The U.S. and U.K. dismantled, destroyed and airlifted out key components and documents on the program, Russia removed highly enriched uranium that it had supplied and the International Atomic Energy Agency began verification of nuclear sites.  Qaddafi did not have the nuclear option thanks to the tireless work of U.S. diplomacy and international non-proliferation organizations.
• Op-Ed in San Antonio Express- "Supercommittee should put military spending on the table"
  10/20/2011 05:59:40 PM EST
  On Thursday, October 20 the San Antonio Express ran my Op-Ed calling on the Super Committee and Congress to make real changes in government spending, read- the defense budget. You can find it here. Below is an excerpt:

  Both the "supercommittee," a group of 12 Republicans and Democrats, and other congressional panels are working to find at least $1.2 trillion to cut from government spending over the next decade. However, neither the supercommittee in particular nor Congress in general seems to want to make real changes to government spending.

  The biggest debate is over cutting military spending, which has grown 81 percent in since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Instead of looking for opportunities to scrap wasteful military programs, some lawmakers are seeking loopholes to avoid making any defense cuts at all.

• Russia's Old New President
  10/04/2011 05:34:37 PM EST
  Prime Minster Vladimir Putin is running for President again, confirming suspicions that the plan to put Russia’s eight year president back in the saddle has been long in the making.  Current President Dmitri Medvedev, Putin’s protégé, announced that he fully supports Putin’s candidacy and will not run for a second term, but take up the post of Prime Minister held by Putin. Better than swapping wives, but not much.
• McCain, Lieberman and Graham Want to Retain 10-25k Troops in Iraq. For What?
  09/29/2011 09:44:59 AM EST
  The U.S. is on track to withdraw all 45,000 U.S. troops from Iraq by December 31, 2011 in compliance with an agreement signed by the Bush Administration in 2008.  However, Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) voiced their opposition to full withdrawal in a Washington Post Op-Ed on September 18.  The Senators submitted their case for retaining 10-25,000 troops in Iraq after 2012 to prevent Iraqi instability and help to combat Iran and Al-Qaeda, all without affecting the U.S. “budgetary situation.”   Their argument is a bad idea, backed by faulty logic. If U.S. combat troops leave Iraq, the Senators caution, the country could fall into civil war and America’s “hard won gains” would be lost.  Though future instability in Iraq is a serious concern, the arrangement outlined in the Status of Forces agreement was that the U.S. would leave by 2011.  The Iraqi government will have to permit U.S. military trainers and experts (not combat troops) to remain after the deadline, and even beginning negotiations on the subject was controversial in Iraq.  Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Al-Shahristani has assured reporters that the Parliament will pass the extension, but both Shi’a and Sunni political blocs in the government have expressed opposition to an extension.  One of the most vocal politicians is Muqtada Al-Sadr, a Shi’a cleric and member of the parliament, who has threatened to restore his Mahdi Army, a formidable insurgent militia, if the U.S. military remains even as trainers. Though the Senators seek some assurance that U.S. action over the past seven years was not in vain, continued military occupation could reignite quieted furies.