Foreign Affairs

Dictator Chavez of Venezuela

By Carroll Andrew Morse | February 20, 2005 |

Sunday’s Projo had a good op-ed about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s increasingly dictatorial behavior. In case you may have heard from some sources that Chavez is a legitimate democrat, here is a full explanation of why he is not.

Oil-For-Food Update

By Marc Comtois | February 4, 2005 | Comments Off on Oil-For-Food Update

According to an interim report by Paul Volcker, Benon Sevan, head of the Iraq/UN Oil-for-food program was as corrupt as was suspected. An interim report by a commission investigating the U.N. oil-for- food program in Iraq said the former head of the program had violated the U.N. Charter by helping a company run by a…

Call for More Troops II

By Marc Comtois | February 2, 2005 | Comments Off on Call for More Troops II

I previously endorsed a call for more troops championed by Sen. Jack Reed. Now, an open letter from a bi-partisan group (really!) has done the same. An excerpt: The United States military is too small for the responsibilities we are asking it to assume. Those responsibilities are real and important. They are not going away.…

The Geopoliticization of World’s Oil & Gas Industry

By | January 31, 2005 |

Irwin Stelzer has written a sobering article in the February 7, 2005 issue of the Weekly Standard on what he calls the “geopoliticization of the world’s oil and gas industry.” His key point is: …it can’t be said that the free play of supply and demand ever set prices in the oil market. But we…

The Driving Forces in Iraq

By Justin Katz | January 30, 2005 |

PROEM: To mark the historic elections today in Iraq, I republish, here, a column from December 10, 2001, that has been available in full only in my book, Just Thinking: Volume I. A view that was then extreme has proven predictive, and I, for one, do not question that the world is better for it.…

Senator Reed, Iraq and Troop Strength

By Marc Comtois | January 27, 2005 | Comments Off on Senator Reed, Iraq and Troop Strength

In an interview yesterday, Senator Jack Reed managed to offer a backhanded compliment to the Bush Administration while setting up and knocking down a straw man. Reed called a recent Pentagon pledge of a long-term military presence in Iraq “helpful prudence.” And he deemed it a welcome change from Bush administration skimping on Army troop…

Andrew’s Latest up at TCS

By Marc Comtois | January 25, 2005 |

Andrew has a new piece up at TCS, “Tipping the Foreign Policy Balance,” in which he outlines the difference between geopolitical “realism” and “liberalism.” The President clearly favored a “liberal” strategy in his Inaugural Address.

The Argument All Along: Uncertainty

By Justin Katz | January 22, 2005 | Comments Off on The Argument All Along: Uncertainty

It is, and has been, encouraging that the Providence Journal editorial page is willing to argue on the side of rational response to Saddam Hussein: The AP saw no reason to seek further comment on that news [that 120 Iraqi scientists who had been working in weapons programs were being paid by the U.S. government…

Imports and Price Controls for a Mature Nation

By Justin Katz | December 30, 2004 | Comments Off on Imports and Price Controls for a Mature Nation

The idea, which Marc noted in the previous post, that “Europeans and Canadians are able to get quality drugs at lower prices only because Americans pay free-market prices that fuel research and development” is one that I’ve touched on before. Michelle Malkin had made the point that the price negotiation practices of the Veterans Administration…

Understand the UN!

By Carroll Andrew Morse | December 20, 2004 | Comments Off on Understand the UN!

If you would like to understand why the United Nations is not nearly as ineffective as you first might think, check out my latest article over at TechCentralStation.