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David Ignatius, The Washington Post | October 17, 2011 Recent protests around the world have varied causes, but all share a basic theme: rejection of traditional elites and a perceived breaching of the social contract. ++ In the US, it is anger against banks and their cozy relationship to the political elite; in Europe, it is a response to changing economic and social trends and immigration unrest that has yet to ...More

Walther Otremba, fmr. German government official | October 14, 2011 A state-run EU bond insurance system could provide security for Eurozone creditors without compromising members’ fiscal sovereignty. ++ Nations’ interest rates would still fluctuate according to their financial standing but bonds would be backed fully by the EU. ++ Such a system could create significant revenues quickly and remove speculation ...More

Editorial, The Wall Street Journal | October 13, 2011 An Iranian assassination attempt on US soil should be a wake-up call for neo-isolationists: we have to continue to take the international terror threat seriously. ++ The nature of the plot shows that Iran is a legitimate threat that sees itself at war with the US, Europe, and their allies. ++ This was not one of the many ramshackle home-made plots broken up ...More

Alex Evans, Center on International Cooperation | October 2011 “If we look at the history of peacekeeping operations mandated by the Security Council, we find that 10 operations costing a total of US$35 billion dollars have been deployed to countries where natural resources have played a key role in the conflict. This figure represents half of the total peacekeeping budget ever spent.” - Achim Steiner, UN ...More

Editorial, The New York Times | October 12, 2011 Europe and the US must not let cowardly vetoes and abstentions from the BRICs stop them from continuing to press Syria on its brutal crackdown on demonstrators. ++ Even though the UN Security Council resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad failed, calling for a vote was the right decision; it showed clearly who stood with the opposition and who stood ...More

Mikhail Gorbachev | October 11, 2011 The Great Recession represents an opportunity to reactivate stalled nuclear arms reduction efforts, including ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. ++ Nuclear arsenals are still too large; they are a budgetary albatross that threatens rather than ensures security. ++ The only credible solution is total disarmament; nuclear deterrence is unreliable, ...More

Graham Allison, Harvard University | October 10, 2011 Three times during September’s UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made an offer to stop weapons-grade uranium enrichment in exchange for access to specialized fuel for its research reactor. ++ President Obama should move quickly to take Iran up on their offer. ++ Though this will not solve the problem of a nuclear Iran, President ...More

Eric Jackson, Forbes | October 7, 2011 Occupy Wall Street protestors have legitimate grievances about how government has handled the economic crisis, but have been trivialized by the mainstream media. ++ Finding some protestors with contradictory or mistaken claims does not make the group’s frustration invalid. ++ The movement should be taken seriously because the set of people who can be ...More

John Kay, Financial Times | October 6, 2011 The European Union must concretely answer the question of whether member states are jointly responsible for each other's debts. ++ ‘Kissinger-style' ambiguity is useful in diplomacy, but dangerous in the market. ++  Politicians must understand that market forces will always test ambiguous economic policies. ++ Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were backed ...More

John Bellinger, Council on Foreign Relations | October 5, 2011 The recent killing of al-Qaeda cleric and US citizen Anwar Al-Awlaki raises questions about the legality of using drone strikes. ++ Drone strikes have increased dramatically under the Obama administration as a weapon against terror groups, but their legal standing under US and international law is uncertain. ++ US allies and human rights groups are now having ...More