December 4, 2020
Transition 2021Each Friday, I look at what is happening in President-Elect Joe Biden’s transition to the White House. This week: Iran will likely provide an early test for Biden and his national security team.
February 24, 2020
CoronavirusAs nations prepare for a possible health emergency, world leaders are realizing that the new coronavirus is going to be harder to contain than previously hoped. Mobilization is continuing, and concer…
October 2, 2015
DevelopmentThe biggest achievement of the past week’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York was the adoption of a new fifteen-year plan for global development. Replacing the soon-to-expire Millenni…
November 16, 2012
Foreign AidWhat does the election mean for U.S. foreign aid? Question of the Week posts review important questions and controversies in global development by providing background information and links to a ful…
May 13, 2015
Sub-Saharan AfricaAfter almost five years of reverses, the Nigerian federal government largely cleared Boko Haram fighters from the territories they occupied in Borno state–in about five weeks. The Nigerian government…
March 24, 2014
United StatesThe Russian coercive de facto annexation of the Crimean province of Ukraine poses a dilemma for U.S. policymakers. They claim the need to “send a strong message” to Russian President Vladimir Putin t…
May 24, 2013
United StatesThe United States has fought twelve major wars and numerous smaller skirmishes in its history. Memorial Day is our way of honoring the soldiers, sailors, airmen, airwomen, and marines who did not ret…
May 17, 2013
Military OperationsJohn Vandiver, “US-trained Congolese Battalion Among Units Accused of Rape,” Stars and Stripes, May 10, 2013. For U.S. diplomats and military officials who were involved in training a Congolese ar…
October 27, 2012
United StatesMurphy’s Law holds that if anything can go wrong, it will. On Saturday October 27, 1962, the twelfth day of the Cuban missile crisis, President John F. Kennedy might have been thinking about that fam…
April 12, 2012
United StatesOn February 15, General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the House Armed Services Committee: “I can’t impress upon you that in my personal military judgment, formed over th…
