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News & Views
| A Foreign Policy for a New Era |
Topic: US Foreign Policy |
President Obama has sent mixed messages and tried to appease his implacable critics on the right while greatly disappointing many of his friends on the left. Obama's indecisiveness and failed attempts to woe the rabid right, has disappointed moderates and progressives, as well as his liberal base. His utter failure to use what Teddy Roosevelt called the "bully pulpit" in the deficit debate debacle - to go over the heads of this dysfunctional Congress and appeal directly to the American people - is but the latest example of his disappointing and anemic presidential style. So far, Obama has appeared in the guise of a tragic figure, would-be leader who lacks the mettle to lead. Many hoped that the 2008 election would be a turning point, that Obama would abandon an over-reliance on military muscle in favor of a more traditional reliance on diplomacy, one that would restore our badly damaged reputation in the world. Here are six keys to a more sane and sensible - and less self-defeating - foreign policy.
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| Commentary: The Myth of the Free Market |
Topic: United States |
With the Occupy Wall Street movement in full swing, now is the time to take a close look at the right-wing propaganda machine’s favorite canards about capitalism and the free market. In the wake of the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression and in the throes of a prolonged recession brought on by rogue financial institutions operating outside a regulatory system supposedly designed to prevent the very kind of reckless behavior and profiteering that led to the current doldrums, here is a short list of myths perpetrated by the corporate greed-is-good culture – myths that taken together add up to The Big Lie that is destroying the American economy, the middle class, and the good character of a once-great country.
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Note: This article was originally posted in late October at Reader Supported News (RSN) and on my Open Salon blog. It was subsequently selected as one of the Editor's Picks at open.salon.com where it's gotten over 3,000 views. It also made the "most popular" list on RSN.
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| The EU: Too Big To Fail |
Topic: European Union |
The tabloids declare, "The Euro Is Dead". They're dead wrong.
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| New Atlantic Alliance Needed to Fight Climate Change |
Topic: European Union |
The European Union says climate change is "one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet." True. But can a crisis-prone, energy-dependent EU still suffering the after effects of Europe's deepest recession in years, and facing the possibility that Spain will now fall deeper into the same debt sinkhole that has pushed Greece to the brink of bankruptcy, sustain its commitment to fighting climate change? Apparently not, but having just returned from Italy, I'm reminded that appearances can be deceiving. Despite being far more densely populated, Europe is better positioned to deal with climate change than America.
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Note: An earlier version of this article was released July 2, 2008, by the Prairie Writers Circle of The Land Institute, Salina, Kansas. For more information about the Prairie Writers Circle and the work of The Land Institute go to www.landinstitute.org. The United States has since elected a new president. Incoming President Barack Obama pledged to take quick action to reverse the environment-trashing policies of the Bush administration. At the time, it was too soon to say how green the new President would be or how the turmoil in the global economy and deepening recession in the United States affect policy priorities in other areas. Now it's clear that environmental policy remains on the back burner as Congress dithers and the Obama administration focuses on other priorities (health care, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the like). Sadly, even the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in the 2010 has failed to galvanize a greater sense of urgency around environmental issues in the nation's capital.
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Tom's Books
To buy a book click on the cover (below), then click on Summary and go to the bottom of the page.
Understanding Politics: Ideas, Institutions, and Issues, 10th edition This best-selling introduction to politics covers all major topics of interest to undergraduate students, including political ideas and ideologies; models of democracy and the alternatives to democracy (authoritarian and totalitarian regimes) politics in the former communist states and in the developing countries; political socialization, participation, and leadership; perennial questions of public policy in the United States; revolution, war, and terrorism; and, finally, world politics and international organizations (especially NATO, the European Union, and the United Nations).
ELEVENTH EDITION COMING SOON!
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Nations and Government: Comparative Politics in Regional Perspective, 6th edition places the political systems of the contemporary world in the context of geography, history, and other region-related factors. It also looks at key countries in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Regions and countries are explored within a consistent, commonsense framework emphasizing the political setting, patterns of government, and policy issues (including problems and prospects).
SIXTH EDITION NOW AVAILABLE!
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The European Union on the World Stage: Sovereignty, Soft Power and the Search for Consensus.
This book looks at the origins, evolution, institutions, and decision-making processes of the European Union. It covers the struggle to adopt institutional reforms necessary to meet the new challenges accompanying recent enlargements. It also explores Europe's potential to become a major actor on the world stage in light of continuing problems, including the global recession, rising protectionism, immigration pressures, and a persistent "democratic deficit" driving a wedge between Europe's voters and the "Eurocracy" in Brussels.
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An Empire If You Can Keep It looks at the tension between ideals and self-interest in American foreign policy from the founding period to the present. It argues that promoting liberty and democracy has always been a basic principle but the urge to empire and the will to power have often taken precedence. As a result, the United States is too easily viewed as schizophrenic, inconsistent, or hypocritical. Over-reliance on military force undermines America's historic role as a moral example and beacon of liberty.
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Contemporary European Politics: A Comparative Perspective. An in-depth look at Europe as a whole with case studies focusing on five countries in Western Europe and five countries in Eastern Europe. The final two chapters are devoted to the European Union past,present and future.
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IRC
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| | Are you a foreign affairs junkie? Frustrated by the fact that family and friends do not always share your interests? Eager to find broad-minded people who do? Please consider joining the International Relations Council of Kansas City today. To sign up or find out more about the IRC simply click on the IRC logo below. |
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Amazing Facts
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U.S. universities will graduate 150,000 engineering students this year; Chinese universities will graduate more than 500,000. Why? It's not simply a matter of demography. China has made higher education one of its very top policy priorities. Size does matter. China will likely surpass the United States in high-tech innovations in the coming years. 150,000 here at home.Click for more amazing facts |
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