The National Hustle

After nearly nine months in office, President Obama is under heavy pressure to follow through on the campaign promises that got him elected.  Obama inherited a heaping plate of problems from his predecessor, but he now has to take ownership over the successes and failures of these issues, including the economy, health care reform, and the war in Afghanistan.

Although very few Americans had any reservations about retaliating against Al Qaeda and the Taliban after 9/11, the past eight years has seen many Americans become dissolutioned with our role in Afghanistan.  The Iraq War has diverted both military resources and public attention, resulting in today’s all-too-common questions: (1) What are we trying to achieve in Afghanistan?, and (2) Should we send more troops?

To help provide an updated perspective, Frontline aired “Obama’s War” last night:

- Matt

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I came across an insightful documentary on KQED tonight and wanted to share it here.  Why We Fight is not a new release (it has been out since 2005), but Eugene Jarecki did a great job in summarizing the fruition of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning about the burgeoning military-industrial complex.  The documentary is 90 minutes long and should be required viewing for all those interested in American foreign policy.

- Matt

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“Coming up to them, there has passed some common shot between some of our fleet and some of them; and as far as we perceive, they are determined to sell their lives with blows.”

-Sir Francis Drake

Although quite chic these days, piracy is not a new concept.  Since man has plied the sea for commerce, other men have made a living by taking those cargoes for themselves.  In fact, even the ancient Greeks were forced to enlist a massive naval force to suppress a pirate threat in the picturesque Mediterranean  in 67 BC.

Piracy spread rampantly throughout the middle ages, with Viking and Muslim Pirates attacking not just sea-going vessels, but often raiding small coastal cities; taking slaves and robbing villages of their riches.  Eventually, piracy evolved to the way we like to think of it today: eye patches, pieces of eight, buried treasure, and a democratic utopia for crewmen with equality for all. Continue reading

In a presentation at MIT and replayed on Academic Earth, Pullitzer Prize winning columnist Thomas Friedman discusses his book, The World is Flat.  He discusses the competitive impacts of globalization, the evolution of the “Flat World Platform,” and the need for the U.S. to lead the clean energy revolution.

Before you take a look at the 45-minute video, here are my main five takeaways from Friedman’s presentation:

1. Global economic competition has been flattened in the last decade. (06:10)  According to Friedman, “From the year 2000 to the present, [competition] was shrinking the world from size small to size tiny and flattening the global economic playing field at the same time.  Only what’s really new, really different, really exciting, and really terrifying, is that this era of globalization is certainly not spearheaded by countries, and it’s not exclusively spearheaded by companies anymore.  This era of globalization is spearheaded by individuals.”  During these times of mass media and mass communication, we are also witnessing a new dawn of mass competition on a global level.  Continue reading

In light of Hamid Karzai pushing through new, controversial legislation that will further limit women’s rights, I felt it imperative to get up to date on the existing struggles and oppression of Afghan women.  Last week, PBS NewsHour explored these issues from a first hand perspective, in an 8-minute investigative piece called “Despite Gains, Women Still Struggle in Afghanistan.”

  Continue reading