WASHINGTON — Across the world, “America may be less well regarded today than at any time in its history,” according to a report issued last week by a bipartisan group of politicians and foreign policy experts. But “it is not too late to reverse these trends, even in the Arab and Muslim World,” the report found. The “Commission on Smart Power” that penned the report was convened by the Center for Strategic International Studies, a non-partisan think tank. Titled “A Smarter, More Secure America,” the report calls on the next U.S. President to embrace three foreign policy themes to guide [...]
The recent implementation of a long-awaited U.S. homeland security program has reinvigorated debate over the international consequences of controversial cargo security legislation passed earlier this summer. The Department of Homeland Security’s Secure Freight Initiative, co-managed by the Customs and Border Protection office (CBP) and the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration, began testing Oct. 12 whether scanning 100 percent of sea cargo destined for the United States is feasible and effective for enhancing supply chain security. The tests are taking place at the United Kingdom’s Southampton Container Terminals, Pakistan’s Port Qasim and Honduras’ Puerto Cortez, with CBP set to [...]
By now, after years of skyrocketing fuel prices, the news that the price of a barrel of oil is hitting $100 doesn’t exactly cause panic. When you consider that a barrel of crude cost just $11 in 1998, and double that at the beginning of the decade, the truly astonishing development is that our lives have changed so little as a result of the higher prices. And yet, as some oil exporting countries swim in the riches of our gas money, the consequences of $100 oil are not always what you — and they — might expect. Soaring prices at [...]
