by Daniel Pipes National Review Online March 1, 2011 Unprecedented convulsions across the Middle East, from Morocco to Iran, prompt three reflections: First, these rebellions fit into the context of a regional chessboard, what I call the Middle East cold war. On one side stands the “resistance” bloc led by Iran and including Turkey, Syria, […]
While members of Congress, former cabinet members, long-time aides and assorted VIPs were celebrating Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday at the Reagan Presidential Library in sun-baked Simi Valley, California, I was nearly 6,000 miles away in snow-bound Tallinn, Estonia, a small Baltic country bordering on the former Soviet Union. As a Reagan biographer, I was invited […]
by Daniel Pipes February 16, 2011 updated Feb 26, 2011 In an article today (“Small Budget Cuts Add Up“), Reps. Jason Chaffetz (Republican of Utah) and Anthony Weiner (Democrat of New York) call the U.S. Institute of Peace a “case study in how government waste thrives” and calls its $54 million in public funding in […]
In the midst of a tense bilateral dispute between the U.S. and Pakistan over the case of Raymond Davis—an American Embassy employee who shot and killed two armed Pakistanis in what he claims was self-defense—civil society leaders from both countries met in Lahore, Pakistan, February 17-19. The initiative, dubbed the U.S.-Pakistan Leaders Forum, was convened […]
Within the much-debated continuing resolution—an appropriations bill to fund the federal government through September 2011—is a bit of hope for students in the nation’s capital. The spending bill would remove language inserted in 2009 by Senator Richard Durbin (D–IL) prohibiting new students from receiving scholarships through the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program (DCOSP). Despite its success, […]
Today Wisconsin, tomorrow California? The battle between government unions and state budgets was inevitable once the unions were given collective bargaining rights over the past 50 years. The battle boiled over the past few weeks in Wisconsin as Republicans in the Legislature are attempting to repeal the state’s collective bargaining law for public-employee unions, along […]
Early yesterday morning, the Wisconsin assembly passed Governor Scott Walker’s (R) budget repair bill, which includes language requiring public employees to contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries to cover the cost of their pensions and pay 12 percent of their health insurance premiums. The measure also significantly limits collective bargaining for government employees, such as […]
Recent upheavals in the Middle East—including the overthrow of the governments in Tunisia and Egypt, riots in Bahrain, and near civil war in Libya—raise the question of what lessons the People’s Republic of China, and especially the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), are likely to have learned. The concern focuses not only on whether the Chinese […]
On February 10, a U.S., military C-17 touched down in Buenos Aires. On board were eight special forces soldiers and a medic en route to provide a hostage rescue training course for the police of Buenos Aires. Little did they know they would be stepping into a diplomatic ambush. In the aircraft’s cargo hold were […]
Coverage of the tumultuous events in the Middle East in the official Chinese press has gone through a few iterations. At first, the policy was no coverage or at best laconic coverage. Lately, due to internet postings and official nervousness the tone has changed to ‘ why it can’t happen here’ and ‘why it must […]
