Governance

Last year the International Criminal Court (ICC) charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with crimes against humanity and war crimes but did not charge him with genocide. Currently, ICC head prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is appealing this decision, and if successful, Bashir would become the first sitting head of state to be charged with genocide. This controversy comes at a time of heightened instability in Sudan with the April 2010 elections quickly approaching. 

Wednesday's House Armed Services Terrorism, Unconventional Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee Hearing about the "Threat Posed by al Qa’ida in the Arabic Peninsula” sought to inform the public that the scope of al-Qa’ida’s threat extends beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan. While the hearing was informative in several ways, it would more aptly have been named “Threat Posed by al Qa-ida in the broader Muslim World and Why We Can or Cannot Kill Those ‘Psychopaths.’”

I spent part of my afternoon today at the Center for National Policy, listening to a roundtable discussion on US infrastructure and its relation to national security. James Fallows, a correspondent at The Atlantic was among the speakers. He recently wrote an article on "rejuvenating" America, touching upon such things as infrastructure. Here's a summary of some of the key points that were discussed:

There are signs that mounting pressure on Iran, both from internal and external sources, are beginning to have their effects on the regime.

Why do we buy bad cars? Is it out of need? Are we scared into doing it? After we get a bad car, we tend to throw money around to fix problems as they occur rather than comprehensively tackling them. I would argue our foreign policy follows these same principles and it is time to change. Three basic rules for not buying bad cars need to be applied to our Foreign Policy, and I wish to use Yemen as an example.

1. Make sure the car hasn't been wrecked badly.
2. Test drive the car for thirty to forty-five minutes.