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Posted On: Jul 29, 2010
This paper outlines a range of views among the civil society organizations listed below regarding climate financing options and is intended to contribute to the work of the UN High Level Advisory Group on Climate Finance.
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Posted On: Jul 14, 2010
In advance of the USITW meeting tomorrow - a clarification since some libertarians are assoicated with the Tea Party.As noted by my colleague David BoazMichael Gerson writes in the Washington Post, "[Rand] Paul and other libertarians are not merely advocates of limited government; they are anti-government."I can't speak for Rand Paul, but for the libertarians I know, this is just wrong. Libertarians are not against all government. We are precisely "advocates of limited government....
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Posted On: Jul 08, 2010
PENNOYER FELLOW, CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY PROGRAM For over 30 years, Human Rights First (HRF) has worked to build respect for human rights and the rule of law, to help ensure the dignity to which each person is entitled. The Crimes Against Humanity Program, which researches and analyzes mass atrocity situations and advocates for effective responses thereto by the U.S. government and others, is expanding and seeks a Pennoyer Fellow. The Pennoyer Fellow will be an integral participant in program...
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Posted On: Jun 15, 2010
For more than 30 years, HRF has worked in the United States and abroad to create a more secure and humane world by advancing justice, human dignity and respect for the rule of law. Human Rights First protects people at risk: refugees who flee persecution, victims of crimes against humanity or other mass human rights violations, victims of discrimination, human rights advocates who are targeted for defending the rights of others, and those whose rights are eroded in the name of national secu...
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Posted On: Jun 03, 2010
by Christopher PrebleOver at National Journal’s National Security Experts blog, this week’s question revolves around the health of the U.S. economy, and its relationship to U.S. power. The editors ask: How serious a threat is the mounting debt to the nation’s standing as the world’s only superpower? Can the U.S. continue to spend more than all other countries combined on its military forces given burdensome debt levels? In what other ways does the mounting debt undermine the count...
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Posted On: Jun 02, 2010
by Doug BandowJapanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has resigned, just eight months after leading his party to a landslide victory. The Democratic Party of Japan meets Friday to replace him. The finance minister, Naoto Kan, is the favorite, though nothing is certain. The party is an amalgam of factions and the party secretary general, Ichiro Ozawa, who did the most to bring the DPJ to power, also is stepping down.Prime Minister Hatoyama was hit by a campaign scandal—a regular of Japa...
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Posted On: May 24, 2010
First, They Came for the Sex Offendersby David RittgersFirst, they came for the sex offenders. I am not a sex offender, but I opposed the civil commitment of sex offenders by the federal government because it is not an activity within the enumerated powers of Congress. The Supreme Court decided otherwise in Comstock, with the exception of Justices Thomas and Scalia.Next, they will come for suspected terrorists. As Dahlia Lithwick (who I rarely agree with – here is her commentary on the Hell...
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Posted On: May 20, 2010
by David RittgersThe attempted Times Square bombing prompted Senators Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and Scott Brown (R-MA) to propose that anyone suspected of providing material support, as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 2339A, to State Department-listed terrorist groups be stripped of their citizenship. As Julian Sanchez points out, existing law provides for expatriation for a number of reasons, but in two distinct categories. The first is for actions that demonstrate intent to relinquish citizenship: sw...
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Posted On: May 20, 2010
by Christopher PrebleThe Economist is featuring an online debate this week around the proposition “This house believes that the war in Afghanistan is winnable.” John Nagl of the Center for a New American Security agrees. Peter Galbraith takes the opposing view.The organizers of the event invited me to contribute my two cents. Excerpts of my essay (“Featured Guest,” on the right side of the page) are posted below:The appropriate question is not whether the war is winnable. If we defin...
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Posted On: May 19, 2010
Posted by Ilya ShapiroOn Tuesday I discussed the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down laws that allow juveniles to be sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) for non-homicide crimes. What concerns me here isn’t so much the morality or policy wisdom in applying such sentences — though Chief Justice Roberts makes some good policy points in his concurrence — or even the interpretation of what constitutes a “cruel and unusual punishment” — which I think Justice Kennedy mishan...
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Posted On: May 19, 2010
Posted by Julian SanchezAs Jeff Stein notes over at the Washington Post, the declassified summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the Christmas underpants bomber ought to sound awfully familiar to anyone who thumbed through the 9/11 Commission’s massive analysis of intelligence failures. Of the 14 points of failure identified by the Senate, one pertains to a failure of surveillance acquisition: the understandably vague claim that NSA “did not pursue potential collection...
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Posted On: Feb 18, 2010
This ongoing analysis by Taxpayers for Common Sense takes apart the FY2011 budget request agency by agency, summarizing reductions, terminations and increases in issue areas including defense, energy and transportation.
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Posted On: Feb 18, 2010
This op-ed posting argues that the QDR should explicitly link strategic goals with fiscal projections, even if that means amending the law that created it. Disconnecting military planning from fiscal realities is not just bad economics—its bad strategy.
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Posted On: Jan 07, 2010
written by Robert A. LevyRobert A. Levy is chairman of the Cato Institute.Added to cato.org on January 7, 2010This article appeared in the on January 7, 2010. New York Daily NewsFollowing bitter defeats in California, Maine, and New York, the gay and lesbian community has a New Year's victory to celebrate. New Hampshire joins four other states — Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts and Vermont — in legalizing gay marriage. And the nation's capital is also onboard. Washington Mayor Adrian Fen...
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Posted On: Jan 07, 2010
Posted by Daniel J. MitchellEven though I’ve been in Washington for almost 25 years, I still get shocked by the deceit and double-talk that characterizes this town. A perfect example can be found in today’s Wall Street Journal, which features a column by Karl Rove attacking President Obama for fiscal incontinence. I’m a big fan of condemning Obama’s big-government schemes, but Rove is the last person in the world who should be complaining about too much wasteful spending. After all, h...
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Posted On: Jan 06, 2010
Posted by Christopher PrebleThat is the question posed at the National Journal’s National Security experts blog.My response:We shouldn’t even be contemplating war in Yemen, but we should also understand that the proposed expansion of security assistance to the government there is likely to pay only meager dividends.Steven Metz gets at the nub of this problem in his two thoughtful posts (here and here). We have an unreliable ally. We have minimal capacity for making them more reliable....
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Posted On: Jan 05, 2010
Afghan civil society peacebuilding efforts are robust: a wide range of individuals and organizations are working to build bridges across social divides, to teach people peaceful ways of addressing conflicts, to promote rule of law and participatory governance, and to create democratic decision-making forums for addressing the root causes of conflicts.During her December 2009 visit to Afghanistan, 3D Director Lisa Schirch filmed 11 videos highlighting these efforts. Watch the videos and read...
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Posted On: Oct 14, 2009
Organizations across the country joined together to send a letter to President Obama thanking him for his leadership on nuclear weapons issues and making recommendations for how the Nuclear Posture Review can best achieve the vision he laid out in his speech from Prague.The Obama administration is working on its Nuclear Posture Review, which will set U.S. nuclear weapons policy for the next 5-10 years. This review is an opportunity to reject outdated Cold War thinking and create a transformat...
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Posted On: Oct 01, 2009
A letter to Mr. Stern from Ambassador Nancy Soderberg, President of the Connect U.S. Fund and former Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, which calls on the Obama Administration to break the deadlock and lead in international negotiations, in order to avoid failure in Copenhagen. The letter highlights this objective as a "financially responsible, moral, and national security imperative for the United States." The details of the letter are informed by key members of...
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Posted On: Oct 01, 2009
The Obama administration's Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) is a major, official assessment that will set U.S. nuclear weapons policy for the next 5-10 years and could put us on a path toward eliminating nuclear weapons. However, there is strong opposition to a major shift in policy. According to an article on Secretary of Defense Gates' remarks at an Air Force Association conference recently: "Gates previewed findings of the ongoing Nuclear Posture Review by endorsing the need to sustain an...