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U.S. Investment Opportunities in Africa
Tweet Share on Facebook April 15, 2013 CommentStephen Hayes is president and CEO of the Corporate Council on Africa.
It is not difficult to understand why American market share in Africa has dropped significantly over the past five years. While real American investment in Africa is up slightly due to oil prices and increased exploration, as well as a more aggressive posture by some companies such as General Electric, other countries are now far more active in the world's largest developing marketplace.
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How to Handle North Korea's War Rhetoric
Tweet Share on Facebook April 15, 2013 CommentAndrew S. Natsios is an executive professor at the George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, and the author of Sudan, South Sudan and Darfur: What Everyone Needs to Know. Natsios served as administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and as President George W. Bush's special envoy to Sudan.
Since Nassim Nicholas Taleb's best-selling book The Black Swan: the Impact of the Highly Improbable popularized the notion of the black swan event, a cottage industry has grown up of analysts attempting to anticipate the next highly improbable event that will dramatically alter the course of history. Black swan analysts have now focused their attention on a potential Second Korean War because of fears of where North Korea's increasing belligerence might end. Highly improbable and unanticipated events of extraordinary consequence have changed the course of 20th century history more than once, and could again on the Korean peninsula.
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The Costs and Benefits of U.S. Military Assistance
Tweet Share on Facebook April 11, 2013 CommentMichael P. Noonan is the Director of the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
With the current budgetary issues and war weariness in the United States, there has been much attention lately on providing security assistance to other nations as a means to protecting our interests with a "light footprint" (or at least a lighter footprint) abroad. Last week the White House released a new policy directive on "security sector assistance." The accompanying "Fact Sheet" to this announcement noted:
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Five Lessons From North Korea's Nuclear Posturing
Tweet Share on Facebook April 11, 2013 CommentRobert Nolan is an editor at the Foreign Policy Association and producer of the Great Decisions in Foreign Policy television series on PBS. You can follow him on Twitter @robert_nolan.
As North Korea readies for yet another likely missile test this week and the rhetoric from Pyongyang ratchets ever upwards, American pundits continue to wager their best guesses on what's behind the regime's thinking. Few, if any, truly understand the inner machinations of Kim Jong Un and his advisers, and that's not changing anytime soon, unless Dennis Rodman suddenly remembers something important.
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U.S. Must Deter North Korea and Reassure South Korea
Tweet Share on Facebook April 11, 2013 CommentAndrew Scobell is a senior political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.
North Korea has escalated its inflammatory rhetoric and actions to new heights of bellicosity. What is really going on? Is there a real danger of war? How should the United States respond?
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North Korea Poses No Nuclear Threat to the U.S.
Tweet Share on Facebook April 11, 2013 CommentTed Galen Carpenter, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, is the author of nine books on international affairs including (with Doug Bandow), The Korean Conundrum: America's Troubled Relations with North and South Korea (Palgrave Macmillan).
North Korea has caused more nervousness than usual in the international community in recent weeks. American pundits and political figures have a serious case of the jitters. There is talk by some hawks that the United States needs to consider a show of force.
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North Korea and Kim Jong Un's Mad Actions
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2013 CommentJames Robbins is Senior Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC.
Some say North Korea's dictator, Kim Jong Un, is acting like a madman. If so, it may be the smartest thing he can do.
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North Korean Cyberattacks and Lessons From Cyberwar
Tweet Share on Facebook April 9, 2013 CommentJason Healey is the Director of the Cyber Statecraft Initiative at the Atlantic Council. You can follow his tweets @Jason_Healey.
The recent cyberattacks on South Korea highlight four truths of cyberconflicts as they have actually been fought. The implications of three of them are obvious, the fourth not yet so. Such conflicts are disruptive, but far from warfare. And cyberconflicts are both easier to predict than popular myth has it and the nation responsible is often perfectly obvious. However, to stop such asymmetric attacks, sometimes you have to use a traditional approach.
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Obama Uses Drones for Lack of a Better Option
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2013 CommentMichael P. Noonan is the Director of the Program on National Security at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The debate over the use of armed unmanned aerial vehicles ("drones") in prosecuting the war against al-Qaeda and its affiliated movement continues to grow. While the use of these weapons began during the George W. Bush presidency, they have been employed dramatically more during Barack Obama's administration.
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David Cameron's Reckless EU Gamble Will Only Hurt the UK
Tweet Share on Facebook April 8, 2013 CommentScheherazade S. Rehman is a professor of international finance/business and international affairs at The George Washington University. You can visit her homepage here and follow her on Twitter @Prof_Rehman.
If the United Kingdom's Prime Minister David Cameron wins the next British elections (set for 2015) he has committed to hold a referendum on the U.K.'s membership in the European Union. Cameron's proposal is to hold a referendum in 2017 in the form of a simple "in" or "out" vote for the U.K. regarding its EU membership.
