In choosing female leaders, U.S. trails many nations

Every election brings new questions about the qualities and character of national leadership, in the United States and abroad.

In the 2008 presidential election, the big question was whether America could elect a nonwhite man – in this case, an African American – as president. Up until then, all U.S. presidents had been white Christian males of European descent.

Corazon Aquino served as president of the Philippines from 1986-1992. BULLIT MARQUEZ Associated Press

But disruption was in the air. France, for example, had selected a Greco-Hungarian of Jewish ancestry as president the year before Barack Hussein Obama’s victory.

In 2016, as the country moves through its primary season, U.S. voters are considering making history in other ways. Will they elect a septuagenarian Jewish socialist, a boisterous billionaire political neophyte, a Cuban American born outside the United States? Or, after a few years of primary female also-rans, finally elect a woman to the highest office in the land?  Read more 

Impact of Panama Papers depends on type of government

Warren Buffett is known for his pithy sayings and homespun investment philosophy. One Buffettism states that “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five seconds to destroy it.”

This is as true in business as it is in government. It requires less time to take down institutions and destroy public trust than it does to develop and strengthen them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin argues the Panama Papers are a foreign conspiracy aimed at toppling him and weakening Russia. Mikhail Klimentyev The Associated Press

Enter Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian legal firm specializing in hiding offshore assets. Revelations regarding the firm’s clients and capital flows are the latest salvo on government credibility and citizen credulity.

The recently leaked 11.5 million-document dump known as the Panama Papers – a load of Mossack Fonseca’s private internal documents – is roiling the waters for a handful of leaders who wanted or needed to cache their cash.

One minute a prime minister is a respected leader, then next he is judged a shady figure in the court of public opinion.  Read more.

Cheating for gold defies purpose, spirit of Olympics

Olympia, GREECE

Athletes competing in the ancient Olympic games were venerated for their prowess and ability. Here, on these original Olympiad grounds of now toppled temples and former glory, visitors are reminded of the elevated role honor played within competition.

Two thousand years ago, competitors heading toward the stadium tunnel walked between two rows of statues. On their right was a famous marble row of heroic athletes, victors all. On the left, however, stood 16 statues of Olympic cheaters, eternally dishonored and living in infamy. Their chiseled names remain visible to this day.

The Olympic message was as clear then as it is today: Don’t cheat!

Brazil’s political leaders are caught up in a bribery and kickback scheme involving government construction contracts that include Olympic facilities in Rio de Janeiro. Leo Correa AP

Unfortunately, the high stakes of national pride, professional athletics and simple hubris have led others to conclude that the more important lesson in sports competition is different: Don’t get caught cheating.

Doping, steroids, gender faking, age falsification, judge bribing, opponent knee-capping, hitchhiking to a marathon finish … the list of cheats is long and creative. Yet despite millennia of getting caught, cheaters abound.  Read more

Silencing ‘The Cannon,’ a social media phenom

Social media made him a star. He is a real estate mogul whose followers believe he speaks truth to power. As a result of his outspoken anti-establishment political posture and popularity, his party wants to shut him down.

He is, of course, “The Cannon.” Never heard of him? He is the man with 37 million social media followers on Sina Weibo – China’s top microblogging site – and the country’s ruling Communist Party just took him on by taking him offline.

The Cannon is Ren Zhiqiang’s nickname and what happens to him next is uncertain, but with such a big and passionate following, it will be difficult to disappear him either quickly or quietly. He is known as The Cannon because of the straight-talk missives he fires at the authorities. Cannon is not alone, however, in finding that speech in China is not free.  Read more.

Beyond Paris, questionable efforts to combat climate change

Germany has long been a leading advocate for confronting and ameliorating climate change. But actions speak louder than words – or signatures on an international accord. The recent Volkswagen scandal is only the latest case of climate policy hypocrisy.

Meeting in Paris last December, countries around the globe finally recognized the generally accepted scientific evidence that climate change is real. They also accepted some responsibility to do something about it.

To much fanfare, 195 countries, including Germany and the United States, signed the Paris Agreement pledging to hit targets to drop emissions, cut carbon and keep our aging Earth from experiencing too many hot flashes and cold extremities.

Developed democratic countries, pushed by their citizens, led the charge for a comprehensive agreement to atone for past polluting and to prevent developing states from repeating their own sins. Canada, England, France – they all chimed in and tried to convince, coerce and cajole those developing countries to be energy ascetics. That was a tough sell. The developing world now wants its turn to crank out the carbon and catch up to the already rich, gas-burning and global-warming recidivists.

Looking beyond the narratives of the industrialized world’s planned sacrifice, however, some of the stories seem a little less noble or credible.  Read More

World is ‘dangerously unprepared’ for the next epidemic

Mobile apps are a fabulous waste of time and infinitely diverting. Except for “Plague Inc.”

The object of this strategy game is to achieve biological annihilation of the world with a complex virus or bacterial infection that runs roughshod over borders, seeking warm and moist host bodies. People are infected and die regardless of their religion or nationality. “Plague” is an accelerated depiction of the race between finding a cure for disease and Armageddon.

Slower-motion, real-world infectious diseases are also mass-murdering terrors of the modern era – ones that usually get short shrift except when actual outbreaks occur.

Nearly a century ago, at the end of World War I, more people died of the Spanish Flu – somewhere between 20 million and 40 million – than had died in the “war to end all wars.” That influenza epidemic remains the deadliest disease in recorded history. Yes, more than the 14th century’s Black Death bubonic plague.

The newly resurrected Zika virus is not anywhere near as dangerous or deadly as the Spanish Flu. Zika is like the sniffles when compared to the Black Death. As with most diseases, not everyone gets infected, but everyone is affected.  Read more

Chinese year of living dangerously

Firecrackers and dancing dragons will welcome the Chinese New Year of the Red Fire Monkey in early February. The Monkey is one of 12 Chinese horoscope years that can predict wild success or portend catastrophic failure, depending on one’s level of superstition or gullibility.

One certain prediction this Monkey year: China is swinging toward interesting times.

Opaque markets, volatile stocks and moderating growth are just a few of the economic factors that will challenge China’s leadership and, consequently, global financial systems in 2016.

Suddenly, when China sneezes, the rest of the world may get the sniffles. Maybe even pneumonia.

Read more

Playing a Trump card in global politics

American presidential politics are crazy enough without having other countries getting involved. Despite a mixed track record where foreign endorsements have little to no effect on election outcomes, overseas observers do their best to be political kingmakers in the United States.

Donald Trump is the latest target of an active nonvoting collection of citizens and leaders from abroad. He is the nonpolitician many Europeans love to hate and some Middle Easterners hate to love.

Britain is considering a Trump ban following a popular petition to the UK parliament.

From an endorsement by Russian President Vladimir Putin to a popular petition for banishment from Britain, the Republican polling phenom is the subject of praise and pillory from foreigners.

His contested role in ISIS recruiting and Mexican deportation plans make him the ideal candidate for overseas institutions and individuals who profit by vilifying caricatured, self-aggrandizing Americans.

But can a foreign nation’s political pariah become America’s president? Can another country’s population or leadership have a direct effect on U.S. politics? There is no simple answer.  READ MORE

Turkey shoot with Russia damages alliance against ISIS

Russia is an active player and a necessary participant in any potential Syrian cease-fire and solution. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has worked overtime with his Russian counterpart to find an acceptable compromise under very difficult and bloody circumstances.

America rightfully continues to object to Russia’s Crimean annexation and unwavering support oSyrian President Bashar Assad. Despite this reality, the Obama administration seems prepared to work with Russia toward a more important and immediate goal: Jointly fighting and defeating ISIS.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan acted recklessly when his country shot down a Russian warplane, and the costs for his action get passed to others, says commentator Markos Kounalakis. Yasin Bulbul Presidential Press Service

Achieving a real Russian-American anti-ISIS fight is tough enough in this environment, and there is added pressure for collaboration following the Paris, Sharm el Sheikh and San Bernardino terror attacks.

Despite the poisoned political climate, Russia and the United States were making diplomatic progress … until America’s NATO ally Turkey shot down a transgressing Russian fighter jet. As a result, Turkey derailed talks and temporarily killed any Russo-American deal.

Even worse, when Turkey downed the Russian Su-24, it could have triggered immediate Russian retaliation. Tensions between NATO and Russia reached a post-Cold War peak. Some analysts suggested Turkey’s hair-trigger action brought us to the brink of World War III.  Read more

TV Commentary on President Obama's Oval Office Speech

On-air this Sunday evening (12/6) at KRON 4 following President Obama's Oval Office speech. Good to get a chance to discuss president's assurances and strategies. Good crew at the TV station, great questions, and enough time for dialogue.

View the video below...

Give Middle East refugees a fighting chance

Boots on the ground are the only means by which Islamic State will be ultimately denied its safe havens inside Syria and Iraq. Both feared and favored, boots means young men grinding out military victories and suffering unexpected defeats house by house, street by street in a foreign land far away.

Military planners agree that air campaigns can help contain Islamic State and that intelligence can tip off the world to planned attacks. But there is no cheap, easy or effective way to kill the culprits who are plotting the strategic collapse of civilized society. Boots on the ground are necessary for defeating them where they now freely organize and operate.

The question becomes: Whose boots?

A police officer organizes a throng queuing to get registered at a refugee center in the southern Serbian town of Presevo. Middle East refugees should be invited to join a new military force and given the training, resources and support needed to defeat Islamic State and liberate their homelands. Darko Vojinovic The Associated Press

Recent experience shows American boots should be the very last ones to hit the ground in the current fight. France and Russia have just suffered horrendous tragedies, but they should keep their troops off the battlefield, too. A big part of Islamic State’s strategy is to hit the civilized world with high-visibility, horrifying attacks as in Paris and lure foreign fighting forces onto their territory and into their trap.  Read more

Adding to America’s rogues’ list of unsavory but friendly leaders

President Franklin D. Roosevelt is attributed as saying that Nicaraguan dictator “(Anastasio) Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch.” In a world of fair-weather friends and intensifying adversaries, the United States’ political leaders must make unsavory trade-offs about the quality of global relationships.

In many cases, an American president has to choose to ally himself with the devil he knows rather than an unknown and untested one. If known devils are democratically elected, it makes the choice easier but still distasteful.

A supporter of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, holds a portrait of Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as people celebrate outside AKP headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 1, 2015. Turkey’s ruling party secured a stunning victory in last Sunday’s snap parliamentary election, sweeping back into single-party rule only five months after losing it. Emrah Gurel The Associated Press

At the start of November, one of America’s SOBs got another electoral win in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party, known as AKP, ran a nasty campaign where domestic political opponents were characterized as terrorists and fear was the musical score of the nationally orchestrated vote. AKP’s ruling majority assures Erdogan will be Turkey’s unchallenged ruler and an all-powerful regional force.

Erdogan goes out of his way to jail journalists, kill Kurds, injure Israel and bolster Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.  Read More

The feminist was a spook

Gloria Steinem’s new book, “My Life on the Road,” recounts her life’s journeys and travels. Early reviews and profiles reveal incredible detail of Steinem’s barrier-breaking feminist role, liberalism, romances and style.

What is often missed, or mischaracterized, is the work she did as a CIA agent: Steinem was a spook.

Often missed in her body of work is Gloria Steinem’s time as an agent with the CIA in the 1950s and ’60s. Seth Wenig The Associated Press

CIA agents are tight-lipped, but Steinem spoke openly about her relationship to The Agency in the 1950s and ’60s after a magazine revealed her employment by a CIA front organization, the Independent Research Service.

While popularly pilloried because of her paymaster, Steinem defended the CIA relationship, saying: “In my experience, The Agency was completely different from its image; it was liberal, nonviolent and honorable.”  Read more 

U.N., underwater gas reserves help solve Cyprus split

New York was buzzing last week with global deal making and policy baking at the United Nations General Assembly. UNGA is what wonks call the meetings that mark the annual start of the intensive foreign policy season for world leaders, bringing together under one domed roof bullies and brainiacs. This annual U.N. conclave provides a time and space for allies and adversaries to try to play nice and make peace.

The U.N. gets a bad rap from many American policymakers and pundits, though Donald Trump is willing to renovate the place and save it a billion dollars. There are plenty of things wrong with an unwieldy body that weights democratic and dictatorial voices equally and gives disproportionate heft to blocs and beneficiaries, sinners and supplicants.

But every once in a while, the U.N. brings about solutions to seemingly intractable international problems. It is currently on the verge of solving the 41-year-old division of Cyprus.

Cyprus was a united country until 1974 when it was invaded by Turkish forces. Since then, it has been a bifurcated state with a poor Turkish-Cypriot north and a surviving and relatively thriving Greek-Cypriot south.

UNGA watchers focused on the pronouncements, popularity or posturing of leaders from China, India, Russia, Cuba and Washington, D.C., while in the shadows, dedicated diplomats hashed away at ending a multigenerational U.N. peacekeeping mission. For the first time in years, it appears that peace may actually be at hand for the Mediterranean island nation.  Read more.

The Press & Pressure: A critical discourse analysis of the promotion of "Responsibility to Protect" or "Sovereignty" narratives in the on-going Syrian crisis

The popular concept that journalism is a moderating check on an aggressive state – one that operates in a world dictated by Realism’s demands for power and survival – is solace both for society and individual journalists who believe in the peaceful calling of the profession and the power of the Fourth Estate. But what happens when data and a discursive analysis of news organizations indicates that rather than favoring diplomatic solutions and peaceful resolutions, journalism is both fueling the flames of fear and fostering aggressive military postures that may favor confrontational nationalist rather that peaceful internationalist outcomes? This paper analyzes news and opinion production in both the Chinese and American press to conclude that in the case of the on-going conflict in Syria, the states themselves, while in conflict on the promotion of policies that reflect either the “Responsibility to Protect” (United States) or that of “Sovereignty” (China), are more aligned with diplomatic resolution than the press.

Click here to go to download this research paper.