Asheville: There is already civil war in Iraq. It is disingenuous to call these events “unexpected.” Anyone who studies the history of the Middle East with any seriousness could see that the Baathist Hussein government was the only thing preventing all-out warfare. War between Sunni and Shia was the inevitable result of a decades-long, brutally … Continue reading 2014 Symposium: What is the future of Iraq? Are we going to allow Iraq to be controlled by ISIL? Will Iraq break into three countries? Will there be a civil war in Iraq?
World Affairs
2014 Symposium: Do we need to re-think our overall foreign policy?
Asheville: The biggest foreign policy change of the last 30 years has been a shift toward drone-based force projection and away from troop deployment. On one hand, this has been a very beneficial step. Drone forces cost much less and put fewer lives at risk. On the other, though, this policy has been an unmitigated … Continue reading 2014 Symposium: Do we need to re-think our overall foreign policy?
2013 Symposium: Is There A Country That Had A National Health Programme That Actually Works Efficiently?
Cartwright: No. Any national run health programme suffers from vast inefficiencies and healthcare rationing. The National Health Service in Great Britain has long been plagued by problems like lack of doctors and long wait times to see a doctor. What happened? People got tired and started finding private insurors and private doctors. Did it cost … Continue reading 2013 Symposium: Is There A Country That Had A National Health Programme That Actually Works Efficiently?
Are Economic & Environmental Disasters an Unfortunate Aspect of Capitalism?
From Thinking Outside the Boxe’s Sydney Correspondent In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis a lot of blame and anger was focused on people who work in finance. Others took a broader approach and believe that capitalism itself is to blame. Naomi Klein's book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is often … Continue reading Are Economic & Environmental Disasters an Unfortunate Aspect of Capitalism?
Obama’s Asian Pivot
From Thinking Outside the Boxe’s Sydney Correspondent Since 2001 American military operations have unsurprisingly focused on the Middle East - in particular the two wars in Iraq and the current operations in Afghanistan that are drawing to an end. It is not within the scope of this article to question whether these wars were justified … Continue reading Obama’s Asian Pivot
Symposium 2012: Should the U.S. be involved in removing Assad from power in Syria?
Orlando: No. It’s not our problem. Is he a ruthless dictator? Yes. Has he misappropriated billions of dollars of the Syrian peoples’ money? Yes. Is he killing his own people? Yes. Do we know that the ‘freedom fighters’ are the good guys? No. Do we know that the ‘freedom fighters’ aren’t actually terrorists? No. This … Continue reading Symposium 2012: Should the U.S. be involved in removing Assad from power in Syria?
Symposium 2012: Will Egypt revert to a dictatorship
Cartwright: Hasn’t it already? Look, here’s the reality. Many people in many countries throughout the world have been ruled by kings or pharos or dictators for much of known history. These people don’t know democracy, and while it’s an admirable goal to spread democracy, it just isn’t feasible. These people can’t handle it. They need … Continue reading Symposium 2012: Will Egypt revert to a dictatorship
Symposium 2012: Has America lost its role as a superpower?
Orlando: If we’re not a superpower then who is? Russia? China? France? Germany? We’re the only game in town. We’re it. We are the world’s superpower. We have been for a long time and I hope we will be for a long time to come but I’m not too sure about that. We have the … Continue reading Symposium 2012: Has America lost its role as a superpower?
Symposium 2012: What criteria should the U.S. use in assessing military intervention in other countries?
Orlando: Is there an identifiable and imminent threat to the United States or our overseas interests or our allies? We could also extend this to include if there is an imminent threat to the world. If there’s no threat to us directly or our interests, why should we be involved? I’m not going to rehash … Continue reading Symposium 2012: What criteria should the U.S. use in assessing military intervention in other countries?
Symposium 2012: Is a trade war with China looming on the horizon?
Cartwright: A trade war with China would be the worst thing we could do. I’m tired of hearing everyone bitch and moan about how China is taking jobs from America. The simple fact is that we can’t compete with their low wage labor. They’re producing goods with every bit as much quality or even better … Continue reading Symposium 2012: Is a trade war with China looming on the horizon?
