| The Mid-Life Crisis of the EU
The 50th birthday of the European Union, born in Rome in March 1957 as the European Economic Community or Common Market -- of Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg -- was a pallid affair. Understandably so. For though the EU has expanded to embrace 27 nations and boasts an economy equal to that of the United States, it is like a man well into middle-age whose career accomplishments are behind him. The EU birthday party was further proof, were any needed, that no transnational institution can elicit the love and loyalty of a country. World Government is a vision of elites no patriot will ever embrace. Men have died in the millions for Poland, France, Italy, England and Germany. Who would walk through fire for the European Union? The EU's champions claim its great achievement is to have kept the peace of Europe.
Unbalanced Security: The Divide between State and Defense
On February 7, 2007 Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice informed the House Foreign Relations Committee that she had requested 129 military employees to fill State Department positions in support of the President’s new Iraq plan. Officials at the Pentagon, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, bristled at the request—insisting that they had personnel shortages of their own. This vignette may appear to be just another incident of bureaucratic turf battles, yet it has dramatic and far-reaching implications, both for national security and for the U.S. Government. Beneath this tussle lies a first order national security policy dilemma: What should our government’s division of labor be for the post Cold War security environment? And, how should manpower and funding resources be distributed to prepare for this environment? Sixteen years after the Cold War’s end, the United States still lacks a comprehensive governmental process that takes into account the dramatic changes in the global security environment—a failure to act that inhibits America’s ability to deal with today’s challenges and will frustrate our ability to take advantage of tomorrow’s opportunities.
Parsing the numbers
Because economic health is so often linked with growth, be in it population or income or spending, there is a measure of good news in the latest population estimates from the Census Bureau. The Cincinnati metro area grew about 4.7 percent between April 2000 and July 1, 2006, the report said. That sure beats Cleveland, which lost population during the period. And the 2,104,218 men, women and children estimated to live here make Cincinnati the 25th largest region in the United States. That's a comedown from the glory days when we were the Queen City of the West. But 25th largest in the U.S. still isn't too shabby, all things considered. Then again, our growth rate lagged such rival regions as Louisville (5.1 percent), Columbus (7 percent) Indianapolis (9.2 percent) and Nashville (10.9 percent.) The Census numbers hold other considerations that ought to trigger a bit of reflection.
The 2007 Irving Kristol Lecture by Bernard Lewis
Thank you, Vice President and Mrs. Cheney, ladies and gentlemen. As you have been told, I have studied a number of languages, but I cannot find words in any of them adequate to express my feeling of gratitude for the honor and appreciation which I have been shown this evening. All I can say is thank you. My topic this evening is Europe and Islam. But let me begin with a word of personal explanation. You are accustomed for the most part to hearing from people with direct practical involvement in military and intelligence matters. I cannot offer you that. My direct involvement with military and intelligence matters ended quite a long time ago--to be precise, on 31 August 1945, when I left His Majesty's Service and returned to the university to join with colleagues in trying to cope with a six-year backlog of battle-scarred undergraduates.
For Turkey and the EU, Another Bend in the Road
Nearly 18 months after the official launch of Turkey's membership negotiations, the EU agreed Wednesday (28 March) to open talks with Ankara on enterprise and industrial policy, the second out of 35 chapters a candidate country must complete to join the 27-nation union. Turkey's chief negotiator with the EU, Ali Babacan, told reporters that the move is an "important indicator that Turkey's EU process is on track". The negotiations, which ran aground in December because of the dispute involving Cyprus, have "restarted in an appropriate way", Babacan said. So far, Ankara and Brussels have completed talks on one chapter -- science and research. Under an EU decision taken in December 2006, eight other chapters -- free movement of goods, right of establishment and freedom to provide services, financial services, agriculture and rural development, fisheries, transport policy, customs union, and external relations -- remain frozen.
Senior Nishita Trisal Awarded Fulbright Grant; Will Teach English ...
April 6, 2007, Greencastle, Ind. - DePauw University senior Nishita Trisal will spend a year in Indonesia teaching English to young people as a result of receiving an international graduate study and research grant through the 2007-08 Fulbright U.S. Student Program competition. Fulbright student grants aim to increase mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchange while serving as a catalyst for long-term leadership development. "I was quite shocked when I received the acceptance letter," Trisal says. "There are countless deserving individuals and I'm lucky to have been selected. Opportunities such as these seem so inaccessible, but are more possible than we think. I really want to encourage DePauw students to apply next year." Trisal immigated to the United States from India in 1993, at the age of eight.
Sport's odd couple
They could be considered a sporting equivalent of the 'odd couple' but Peter Leonard and John Denley share an unrivalled passion for their sports. Between them they have clocked up over 100 years in sport playing, refereeing and in administration and they show no signs of throwing in the towel. Sports reporter Stu Piddington takes a look at what makes them tick. Email a Friend | Printable View | Have Your Say .
Campaign Day 51: GO wallops TU anew in survey
The 12-0 sweep predicted by candidates of Team Unity appeared a long shot if the latest survey result of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) will be used as basis'),'digg'); return false;">Digg this | Campaign Day 51 GO wallops TU anew in survey')+'&bodytext=' + encodeURIComponent('The 12-0 sweep predicted by candidates of Team Unity appeared a long shot if the latest survey result of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) will be used as basis'),'del.icio.us'); return false;">Add to del.icio.us .
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