The Cold War between Saudi Arabia and Iran In the calculus of Middle Eastern power politics, Saudi Arabia and Iran stand on the opposing axes of power. The nations suffer an ongoing cold war, originating in the Iranian Revolution, and have recently waged a series of proxy wars. Changing levels of U.S. engagement in the … Read more
In summer 2008, I took part in the overheated swarm of high school students at programs in DC, studying U.S. foreign policy by day and arguing with pasty-faced Wilsonians by night. On an outing to Capitol Hill, I headed to the Cannon House Office Building, following the crowd wisdom that Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) would … Read more
One of the benefits of living with people who make their academic homes in seven different Harvard departments is that you get some pretty interesting tidbits that you wouldn’t hear otherwise. My music major roommate, for instance, recently sent an email to our email list: Just realized this: the music in Rick Perry’s new anti-gay … Read more
Pushing the Envelope in “Spring Awakening” Harvard FML, the addicting symposium of academic and sexual frustration, shows that not much has changed in the 120 years since Frank Wedekind’s “Spring Awakening” was written. There are posts about pregnancy scares and abuse. There are frustrating questions submitted to the void about not knowing if Harvard is … Read more
The Great Euro Crisis of 2011 looms large. Gaping sovereign debts have led investors to doubt the ability of several European countries – from Greece to Italy to even France – to pay back their debts. Interest rates have shot up across the Eurozone, adding fire to the flame of Europe’s burning fiscal houses. An … Read more
Pushing the Envelope in “Spring Awakening” Harvard FML, the addicting symposium of academic and sexual frustration, shows that not much has changed in the 120 years since Frank Wedekind’s “Spring Awakening” was written. There are posts about pregnancy scares and abuse. There are frustrating questions submitted to the void about not knowing if Harvard is … Read more
Each night at the White House, Barack Obama gets handed what he calls his “homework packet”: a three-ring binder filled with policy memos, intelligence briefings. Yet it is a slim purple folder that he often reaches for first. Inside the folder are ten letters carefully selected by Mike Kelleher, the director of the White House … Read more
Somaliland may be the most stable, tranquil, and smoothest functioning democracy that officially does not exist. Its 2010 presidential election saw the peaceful replacement of the incumbent, Dahir Riyale Kahin, with a member of one of the legislature’s two effective opposition parties. The streets are relatively safe, the navy is chalked full of internationally accredited officers, … Read more
A Transformative Reflection The late Justice William Brennan stated that “the genius of the Constitution rests not in any static meaning it might have had in a world that is dead and gone, but in the adaptability of its great principles to cope with current problems and current needs.” Justice Brennan holds a reputation for … Read more
The allegedly transformed state of treason When is a citizen guilty of treason? The Treason Clause in the U.S. Constitution was written to prosecute Americans who betrayed the country on the behalf of enemy nation-states. For much of the United States’ history, the charge was a substantial one: rarely invoked, and usually only then against … Read more