Environmentalists Outraged as Ryan Zinke Says California Fires Have Nothing to do with Climate Change
The Washington Examiner | August 13, 2018 By Josh Siegel Environmentalists criticized Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke on Monday for blaming the wildfires raging through California on forest management and claiming that climate change has not played a role in the blazes. Zinke, on a two-day tour of areas devastated by the Carr Fire in Redding, Calif., […]
America’s former top military official chides Trump’s ‘Space Force’ proposal, says it was ‘raffled off,’ and tells Congress to ‘sort this out’
Business Insider | August 10, 2018 By John Haltiwanger President Donald Trump’s call for the Department of Defense to create a new branch of the military dubbed the “Space Force” continues to face opposition from former and current military officials. The latest example came from former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey, […]
Nicholas Institute Selects Five Duke Projects for Catalyst Program Seed Funding
July 2, 2018 Five projects received funding in the second year of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions’ Catalyst Program. The program aims to build on the Nicholas Institute’s mission by increasing engagement with Duke University faculty to incubate and advance new partnerships, enhance policy-relevant knowledge, and create innovative policy solutions based on new creative […]
US Intel Report on Russian Meddling ‘shabby & politically motivated’ – Ex-US Envoy to Soviet Union
Russian Times | July 5, 2018 A former US ambassador to the Soviet Union has slammed the intelligence report on alleged Russian election meddling, saying it lacks hard facts and omits relevant agencies, while media and politicians have failed to ask questions. Jack Matlock served as US ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to […]
Musings II … The “Intelligence Community,” “Russian Interference,” and Due Diligence
June 29, 2018 By Jack F. Matlock Jr. Did the U.S. “Intelligence Community” judge that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election? Most commentators seem to think so. Every news report I have read of the planned meeting of Presidents Trump and Putin in July refers to “Russian interference” as a fact and asks whether the […]
Amid ‘Russiagate’ Hysteria, What Are the Facts?
The Nation | June 1, 2018 By Jack F. Matlock Jr. Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” That saying—often misattributed to Euripides—comes to mind most mornings when I pick up The New York Times and read the latest “Russiagate” headlines, which are frequently featured across two or three columns on the front page above the […]
Gorbachev Arrives in Washington for Summit, May 30, 1990
Politico | May 30, 2018 By Andrew Glass On this day in 1990, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrived in Washington, D.C., for three days of talks with President George H.W. Bush. A potentially reunited Germany and its future place in Europe served as one focal point for the summit meeting. At the time, Gorbachev faced […]
Congress Approves First Big Dodd-Frank Rollback
The New York Times | May 22, 2018 By Alan Rappeport and Emily Fliter A decade after the global financial crisis tipped the United States into a recession, Congress agreed on Tuesday to free thousands of small and medium-sized banks from strict rules that had been enacted as part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank law to […]
Republican Farm Bill Could Threaten 58.5 Million Acres of Forest Land, Conservationists Say
Newsweek | May 14, 2018 By Nicole Goodkind A new Republican piece of legislation will threaten about 58.5 million acres, or 91,000 square miles, of protected forest land, environmental activists say. The Farm Bill, an all-encompassing multi-year piece of legislation that directs what happens at the Department of Agriculture, has gained attention for its proposed overhaul […]
To Make History at North Korea Summit, Trump Should Prepare Like Reagan did for Gorbachev
USA Today | May 10, 2018 By John Heubusch, Opinion contributor With the release of three U.S. detainees in North Korea and Kim Jong Un’s recent reported openness to abandoning a nuclear weapons program, President Trump has gained some ground in potentially resolving the decades-long conflict in Korea. With such high stakes, Trump and his […]