Let Them Eat Cake!
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The Chicago Tribune reported Thursday on IPCC predictions that the impending climate crisis will have intense ramifications on water and food -- reducing the availability and increasing the costs of each.  This is particularly disturbing, because these commodities are already in short supply in the parts of the world that are most vulnerable to the effects of warming.  There are already millions of people without access to sanitary water for drinking and cleaning, and food prices are already spiking and causing trouble for aid organizations like the UN's World Food Program.  History has taught us that a scarcity of necessary resources leads to violent conflict.  Droughts are largely responsible for sparking violence in Darfur, and Ban Ki-Moon himself has implicated global warming in that case.  This is another in a long list of reasons why governments should take immediate action to quell the climate crisis.  After all, the price of bread has brought down more than one regime.

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October 10, 2008


A U.S.-UN History Lesson in Georgia
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(The following was originally written in August 2008.)

Commentators looking to explain the recent Russo-Georgian conflict by analyzing American foreign policy have found no dearth of candidate provocations. America's support for Georgian membership in NATO, its recognition of Kosovo's independence, and its open planning to install missile defense programs in Eastern Europe all likely contributed to Russia's willingness to exert its influence in the region by force. By and large, however, these speculations have focused on the proximate causes of the past few months. The most significant American contribution to instability in Georgia, however, may actually have occurred some 15 years ago--and its story provides more resounding lessons for U.S.-UN policy than it does for U.S.-Russia relations.

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