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Zero Nukes
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
An important and inspiring new group, Global Zero, launched in Paris this week with a goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons in 20 to 25 years.
More than 100 prominent military, political, faith, and business leaders met in Paris and delegations then visited both Washington and Moscow to push Global Zero's program. The group sees this as a watershed moment -- with President-elect Barack Obama declaring his support for a nuclear-free world and polling in 21 countries indicating 76% favorability for a timetable leading to the elimination of nukes. Through diplomacy and a global public education campaign, Global Zero will work toward a binding verifiable agreement to eliminate nuclear weapons. The US and Russia still possess 96% of the world's nukes so the organization sees reductions there as a key first step towards achieving its goal and bringing other nations on board.
There are many prominent figures involved with the group. Some of the signatories include: Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Lawrence Bender, Sandy Berger, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Joe Cirincione, Michael Douglas, Lawrence Eagleburger, Chuck Hagel, Lee Hamilton, Frank Von Hippel, Anthony Lake, Robert McNamara, David Owen, Thomas Pickering, Mary Robinson, Jonathan Schell (see below), Nation contributor Martin Sherwin, Desmond Tutu, Muhammad Yunnus, Anthony Zinni, Ehsan Ul-Haq, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Pakistan, and Brajesh Mishra, former Indian National Security Advisor.
(50) CommentsDecember 13, 2008
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The Blagojevich Moment
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
It is absolutely mind boggling to read of the pay-to-play corruption gone wild in the indictment against Governor Rod Blagojevich -- from withholding money for a children's hospital unless given campaign contributions, to trying to sell a Senate seat to the highest bidder, to demanding editors be fired by the Tribune Company in exchange for help selling Wrigley Field, to speeding up all of these efforts before a new ethics law taking effect this January 1…. not to mention the egomaniacal profanity with which Blagojevich issued his demands.
But beyond the shock and sadness of this moment, what's key is something that novelist Scott Turow zeroed in on in a New York Times editorial today. He writes, "I hope the governor's arrest galvanizes public outrage and at last speeds reform."
Hit the nail on the head.
(68) CommentsDecember 10, 2008
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To Spend or Not to Spend?
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
One day after the government reported the worst hemorrhaging of jobs in a month since 1974 -- with 533,000 jobs lost in November -- President-elect Barack Obama revealed aspects of his (hopefully sufficiently) ambitious plan for a stimulus package that would save or create a minimum of 2.5 million jobs while investing in our long-term infrastructure.
Obama's plan includes investments in bridges and roads, schools, sewer systems, mass transit and other public utilities. The New York Times reports that investments in green jobs might be to the tune of $100 billion over two years, "including jobs dedicated to creating alternative fuels, windmills and solar panels; building energy efficient appliances, or installing fuel-efficient heating or cooling systems."
There is speculation that the entire package will run anywhere from $400 billion to $1 trillion, and Democratic leadership wants the legislation ready for Obama's signature on Inauguration Day.
(54) CommentsDecember 9, 2008
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Shinseki--The General Who Battled Rumsfeld
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
In June 2003 I wrote about how General Eric Shinseki, the Army Chief of Staff, was shunted aside by the arrogant civilians running Defense--Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith. ( I post the blog below.)
Reading between the lines of his 2003 Farewell Address, Shinseki blasted these men---men who not only exaggerated the threat Iraq posed, but gravely underestimated the problems of postwar occupation.
On December 7th, the 67th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President-Elect Obama will nominate the retired General-- the highest ranking Asian-American in US military history (he is Japanese-American)-- to head the Department of Veteran Affairs. The Department, second largest after Defense (with 240,000 employees) administers health and other benefits for active military and veterans. It is underfunded, antiquated and stretched to the breaking point by a war this country should never have waged.
(57) CommentsDecember 6, 2008
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Bread, Bombs, and the Big Stimulus
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
In 2007, over 37 million Americans, or 12.5 percent of the US population, lived below the federal poverty line--$21,200 for a family of four (well below the income truly required to make ends meet in our economy.) And now, as we head into this deepening recession, we're looking at a jump in the number of people living in poverty.
According to a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), based on Goldman Sachs' projection of a 9 percent unemployment rate by the end of 2009, the number of Americans living in poverty will increase from 7.5 to 10.3 million people, of which 3.3 million total will be poor children, with 1.5 to 2 million more children living in families with incomes below half of the poverty line, or what is called "deep poverty". (CBPP's numbers are consistent with the rise in poverty relative to the increase in unemployment over the last three recessions.)
What's even more ominous about the current recession as compared to those of the past, the CBPP report warns, is the truly depleted state of the safety net: "Because this recession is likely to be deep and the government safety net for very poor families who lack jobs has weakened significantly in recent years, increases in deep poverty in this recession are likely to be severe."
(76) CommentsDecember 3, 2008
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Robert Gates: Wrong Man for the Job
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Barack Obama not only had the good judgment to oppose the war in Iraq but , as he told us earlier this year, "I want to end the mindset that got us into war." So it is troubling that a man of such good judgment has asked Robert Gates to stay on as Secretary of Defense--and assembled a national security team of such narrow bandwidth. It is true that President Obama will set the policy. But this team makes it more difficult to seize the extraordinary opportunity Obama's election has offered to reengage the world and reset America's priorities. Maybe being right about the greatest foreign policy disaster in US history doesn't mean much inside the Beltway? How else to explain that not a single top member of Obama's foreign policy/national security team opposed the war--or the dubious claims leading up to it?
The appointment of Hillary Clinton, who failed to oppose the war, has worried many. But I am more concerned about Gates. I spent the holiday weekend reading many of the speeches Hillary Clinton gave in her trips abroad as First Lady, especially those delivered at the UN Beijing Women's Conference and the Vital Voices Conferences, and I believe she will carve out an important role as Secretary of State through elevating women's (and girl's) rights as human rights. As she said in Belfast in 1998, "Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights." That is not to diminish her hawkish record on several issues, but as head of State she is in a position to put diplomacy back at the center of US foreign policy role--and reduce the Pentagon's.
It's the appointment of Gates which has a dispiriting, stay-the-course feel to it. Some will argue, and I've engaged in my fair share of such arguments, that Gates will simply be carrying out Obama's policies and vision. And a look at history shows that other great reform Presidents--Lincoln and Roosevelt--brought people into their cabinets who were old Washington hands or people they believed to be effective managers. Like Obama, they confronted historic challenges that compelled (and enabled) them to make fundamental change. But Gates will undoubtedly help to shape policy and determine which issues are given priority. And while Gates has denounced "the gutting" of America's "soft power," he has been vocally opposed to Obama's Iraq withdrawal plan. And at a time when people like Henry Kissinger and George Shultz are calling for steps toward a world free of nuclear weapons (a position Obama has adopted), Gates has been calling for a new generation of nuclear weapons.
(101) CommentsDecember 1, 2008
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Andy Stern on the New Moment
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Like any reformer, SEIU President Andy Stern has his admirers and his critics. I understand the critics' arguments. But I also think Stern is a visionary labor figure. When in history were heretics well liked? Yet their ideas are worth hearing.
Yesterday, Stern came to The Nation offices along with Change to Win Chair and SEIU International Secretary-Treasure, Anna Burger, to discuss this new moment in the country's history and what kind of strategic thinking will be needed moving forward. Their mood was optimistic--as well it should be, since labor spent some $450 million in the 2008 races, contributed mightily to massive voter outreach and mobilization and saw their candidates win.
"It's a different world – the free market ideology has been discredited," Stern said. This was "a clear election not on small things." And he argues, "We've redefined the center. Universal health care is now centrist."
(25) CommentsNovember 25, 2008
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Let's Be Clear About Obama
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
There are some interesting conversations and debates underway at thenation.com (see especially Chris Hayes at Capitolism, "Left Out") and in the progressive blogosphere (see Glenn Greenwald, Jane Hamsher, Digby and David Sirota about why Obama has so few progressives among his cabinet picks.) It's worth checking them out.
I think that we progressives need to be as clear-eyed, tough and pragmatic about Obama as he is about us.
President-elect Obama is a centrist at a time when centrism means energy independence and green jobs and universal health care and massive economic stimulus programs and government intervention in the economy. He is a pragmatist at a moment when pragmatism and the scale of our financial crisis compel him to adopt bold policies. He is a cautious leader at a time when, to paraphrase New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, caution is the new risky.The great traumas of our day do not allow for cautious steps or responses.
(136) CommentsNovember 23, 2008
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Smart Defense
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Last month, Congressman Barney Frank called for a 25 percent cut in the defense budget--approximately $150 billion in annual spending--saying, "We don't need all these fancy new weapons. I think there needs to be additional review."
Predictably, the Republican backlash was swift. House Minority Leader John Boehner called Frank "incredibly irresponsible." House Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee ranking member John McHugh (R-NY) labeled the proposed reduction "unconscionable." Democrats--especially those on the House Armed Services Committee --didn't exactly embrace Frank's target, either.
But Congressman Frank isn't backing down. In an e-mail to me yesterday he wrote, "Much of the reduction will come from ending the war in Iraq and from cutting unneeded weapons systems. I believe that it's appropriate to reduce defense spending, and this is a goal I wanted to set. I don't have specific details at this point, but I will be working with my colleagues to identify weapons systems that we can reduce, and I also want to look at drawing down the number of our overseas bases."
(50) CommentsNovember 18, 2008
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Ideas for Change
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
Mark Green, president of the New Democracy Project and Air America, called me on the phone the other day to talk about the now released book he co-edited, Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President.
"So it turns out that these past eight years in the wilderness allowed--or compelled--scores of progressive thinkers to do promising work in think tanks, universities, congressional offices," he said.
Green told me he approached Center for American Progress (CAP) president John Podesta (now on leave to serve as transition chief for President Obama) in December 2006 about gathering together "the best thinking of progressive scholars, activists, and officials into a one-stop shopping, comprehensive volume discussing how to move from a conservative to progressive presidency." Green edited a similar book for President Clinton in 1991 and wanted to repeat the effort for the 2008 cycle.
(48) CommentsNovember 13, 2008
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Katrina vanden Heuvel
Thoughts on politics, current affairs, riffs and reflections on what’s in the news and what’s not--but should be.
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