The RAND Blog

The RAND Blog

  • Iran

    commentary

    Iran's Real Winners: The Revolutionary Guards

    Despite the huge protests on the streets of Tehran, Iranian President Ahmadinejad has once again triumphed. A relative newcomer to Iranian politics, Ahmadinejad's re-election and subsequent crackdown on the demonstrators suggest that the Iranian political system is moving in a new and potentially dangerous direction, writes Alireza Nader.

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    Jun 22, 2009

    RAND.org

    Alireza Nader

  • commentary

    The Science of Health Care Reform

    It is time for physicians to commit as a profession to helping the President and Congress achieve the vision of a new health care system by improving the way medicine is practiced, writes Robert Brook.

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    Jun 17, 2009

    The Journal of the American Medical Association

    Robert H. Brook

  • Security Cooperation

    commentary

    Getting Value from the U.S.-ROK Summit

    For months, North Korea has been trying to upstage the summit between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and U.S. President Barack Obama that is scheduled for June 16. Almost all Americans I know have heard of these North Korean provocations. But few have heard anything about the U.S.-ROK summit, writes Bruce Bennett.

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    Jun 15, 2009

    The Korea Herald

    Bruce W. Bennett

  • commentary

    BRIC-à-Brac

    The leaders of the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—hold their first stand-alone summit in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Tuesday, June 16. The timing of the BRIC summit, just a few weeks before U.S. President Barack Obama's arrival in Moscow and the G-8 meeting in L'Aquila, Italy, is hardly accidental, writes Andrew S. Weiss.

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    Jun 15, 2009

    ForeignPolicy.com

    Andrew S. Weiss

  • Security Cooperation

    commentary

    Lebanon Vote Tilts to the West

    The result of Sunday's parliamentary elections in Lebanon is a boon for the United States, but it also presents a challenge. The U.S. would be well-advised to play for the long term in Lebanon with a pragmatic policy that deals with the reality of Hezbollah's political power while continuing to strengthen moderate forces and national institutions, write Aram Nerguizian and Ghassan Schbley.

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    Jun 10, 2009

    The Washington Times

    Aram Nerguizian, Ghassan Schbley

  • Lebanon

    commentary

    Living with the Outcome: Elections in Lebanon

    Lebanon is scheduled to hold elections Sunday [June 7], and the pro-Western political alliance favored by the United States may lose. If it does, the Obama Administration should not consider the result a triumph for Hezbollah, but a challenge, write Aram Nerguizian and Ghassan Schbley.

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    Jun 5, 2009

    GlobalSecurity.org

    Aram Nerguizian, Ghassan Schbley

  • Nuclear Deterrence

    commentary

    No Surprise in Failure to Deter N. Korea

    North Korea's latest misbehavior highlights an uncomfortable truth: the failure of the United States and the international community to deter North Korean actions. In this case, it is pretty easy to see why North Korea has not been deterred, writes Bruce Bennett.

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    Jun 2, 2009

    Chicago Tribune

    Bruce W. Bennett

  • International Diplomacy

    commentary

    Rethink Washington's 'War of Ideas'

    The term

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    Jun 2, 2009

    The Christian Science Monitor

    Christopher Paul

  • Pakistan

    commentary

    A Better Bargain for Aid to Pakistan

    All told, since 2001, the United States has spent about $12 billion to help Pakistan. Yet last month, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared Pakistan a

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    May 30, 2009

    The Washington Post

    C. Christine Fair

  • commentary

    Public Libraries Are Needed Now More Than Ever

    What Pittsburgh attraction provides $3 of economic output for every public dollar invested? The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. If you find this factoid unlikely, it is because the research that discovered it received an astounding lack of attention, write Susan Everingham and Sally Sleeper.

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    May 29, 2009

    Pittsburgh Business Times

    Susan M. Sohler Everingham, Sally Sleeper

  • European Union

    commentary

    The Cracks in Data Privacy

    For almost 15 years, Europe has led the world in protecting personal data. At the EU level, it has done this through the data-protection directive adopted in 1995. But surveys such as one carried out by Eurobarometer last year illustrate that Europeans now feel insufficiently protected, write Lorenzo Valeri and Neil Robinson.

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    May 19, 2009

    European Voice

    Lorenzo Valeri, Neil Robinson

  • Counterinsurgency

    commentary

    Countering the Military's Latest Fad: Counterinsurgency

    When Defense Secretary Gates announced that he was dismissing Gen. McKiernan as the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan and replacing him with Lt. Gen. McChrystal, he signaled his support for an intellectual movement that in a few short years has come to dominate military thinking in Washington, writes Celeste Ward.

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    May 17, 2009

    The Washington Post

    Celeste Gventer

  • Illegal Drug Trade

    commentary

    Assessing Mexico's Narco-Violence

    Drug-related violence in Mexico has more than doubled over the past 18 months, with a sharp increase in crimes that can only be understood as atrocities. The executions, assassinations, and decapitations may all seem wanton and senseless. But this violence actually has a purpose, write Benjamin Bahney and Agnes Gereben Schaefer.

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    May 14, 2009

    The San Diego Union-Tribune

    Benjamin Bahney, Agnes Gereben Schaefer

  • Security Cooperation

    commentary

    Pakistan, Taliban and Global Security – Part II

    For every good reason, the Obama Administration is devoting enormous thought to Pakistan. In my judgment, the evolving situation in Pakistan is potentially the most dangerous international situation since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis, writes Robert Blackwill.

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    May 12, 2009

    YaleGlobal Online

    Robert D. Blackwill

  • commentary

    The Future of US-India Relations

    The combination of our largely overlapping vital national interests and shared democratic values should produce a bright future for strategic collaboration between New Delhi and Washington in future decades. But in the immediate period before us, our bilateral ties are likely to be more problematical than we have seen in recent years. I want to stress that there is nothing inevitable about this, says Robert D. Blackwill.

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    May 6, 2009

    Financial Times online

    Robert D. Blackwill