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FOCUS January - February 2012

Category - International Relations

  1. Clinton, Hillary Rodham.
    Conference on Internet Freedom.
    U.S. State Department, December 8, 2011, 6 pages.
    "This is an urgent task. It is most urgent, of course, for those around the world whose words are now censored, who are imprisoned because of what they or others have written online, who are blocked from accessing entire categories of internet content, or who are being tracked by governments seeking to keep them from connecting with one another." (From the U.S. State Department)

  2. Bush, Richard, III and others.
    Taiwan's Upcoming Presidential and Legislative Elections.
    (A Conversation with Shelley Rigger and Hsu Szu-chien)
    The Brookings Institution, December 14, 2011, 23 pages.
    "Taiwan will hold elections for president and the Legislative Yuan on January 14, 2012. Just a month before voting, the outcomes of elections for these two branches of government remain uncertain. The presidential contest is largely a race between the incumbent, Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang, and Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party." (From the Brookings Institution)

  3. Paal, Douglas H.
    Obama in Asia: Policy and Politics.
    Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, December 6, 2011, 3 pages.
    "During his ten days in the Asia-Pacific, President Obama managed to convey successfully his administration's determination to 'rebalance' American attention, influence, and investment toward Asia, and away from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." (From the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

  4. Pollack, Jonathan.
    Kim Jong-il to Kim Jong-un: North Korea in Transition.
    The Brookings Institution, December 19, 2011, 2 pages.
    "The younger Kim seems highly unlikely to step away anytime soon from the strategies inherited from his father. But can North Korea continue to remain defiant and isolated from the outside world? Might internal voices ultimately emerge that begin to challenge Kim Jong-il's grim legacy?" (From the Brookings Institution)

  5. Swaine, Michael D.
    China's Assertive Behavior: The Role of the Military in Foreign Policy.
    Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, November 28, 2011, 23 pages.
    "Although much about the interaction between China's military and those who decide its foreign policy remains unknown or only dimly understood by outsiders, a close look reveals that the military does not wield ongoing decisive influence over fundamental aspects of Beijing's foreign policy." (From the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

  6. Winkler, Sigrid.
    Biding Time: The Challenge of Taiwan's International Status.
    The Brookings Institution, November, 2011, 9 pages.
    "This article provides a long-term overview of the development of Taiwan's international status as a background for an analysis of current problems and suggestions of policy choices in light of the upcoming presidential election in 2012. A fundamental question is, how much longer can Taiwan uphold its ambiguous status quo in the international arena, and what are the government's options?" (From the Brookings Institution)

Category - Official Text

 

  1. 迎接明日的能源挑戰。
    (美國能源部副部長伯納曼 國立台灣大學演講稿 2011年12月13日星期二 台灣,台北
    )
    Tackling Future Energy Challenges. 
    (Remarks by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel B. Poneman at National Taiwan University Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Taipei, Taiwan)
    OT-1120, December 13, 2011, 15 pages.
    "I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss with you today some of the major challenges and opportunities in the 21st century energy sector and describe some of the ways that the United States and Taiwan are meeting the challenges and seizing the opportunities." (From AIT)

Category - Economics

 
  1. Dadush, Uri.
    The Long-Term Economic Outlook for the United States and its International Implications.
    Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, December 8, 2011, 6 pages.
    "The long run economic success of the United States will determine its ability to continue to provide economic and political leadership to the order it created in the aftermath of World War II." (From the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace)

  2. Jickling, Mark and Sean M. Hoskins.
    Finance and the Economy: Occupy Wall Street in Historical Perspective.
    (CRS Report for Congress)
    Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, November 14, 2011,
    11 pages.
    "This report presents examples of political statements about the fundamental costs and benefits of finance and recent economic research that points to aspects of financial activity that may not be advantageous to the real economy." (From CRS Report)

  3. Kuttner, Hanns.
    Future Marketplace: Free and Fair.
    Hudson Institute, November 29, 2011, 16 pages.
    "A free market provides buyers with the best terms and lowest prices. When that price reflects the actions of third parties, like government, the result is a distortion away from the efficient, free market price. Government actions that distort a free market include taxes, subsidies, and regulations that prefer one form of economic activity over another." (From Hudson Institute)

  4. Schell, Orville.
    "How Walmart Is Changing China."
    The Atlantic, December 2011, pp. 80-98.
    "The world's biggest corporation is attempting to set and promote environmental standards for 20,000 Chinese suppliers making hundreds of thousands of items for billions of consumers.  Will this effort transform the market, or sputter and collapse?" (From the Atlantic)

 

Category - Politics 

 
  1. Gaskell, Jack.
    Qualifications for President and the "Natural Born" Citizenship Eligibility Requirement.
    (CRS Report for Congress)
    Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, November 14, 2011, 50 pages.
    "The weight of legal and historical authority indicates that the term 'natural born' citizen would mean a person who is entitled to U.S. citizenship 'by birth' or 'at birth,' either by being born 'in' the United States and under its jurisdiction, even those born to alien parents; by being born abroad to U.S. citizen-parents; or by being born in other situations meeting legal requirements for U.S. citizenship 'at birth.' Such term, however, would not include a person who was not a U.S. citizen by birth or at birth, and who was thus born an 'alien' required to go through the legal process of 'naturalization' to become a U.S. citizen." (From CRS Report)

  2. Thompson, Richard M.
    Governmental Tracking of Cell Phones and Vehicles: The Confluence of Privacy, Technology, and Law.
    (CRS Report for Congress)
    Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, December 1, 2011, 22 pages.
    "This report will briefly survey Fourth Amendment law as it pertains to the government's tracking programs. It will then summarize federal electronic surveillance statutes and the case law surrounding cell phone location tracking. Next, the report will describe the GPS-vehicle tracking cases and review the pending Supreme Court GPS tracking case, United States v. Jones. Finally, the report will summarize the geolocation and electronic surveillance legislation introduced in the 112th Congress." (From CRS Report)

Category - Global Issues

  1. Butler, Catherine and others.
    "Nuclear Power After Japan: The Social Dimensions."
    Environment, November/December 2011, pp. 3-15.
    "The nuclear emergency that occurred at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant following the March 2011 tsunami brought the issue of nuclear power to the public's attention in a way it has not been since Chernobyl.  Now, many nations are reexamining their nuclear policies even as the demand for environmentally friendly sources of energy continues to grow." (From Environment)

  2. Garrett, Laurie.
    "The Bioterrorist Next Door."  
    Foreign Policy, December 15, 2011, 9 pages.
    "In fearful anticipation, health and virus experts also watched for signs that the virus was spreading from one person to another. Although there were clusters of victims, infected families, and isolated person-to-person possible infections, the dreaded emergence of a form of humanly contagious H5N1 never occurred." (From CSIS)

  3. Healey, Jason.
    The Five Futures of Cyber Conflict and Cooperation.
    The Atlantic Council, December 14, 2011, 8 pages.
    "The word cyberspace is nearly thirty years old and during that time, academics, theorists, and strategists have been considering how conflict will unfold in this new domain. As yet, though, little has been published on what kinds of different futures may await us." (From the Atlantic Council)

  4. Jhangiani, Sunil S.
    "Preventing Disease in an Interconnected World: Do Lifestyles Matter?"  
    Vital Speeches of the Day, December 2011, pp. 426-429.
    "With well over a decade gone by in the new millennium, we find ourselves n the midst of this epidemic of Non-communicable diseases.  The diseases of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and lung diseases obey no geopolitical boundaries and spread across borders driven by the powerful forces of globalization, urbanization and an aging population." (From Vital Speeches of the Day

  5. U.S. Satisfied with Outcome of Climate Change Talks.
    U.S. Department of State, December 13, 2011, 2 pages.
    "The U.S. special envoy on climate change is calling the two-week round of talks in Durban, South Africa, a 'successful conference,' saying the United States is satisfied with the agreement reached by negotiators from almost 200 participating nations." (From the U.S. Department of State)

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