Director of the Independent Institute's Center on Global Prosperity
Director of the Center on Global Prosperity at the Independent Institute, a nonpartisan, public-policy research center, and author of Liberty for Latin America: How to Undo Five Hundred Years of State Oppression
Anti-Americanism on the Left in Latin America Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is more critical of the US than Osama bin Laden. Now Ronald Reagan's old nemesis has been re-elected President of Nicaragua . In the 1980's the Reagan administration helped finance the Nicaraguan Contras in their bloody civil war against Daniel Ortega , the radical leftist Sandinista who had ousted American-backed dictator Anastasio Somoza. In 1990, Ortega was voted out, and he's been trying to win re-election ever since. This year, Iran-Contra figure Oliver North campaigned against Ortega and the Bush Administration backed his opponent, but Ortega won. Does he represent the growth of leftist anti-Americanism? Should the US re-engage with its Latin America neighbors south of the border?
Trump's 'America First' goes missing abroad In the Middle East, President Trump is changing some policies of the Obama Administration—and reversing his own campaign attacks on Islam as a religion that "hates us." We hear about his visit to Saudi Arabia and what's at stake for the rest of his foreign excursion.
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.