Running the Numbers on MRAPs
Reliable Data Proves the Vehicles are Worth the Money
An MRAP (left) and an M-ATV on the ground in Afghanistan. (U.S. Army)
Review Essay
Snapshot
How Chavez Does Business
Capsule Review
Notes on a Century: Reflections of a Middle East Historian
Comment
After World War II, Europe began a process of peaceful political unification unprecedented there and unmatched anywhere else. But the project began to go wrong in the early 1990s, when western European leaders started moving too quickly toward a flawed monetary union. Now, as Europe faces a still-unresolved debt crisis, its drive toward unification has stalled -- and unless fear or foresight gets it going again, the union could slide toward irrelevance. |
Snapshot
Germany has the strongest economy in Europe, but its financial strength does not translate into political supremacy. In recent months, Berlin has lost both allies and influence, and it will need to compromise in order to stabilize the eurozone. |
Snapshot
Africa's thriving democracies and economies, and its alarming transnational security threats, make it more important than ever to the United States. Obama, however, has largely ignored the continent. Regardless of who wins in November, Washington cannot afford to continue on the president's current path. |
Essay
Compared with other developed countries, the United States has very low taxes, little income redistribution, and an extraordinarily complex tax code. If it wanted to, the government could raise taxes without crippling growth or productivity. Tax reform is ultimately a political choice, not an economic one -- a statement about what sort of society Americans want. |
Essay
In recent decades, the world has been rocked by revolutions in the digitization of computation and communication. Now the physical world is being digitized, thanks to new technologies that can turn data into things and things into data. Digital fabrication will let people build custom home furniture, living organs out of cells, and drones that can fly out of a printer; science fiction is becoming industrial fact. |
Snapshot
Even those who support U.S. drone programs frequently call for more transparency. But full transparency is neither necessary nor ideal. The United States should aim for better oversight, which would be consistent with democratic ideals and serve U.S. foreign policy objectives. |
Books & Reviews
Capsule Review
Bergen captures the paradoxes of bin Laden's demise superbly, drawing on his excellent government sources, his deep knowledge of al Qaeda, and his reporter’s instincts (which got him into the Abbottabad compound just after the raid). His book is full of fascinating details and illustrates the immense pressure on national security bureaucracies to provide options to policymakers and then reduce the risks associated with their implementation.
In the Magazine
Comment
Germany seems like Europe’s lone island of fiscal stability, but trouble lurks under its impressive export-fueled growth. An obsession with debt and austerity has blocked domestic investment as the country has ignored problems such as a shrinking work force and outdated infrastructure. Germany needs to borrow and spend more or face the end of its economic miracle.
