Nick Ottens is a public affairs officer for the Dutch Animal Coalition and a board member for Liberal Green, the sustainability network of the Dutch liberal party VVD. He is a former political risk consultant and a former research manager for XPRIZE, where he designed prize competitions to incentivize breakthrough innovation in agriculture, food and health care. He has also worked as a journalist in Amsterdam, Barcelona and New York for EUobserver, NRC, Trouw, World Politics Review and Wynia’s Week, among others.
On the eve of the Conservative Political Action Committee gathering in Washington DC this Wednesday, over eighty conservative leaders led by former US Attorney General Edwin Meese unveiled a manifesto reaffirming the principles of what they call “constitutional conservatism.” The Mount Vernon Statement is a twenty-first century appreciation of the conscience of America’s Founders. The […]
The Pentagon confirmed on February 16 what Deputy Defense Secretary Bill Lynn had announced the day before — that the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will be delayed with approximately one year. The delay is due to the integration of additional test craft that were mandated under an aggressive restructing of the program initiated earlier […]
Excessive government spending, nor European integration, is responsible for Greece’s debt crisis.
“Prejudice and discrimination still sit, defeated, dormant, or virulent, somewhere in the soul of each white man in this country.” So said MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on his show Countdown last Monday. Racism, apparently, still lives in America. Discrimination is still all around us in so many ways, openly re-directed toward immigrants who are doing nothing […]
On The Daily Beast former New York Times columnist and president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations Leslie H. Gelb suggests that Barack Obama “desperately needs a sweeping staff shakeup to save his presidency.” Gelb is most concerned about White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel who, although “a terrific political mind”, lacks the […]
American secretary of state Hillary Clinton suggested in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Monday that Iran is sliding into a military dictatorship. The country’s Revolutionary Guard, she said, is gaining influence “across all areas of Iranian security policy, and certainly nuclear policy is at the core of it.” The United States propose sanctions therefore, specifically aimed […]
After The New York Times revealed on Saturday that Wall Street banks helped Greece keep its mounting debt off the books for many years, Edward Hugh at A Firstful of Euros explains how shady financial constructions allowed several European governments to hide part of their financial trouble. Eurostat, the EU’s agency for statistics, has been […]
The Israeli prime minister met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss Middle East peace and Iran’s nuclear program.
In an interview with Piers Morgan broadcast on ITV1 last Sunday, British prime minister Gordon Brown spoke openly about the death of his daughter Jennifer, his son Fraser who suffers from cystic fibrosis, and the leadership deal that was struck with Tony Blair. More than four million Britons watched the show. With his wife Sarah […]
The free market hasn’t failed in American health care. Nick Ottens argues that government interference is in fact to blame.
Vice President Joe Biden appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday to respond to some of his predecessor’s recent criticism of President Barack Obama. At least four times, Biden stressed that Dick Cheney was trying to “rewrite history”. “He either is misinformed or he is misinforming.” Contesting President Obama’s alleged “softness” on terror, Biden claimed […]
Unlike most Republicans, Wisconsinite Paul Ryan has a plan to rein in entitlement spending.
In spite of continued appeals to bipartisanship, the Democrats finally seem to realize that their opposite numbers aren’t interested in compromise.
US Marines and Afghan forces launched an attack on the Taliban-held city of Marjah in Helmand, Afghanistan this Saturday morning. The operation is the largest of its kind since President Barack Obama announced 30,000 American reinforcements for the war last December. Between 400 and 1,000 insurgents are estimated to have gathered in Marjah. The city, […]
Sri Lanka’s suppression of the Tamil rebellion is a model for defeating a hybrid enemy.
