The Taliban have long thrived on illicit trade. Most known for the drug trade, they have also been long-time smugglers in antiquities, timber, and minerals. Faced with the loss of foreign aid and access to Afghan accounts overseas, they will escalate their trade in drugs and antiquities as a needed revenue source. In other words, […]
Since 2017, when I departed the Beltway in favor of (literally) greener pastures, I’ve been trying to…
The extradition of Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman and associate of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas…
This analysis was featured in Critical State, a weekly newsletter from Inkstick Media and The…
First the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released the Panama Papers, then…
The rapid Taliban takeover of Afghanistan has stranded several thousand Afghans who aided American forces. Estimates vary, but there are at least 80,000 or so Afghans who would be eligible for the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program for Afghan translators, allies, and their family members who aided US forces in Afghanistan. About 76,000…
It was supposed to be the greatest transition of modern times. Practically overnight, a dirty,…
A recent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report examines what a $1 trillion reduction in defense…
The US spends a lot of money on nuclear weapons. Last month, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC)…
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the world’s most vulnerable populations, with…
What do Turkmenistan and UNICEF have in common? How about the United Kingdom and the UNDP, and at least…
There are many questions about what went wrong with the US presence in Afghanistan and what is to come.…
This analysis was featured in Critical State, a weekly newsletter from Inkstick Media and The…
Legislators claiming to follow the Christian Bible are behind America’s rising tide of anti-abortion…