Paul is a junior at George Washington University and is majoring in Political Science with an emphasis in International Relations and plans to further his education by earning a Masters of Arts in Security Studies. He is excited to learn about issue of peace and security while being the Washington DC area representative for the security team. Paul believes that reaching out to students through widening their perspectives on global events and preparing them for leadership opportunities in the future is the most effective way to impact the United States and democracy around the world.
Paul Guaglianone – Security Fellow
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The “transformational decade” in Afghanistan
December 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
On Monday, delegates from 85 nations and 15 international organizations gathered in Bonn, Germany to discuss the future of Afghanistan after the departure of NATO troops in 2014. They desired to establish a plan of action following the withdrawal and stretching until 2025; however, what was decided upon was anything but clear. The participants of the conference agreed that this would be a transformational decade for Afghanistan and did manage to set two clear goals. First, Afghanistan, which is not currently a fully functioning modernized country, has … [Read more...]
Update on the Defense Authorization Bill and the new powers it gives the military
December 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The Senate approved a $662 billion Defense Authorization Bill for the 2012 fiscal year at the end of last week. This bill allocates $527 billion to the Pentagon, $117 billion for war spending, and $17.5 billion for defense programs managed by the Department of Energy. The bill was approved by a 93-7 vote but will move to a joint conference with the House to approve a final version of the bill. For a change, the topics that will be discussed in the joint conference will not revolve around funding but rather a portion of the bill that would extend the … [Read more...]
US-Pakistan Relations: unstable but essential
December 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The alliance between the United States and Pakistan has never been considered stable. Pakistan, very uneasily, allied itself with the United States and NATO forces in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars shortly after the September 11th terrorist attacks. It was not conventionally thought that this alliance was stuck for ideological motives. Rather, Pakistan wanted to continue to receive billions of dollars in aid from the United States and the United States needed an ally close enough to established land bases from which they could launch military attacks. … [Read more...]
The 99% vs the 1%: ushering in a new wave of class politics
December 2, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Recently New York City officials forced the Occupy Wall Street protestors out of their headquarters in Zuccotti Park citing the presence of crime, violence, and filth as grounds to clear the park. Many similar movements across the country are still struggling to hold on but will likely fade as other cities take similar actions and as the cold weather approaches. Over the last two months, these movements have received criticism because of their lack of organization, their mixed and unclear messages and refusal of any political association. However as the … [Read more...]
Elections in Egypt mean…more of the same?
November 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In January 2011, Egypt erupted in mass protests. After thirty years of autocratic rule from President Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian people wanted a change. Eighteen days of protest lead the military and United States to withdraw its support from President Mubarak leading him to resign. The military assumed control of the government, which it rules with an eighteen-member council, and planned to hand control over to a new president and legislature that would be elected in the fall. This lead Islamists to hope elections would usher in a wave of Muslim … [Read more...]
The Super Committee: Where They Stand
November 21, 2011 By Leave a Comment
We all remember the delightful debt ceiling debate in August. A majority of members in Congress voted to increase the debt ceiling to pay our past debts with the condition that austerity measures be adopted. However, they could not agree on what should be included in the austerity measures in August so they decided to kick the can down the road to November because surely they would agree then. For this task they appointed a committee, known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (or the "Super Committee"), comprised of six members from each … [Read more...]
Horizontal Leadership and the Wall Street Occupation
October 11, 2011 By 1 Comment
Toyota is currently running a series of television advertisements that highlight parents and their young adult children who have just moved away from home. In the ads, the young adults assume their parents must be lonely because of the lack of activity on the parents’ social networking site. The irony of the commercial comes when the parents are shown participating in activities with groups of people and the young adults are shown siting alone staring at a laptop screen. Although this advertisement is geared towards showing parents they can now trade … [Read more...]
Breakdown of Greece’s debt crisis: how did it get to this point?
October 11, 2011 By 1 Comment
Three years ago when we heard the word “deficit spending,” we would yawn and turn the channel. Today the simple mention of “deficit spending” evokes an entirely new set of emotions including fear, anger, and anxiety. Although today’s conventional wisdom on deficit spending may hold a negative connotation, it was not always that way. In fact, a nation’s ability to practice deficit spending was considered an advantage throughout the twentieth century. How deficit spending works is countries with high credit ratings, traditionally western … [Read more...]
Brief primer on the history of United Nations-United States relations
October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In 1945, representatives from the Allied Powers drafted the United Nations charter intended to serve as the primary vehicle for maintaining peace and stability in the post World War era. It established international programs to promote economic growth, currency stabilization, human rights protection, and peace. The charter proposed the formation of two chambers. The first would be a legislative body, the General Assembly, made of recognized sovereign states that had the power implement international policy. The second, a smaller body, the Security … [Read more...]
A Lesson From Japan
September 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Nearly 20,000 Japanese citizens participated in an anti-nuclear march last week. It was the kick-off event for a petition that opposes the use of nuclear power as weaponry or energy in Japan. Supporters hope the petition collects over ten million signatures, a number close ten percent of Japan’s population. Their goal is to mark the one-year anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami, March 11, 2012, with the submission of their proposal to their government. Of any group of people on earth, I would guess the people of Japan hold the greatest … [Read more...]
