I want to thank everyone for a great year, particularly those who contributed articles and blog posts. You all are what made this an exciting year and contributed to the ongoing political discourse on GW’s campus and the world. I also want to extend a special thank you to this past year’s editorial board: Julie Silverbrook, Sophie Stern, and Celeste Cerano for all their help and to Ashley Fleishman, our production director, for putting together the layout of our publications.

Finally, I also want to take this time to introduce next year’s editorial board, lead by Editor-in-Chief William Schreiber. You may view his biography, along with the other editors under our “Executive Board” page or by clicking here.

Best,

Tim

I would like to introduce to you this semester’s white pages about the economy. There publication covers a wide range of domestic and internaitonal issues facing the world during this economic crisis. You may download a copy via the white pages tab at the top of the screen or read the issue on-line by clicking here.

I hope you enjoy the issue.

Warm Regards,

Tim

Editor-in-Chief

Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair told Congress today that instability in countries around the world caused by the current global economic crisis rather than terrorism is the primary near-term security threat to the United States.

“Roughly a quarter of the countries in the world have already experienced low-level instability such as government changes because of the current slowdown,” Blair told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

The story goes on to add that this is the first time in six years where DNI’s annual threat assessment did not have terrorism as the number one danger to the country.

In the Washington Post, Sgt. 1st Class Patrick McDonald had this to say:

This is the end of the world as we know it…It’s not like everyone is shredding documents and fleeing Saigon. But we are stepping away from a building.

In addition, the US military has also handed back to the Iraqis control of Baghdad airport although the adjacent US military base, Camp Victory, will remain a key US military headquarters.

The report recommends that the President-elect Obama create a new arms transfer policy and establish common standards of transparency and accountability for all security assistance programs. The report continues to look at country specific data in attempt to assess whether US security assistance has made a real impact. Ethiopia in particular is cause for concern as the US continually supports this country in its war against Somalia in an effort to stabilize the horn of Africa.

The report compiles a lot of interesting statistics that deserve a close look. The proliferation of weapons, legal or otherwise, is an important issue. Military armaments that US interjects into key geopolitical areas can have a profound effect on what those regions become.

Full Report

I would like to formally introduce GW Discourse White Pages, a collection of policy recommendations written by members of our staff on various areas of national interest. For the inaugural white pages edition we asked our staff, regardless of who won the Presidency, what should be their priorities for the first 100 days. The responses ranged from the broad to the specific on a variety of national and international issues.

I invite you all to view this current edition on-line at www.gwdiscourse.com. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Tim

Editor-in-Chief

President

For better for worse, this county voted and the strength of our democracy prevailed. This is a historic moment with the first African American being elected President and by an overwhelming majority. For those of you who happened to make it out last night, I ended up outside the White House with about a 1,000 other people to that chants of “Obama,” “Yes we can,” and “nah nah nah nah nah, good bye.”

It is important for all of us to remember that George Bush is still the President and a man who served this country for 8 years. While we may differ on his policies we should still give him the respect that a person of his service deserves.

Senate

It was unfortunate to hear of Sen. Sununu’s defeat in NH. He was a moderate New England Republican and is the latest casualty since Lincoln Chaffee.

Also, keep your eye on Minnesota. Al Franken and incumbent Senator Norm Coleman are not entering into an automatic recount with Coleman’s lead being about 1,000 votes.

House

As was expected the Democrats had huge gains, however, I think it is important to note that Rep. Chris Shays of Connecticut, the last remaining Republican representative from New England failed to hold on to his seat.

- Timothy Little, Editor-in-Chief

The total of all this comes to around $680.8 billion, just shy of the $700 billion congress approved for the bailout package.

-Timothy Little, Editor-in-Chief

Overall the event went well as Ms. Darwish spoke of her experiences with Islam and some of its more radical elements. A few points that resonated with me was an account she gave that after the September 11, 2001 attacks she called several people she knew in Egypt asking them how they felt about the attack and that it was perpetrated by Arabs. She noted that no one believed that this attack was done by Arabs and that is was merely a Jewish conspiracy.

She also commented on how Saudi Arabia is building mosques around the world in an effort to spread Islam because, as she said, once a mosque is built it can never be destroyed and that any country that belongs to Islam belongs to it forever. She views the influx of Saudi money around the world as an attempt to spread Islam, an attempt that is hypocritical since no Arab Muslim country allows organizations to create endowed chairs on Christianity or other religions at universities.

Considering the events of this week and GW’s history with this event last year, I would like to point out that the event was not about hate or bashing Muslims. It was about peace. Although Ms. Darwish may have used some extreme examples it does bring attention to a growing problem in world affairs as how to address the affects of radical minorities and religions. I want to stress the term radical religions as not pertaining only to Islam, but that any form of violent extremism is something that needs to be addressed.

- Timothy Little, Editor-in-Chief

It is now every American’s mandate to look into the opaque face of uncertainty and independently articulate the foundations upon which his or her government ought to stand.

Click here to read the full article “Out of financial crisis comes historic opportunity”

If you have any questions or would like to submit an article, please contact Timothy Little.