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| Congressional Partnership Program |
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PSA Launches Spring 2012 Congressional Partnership Program
 Washington, DC - The Partnership for a Secure America (PSA) welcomes 30 Hill staff members into PSA's Spring 2012 Congressional Partnership Program schedule. Currently in its sixth session, the program brings together Republican and Democratic staff to develop the skills and relationships required to advance bipartisanship on national security and foreign policy issues. To view participants, click here.
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| Recent Events |
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The Latest from the PSA Blog
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The Greek Elections and the Future of Greece
Thomas Miller is the previous Ambassador to Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Special Coordinator for Cyprus. He is also the current President/CEO of International Executive Service Corps, a non-profit that furnishes expertise to the developing world to train in best business practices. You can read more about his impressive career here.
The Greek Elections and the Future of Greece
Author: Ambassador Thomas Miller
As of now it looks virtually certain that Greeks will return to the polls on either June 10 or 17—just a few weeks after the last inconclusive election. On May 6, Greeks resoundingly turned out the two parties that had alternated power for nearly the last four decades when 70% of them voted for parties that rejected the austerity plan these two mainstream parties had signed with the European Union, IMF, and the European Central Bank (ECB).
Why such a massive turn of events? The May 6 vote is a repudiation of the four decades of alleged corruption, inept economic policies, and most importantly a rejection of the austerity measures Greece’s European colleagues had insisted upon as the price for getting 174 billion Euros to bail Greece out of its difficulties. The message of the anti-austerity parties was fairly simple: paraphrasing the movie, Network, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore”.
Unfortunately the anti-austerity parties (mostly ..
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Reflections on the Coup, Part 2
Anthony Scavone is a recent graduate of Boston University where he studied International Relations focusing specifically on International Development and Sub-Saharan Africa. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali from October until they were evacuated in mid-April. You can read more about his personal experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in his personal blog, Anthony in Africa. This is the second post in a two-post series about the motivations and impact of the recent military coup in Mali.
Reflections on the Coup, Part 2
Although the situation at hand is most tragic for the citizens of Mali, the current situation could have significant repercussions for those of us both fortunate to escape, and even those of us who have never been.
For me, my time in Mali has ended, and any hopes of reinstallation dashed. I wish my outlook for Peace Corps Mali was more optimistic, but it has been 7 weeks since the junta took over in Bamako, and every last ounce of optimism has been strained from the situation. Peace Corps will need a stable government in power in order to even consider the option of reopening in the country, and the recent countercoup looks only to place one of the final nails in the coffin. Pending a miraculous turn of events in the coming weeks, I think it’s safe to assume that the Peace Corps will officially suspending their mission in the country until further ..
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Reflections on the Coup, Part 1
Anthony Scavone is a recent graduate of Boston University where he studied International Relations focusing specifically on International Development and Sub-Saharan Africa. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali from October until they were evacuated in mid-April. You can read more about his personal experiences as a Peace Corps Volunteer in his personal blog, Anthony in Africa. This is the first post in a two-post series about the motivations and impact of the recent military coup in Mali.
To boil down all the implications of recent events in Mali into a single post would not give justice to the true breadth of what has happened. Instead I will split this into two separate pieces: part one will focus on what this coup means for Mali and Malians. The second will focus more on what this means for me, the Peace Corps, and the international community at large.
Part 1: Mali and Malians
It’s become relatively common knowledge that the main grievance that drove the military to overthrow Amadou Toumani Toure (Better known as ATT) was the belief that ATT was strangling the military effort to maintain security in the vast northern regions of the country. Lack of food and supplies, while facing a Tuareg rebellion recently augmented by the fall of Gaddafi and the return of arms and trained Malian Tuaregs from Libya, drove mid-ranking military leaders to try to take matters into their own ..
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The Latest From PSA
More Than Just RememberingToday Foreign Policy Magazine, two PSA Advisory Board Members, Madeleine Albright and William Cohen, published an article supporting the creation of the Atrocities Prevention Board, but note that committees aren't enough - in order to truly end genocide, we must take decisive action.
Board Member, Mort Halperin, talks about the recent coup in Mali and the need to protect democracy in West Africa. On March 21, 2012, major international news outlets reported that the West African country of Mali, long considered a stable democracy which had experienced a series of peaceful transfers of power based on free elections and was on the verge of another, was in the grips of a military mutiny. Junior officers took over the state radio and television stations and fired shots at the presidential ..
Tom Pickering on Military Option in IranAdvisory Board Member, Thomas Pickering details the dangers of taking military action against Iran in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the U.S. Policy options regarding Iran.
Baker and Dole Talk About the Art of CompromiseOnce upon a time in Congress, compromise between Republicans and Democrats was the norm. And a witty GOP senator named Bob Dole was one of the best practitioners of the art, preferably on a West-facing balcony of the Capitol where he could get sun on his face while lawmaking. He succeeded an affable storyteller and able dealmaker named Howard Baker, who likened running the Senate to herding cats.
Madeleine Albright on Syria (Video)Former Secretary of State and PSA Advisory Board Member Madeleine Albright talks Syria with Charlie Rose at this year's Women in the World series in New York City.
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