Enough! America Must Distance Itself from Its Rogue Turkish Ally
< p > The recent abortive military coup in Turkey has led not to a restoration of democracy and the rule of law in that country, but to an acceleration of already worrisome trends toward a dictatorship with Islamist overtones. When the would-be junta made its play for power, the Obama administration quickly expressed support for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s beleaguered government, as did most of Turkey’s NATO < a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/17/world-leaders-express-support-for-turkey-after-attempted-coup" > partners < /a > . When the coup attempt collapsed, leaders of those governments br...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 25, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Ted Galen Carpenter Source Type: blogs
EFPIA Transparency Begins
Europe has recently pulled the trigger on their version of our Sunshine Act. While it is true that, with the exception of Denmark, France, and Portugal, the requirement to disclose does not have the force of law, information on money paid to individuals will be available for public scrutiny for the first time in Europe.
However, with the exception of those three aforementioned countries, pharmaceutical companies that are responsible for collecting the information must get consent from each individual healthcare professional or organization before they can publish it.
This move comes after a strong push by the European ...
Source: Policy and Medicine - July 11, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs
Human beings are not cookies. Why are they being treated as if they are?
A couple of weeks ago I visited the island of Cyprus with family. Having seen a lot of mainland Europe over the last several years, I was keen for something a bit off the beaten track and away from a major city. We thought about a few possible destinations, but opted in the end for Cyprus (partly because of the desperate need for some warmer weather).
Booking the trip quite rapidly, as the internet now enables one to do, I initially booked with a tried and tested hotel chain, albeit a pretty well-respected one (no names mentioned). However, upon our arrival to Paphos, the capital, we realized that the hotel we booked was n...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 14, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: Suneel Dhand, MD Tags: Physician Hospital Source Type: blogs
Lesson from Cyprus: Spending Restraint Is the Pro-Growth Way to Solve a Fiscal Crisis
Much of my work on fiscal policy is focused on educating audiences about the long-run benefits of small government and modest taxation.
But what about the short-run issue of how to deal with a fiscal crisis? I have periodically weighed in on this topic, citing research from places like the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund to show that spending restraint is the right approach.
And I’ve also highlighted the success of the Baltic nations, all of which responded to the recent crisis with genuine spending cuts (and I very much enjoyed exposing Paul Krugman’s erroneous attack on Estonia).
Today, let’s ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 24, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Daniel J. Mitchell Source Type: blogs
Crimea after Two Years as Part of Russia: Time to Drop Sanctions
Two years ago Russia detached Crimea from Ukraine. Since then the Western allies have imposed economic sanctions, but to little effect. No one believes Crimea, Russian until six decades ago, is going back to Ukraine.
Yet the European Union called on other countries to join its ineffective boycott. However, most nations have avoided the controversy. They aren’t going to declare economic war on a faraway nation which has done nothing against them.
Although Washington, with less commerce at stake, remains among the most fervent advocates of sanctions, Europe is divided over the issue. Opposition has emerged to routine renew...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 5, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
U.S. Should Leave NATO Instead of Expanding the Alliance
Is NATO a military alliance or social club? The “North Atlantic” Treaty Organization just invited Montenegro to join. With 2,080 men under arms, Podgorica is a military nullity.
As I point out on National Interest online: “Adding Montenegro to NATO is like accumulating Facebook Friends. They do little more than allow preening Washington officials to wander the globe gloating how popular the U.S. is.”
During the Cold War NATO was viewed as deadly serious. For years war seemed to be a real possibility.
Then the Soviet Union collapsed. The quintessential anti-Soviet alliance no longer had anything to defend or defend ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 8, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Where Do K-1 Visa Holders Come From?
Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik were killed last week in a gun battle with police after they committed a mass shooting in San Bernardino, California. Malik entered the U.S. on a K-1 visa, known as the fiancé visa, accompanied by Farook. Their attack is the first perpetrated by somebody on the K-1 visa - igniting a debate over increasing visa security.
The government issued approximately 262,162 K-1 visas from 2005 to 2013 – 3177 or 1.21 percent of the total to Pakistani citizens.
Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) SECURE Act identifies 34 countries as particularly terror-prone. There were 32,363 K-1 visa, 12.34 pe...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 7, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
How Not to Stress Test: UK Edition
Anyone who follows the stress tests conducted by the Fed and various European banking authorities can’t help poking fun at them. After all, it’s hard to repress a chuckle when, time and again, a bank passes one of these tests with flying colors only to end up failing not long afterwards. Whether it’s Iceland in 2008, Ireland in 2010, or Cyprus in 2013, the story is the same: all three national banking systems collapsed shortly after being signed off as safe following regulatory stress tests.
When putting banks to such a test, a central bank or other banking authority starts by imagining one or more “stress...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 9, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Kevin Dowd Source Type: blogs
Obama’s Hypocrisy Regarding Forcible Border Changes
Ted Galen Carpenter
In a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Obama stated that he was considering sending weapons to the government of Ukraine. Noting that Russia had already annexed Crimea and was now backing separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine, the president warned that “the West cannot stand and simply allow the borders of Europe to be redrawn at the barrel of a gun.”
Such sentiments might have more credibility if the Western powers, including the United States, had not engaged in similar conduct. But Washington and its NATO allies have indeed redrawn borders, includi...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - February 12, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Ted Galen Carpenter Source Type: blogs
Living with Diabetes (and Losing It) in the Republic of Cyprus
We continue to travel the world to bring you accounts of living with diabetes in far-off places! In this installment of our Global Diabetes Series, we hear from a young man in Cyprus, which is a country (yes, it is!) that's actually the third larg... (Source: Diabetes Mine)
Source: Diabetes Mine - October 17, 2014 Category: Endocrinology Authors: Amy Tenderich Source Type: blogs
Dutch farmers use less antibiotics
The use of antibiotics in livestock in the Netherlands was further reduced in 2013. This is according to figures from the Dutch Authority of Veterinary Medicines (SDa). At the same time, an international conference is being held to further reduce antibiotic resistance.Photo: Henk RiswickBetween 2012 and 2013, the use of antibiotics in the Dutch pig industry dropped the most, by 30%. Also in the poultry sector, less antibiotics were uses - 25% less compared to 2012. In the veal calf sector, antibiotic use decreased by 15%. In the cattle industry, the antibiotic use remained stable. The decrease in the use of antibiotic...
Source: PharmaGossip - June 29, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
Antibiotics: 'national threat' from steep rise in patients who are
resistant to drugs
A steep rise in the number of patients who do not respond to antibiotic treatment risks causing a “national health threat”, NHS officials have warned.Experts say the explosion in the use of antibiotics in the Western world to treat common ailments could become a “catastrophic threat” because increasingly bacteria have become resistant to the drugs, so they do not work when they are really needed.Officials said the scale of such infections had become a matter of “national concern” with 600 cases reported last year, compared with just five in 2006.Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer for England has previ...
Source: PharmaGossip - March 7, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Authors: insider Source Type: blogs
A physician declares a wheat-free success–from Cyprus!
A physician from the island of Cyprus posted these telling comments:
I am wheat and gluten free since the end of January, 2013. I suffer from type II diabetes, which was controlled with difficulty and I could not lose weight. I had acid reflux issues day & night, I was snoring every night, I could not sleep on my tummy, I had pain in several joints and I was suffering from diarrhea almost on a daily basis with tummy aches. (Gastroenterologists thought it was stress related.)
After the first long and hard weekend of removing wheat and gluten from my diet (headaches, agitation, arthritic pain), most of these issues res...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - July 22, 2013 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat-elimination success stories Source Type: blogs
Can You Spell L-A-F-F-E-R C-U-R-V-E?
Daniel J. Mitchell
I’m thinking of inventing a game, sort of a fiscal version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.
Only the way my game will work is that there will be a map of the world and the winner will be the blindfolded person who puts his pin closest to a nation such as Australia or Switzerland that has a relatively low risk of long-run fiscal collapse.
That won’t be an easy game to win since we have data from the BIS, OECD, and IMF showing that government is growing far too fast in the vast majority of nations.
We also know that many states and cities suffer from the same problems.
A handful of local governm...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - July 12, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Authors: Daniel J. Mitchell Source Type: blogs
