Placating the Gulf States Distorts Middle East Policy
A lengthyNew York Times article over the weekend touches on a contradiction in the U.S. strategy against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Even as the United States cooperates in a de facto tactical alliance with Iran against ISIS, we ’re engaged in a longer-term strategy against Iranian influence in the Middle East. U.S. and Iranian-backed forces have even clashed in battlefield skirmishes in recent weeks.Picking a fight with an implicit ally is problematic for many reasons. Perhaps most worryingly, such clashesrisk sucking U.S. forces deeper into Syria’s civil war.The article quotes Lebanese scholar Kamel W...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 12, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: John Glaser Source Type: blogs
Dichotomous Endings: A Physician ’ s Personal Reflection
My grandfather was the patriarch of his family, at the center of a tightknit Lebanese immigrant community in Toronto, Canada. Some of my warmest childhood memories are from Sundays at my grandparents’ home, where there was always family, community, and delicious food. Both in their mid-seventies, they remained exceptionally active and maintained an impressive social calendar. From my perspective as barely a teenager, it somehow seemed that family life would go on forever in this way. So, it is not surprising that I remember vividly when my grandfather first became ill. He had learned from his doctor that his kidneys were...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - June 8, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Ryan Van Wert Tags: End of Life & Serious Illness Quality advance care planning Cancer end-stage renal disease Hospice care Source Type: blogs
Muslims Rapidly Adopt U.S. Social Values
Concerns about Muslim assimilation made news again this week when Donald Trumperroneouslyclaimed that U.S. Muslim neighbors failed to report the San Bernardino shooters. But this persistent idea that U.S. Muslims are not assimilating could not be more inaccurate. In fact, U.S. Muslims —81 percent of whom are immigrants or children of immigrants —are the most socially liberal and religiously tolerant in the world and becoming more so with each passing year.U.S. Muslims Are Adopting Americans ’ Liberal Social and Religious ViewsMore than 80 percent of Muslim Americans are immigrants or the children of immigrants, accor...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - October 13, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: David Bier Source Type: blogs
Declare War Only Against Those Who Threaten America
The Constitution gives the power to declare war to the legislative branch. In recent decades, however, members of Congress have preferred to leave the hard decisions to the president. This constitutional abdication has allowed unilateral war-making.
Even President Barack Obama, who tossed the issue of Syria’s use of chemical weapons to Congress, has relied on the outdated authorization passed after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to validate multiple military operations today.
Congress could make a bad situation worse. Representatives Scott Perry (R-PA), Matt Salmon (R-AZ), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) have introduced H.J. Re...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - June 21, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Economics of the Syrian Refugee Crisis
Conclusion
The Middle Eastern countries with substantial Syrian refugees have all responded with similar reforms, to different extents. Turkey and Jordan have done the most to integrate Syrians while Lebanon has done the least. Lessening government barriers to legal employment and entrepreneurship have made the situations better in those destinations. Europe is still struggling, and their sclerotic labor market regulations do not bode well for successful integration unless some serious reforms are undertaken. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Source: Cato-at-liberty - May 2, 2016 Category: American Health Authors: Alex Nowrasteh Source Type: blogs
“From a settlement in Northern Lebanon, Dr. Rogy Masri...
"From a settlement in Northern Lebanon, Dr. Rogy Masri uses Figure 1 to help treat Syrian refugees. Find out how in this Fast Company article. "The patient had not responded to a previous course of antibiotics. Masri, who is not a dermatologist and has little experience with exotic diseases, was stumped. He took out his smartphone and snapped a photo of the wound, which he uploaded to an app called Figure 1."" By figure1 on Instagram Posted on infosnack. (Source: Kidney Notes)
Source: Kidney Notes - March 9, 2016 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
“Abidjan, Côte D'Ivoire | December 13, 2015 A deranged...
"Abidjan, Côte D'Ivoire | December 13, 2015 A deranged Christmas guignol - or clown - greets shoppers at an upscale shopping mall in Abidjan. I've only been here a few days working #onassignment on a separate story, but affluent Africa is an intriguing subject. The shoppers at the mall not only represented an educated elite, but other cultures that had been transplanted here during colonial times. Obviously French culture and language is a unifying force here, but it's really interesting to see the Ivorian and Lebanese cultures swirl together as well. #photojournalism #documentary #portrait #cotedivoire #ivorycoast #gu...
Source: Kidney Notes - December 13, 2015 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
No One in Current GOP Field Wears the Reagan Foreign Policy Mantle
Every Republican wants to be Ronald Reagan reincarnated. At least that’s what GOP candidates say. But the 40th president probably wouldn’t feel comfortable running today.
First, he’d have a good laugh at the fear-mongering. For instance, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared: “I don’t believe that I have ever lived in a time in my life when the world was a more dangerous and scary place.”
Reagan lived through World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. He likely would explain that never in its history has America been as secure from serious threats.
Reagan almost certainly would see Rus...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - December 4, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Terrorism in Paris: Blowback for Yet Another Unnecessary War
The latest Paris attacks rightly horrify us, but they should surprise no one, least of all the French. After all, France started bombing Islamic State forces 14 months ago. The targeting of civilians is morally monstrous. However, it is sadly predictable, an almost common practice by weaker powers.
A century ago ethnic Serbs and Russian anarchists employed this hideous tactic. More recently Sri Lankan Tamils and Iraqi Sunnis used it. Now the Islamic State is perfecting a weapon it had heretofore left to al-Qaeda.
The Paris killings weren’t an attempt “to destroy our values, the values shared by the U.S. and France,” ...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - November 23, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Conflicting Thoughts on Recent Events
Lately we all have seen the horrible carnage of terrorist attacks that have been broadcast in the media.
147 killed in Kenya in a terrorist attack on a University
43 killed in Lebanon by a suicide bomber. 239 injured
224 killed over Egypt in a Russian aircraft that was bombed while in flight
Coordinated attacks in Paris. 129 killed and hundreds more injured
I have no other word than “horrible” to describe all of this. Over 400 people – innocent people in different corners of the world – killed. This is horrible enough. But there is more.
I have done a lot of thinking about not just what has been ha...
Source: Qui Interrogat - November 17, 2015 Category: Nursing Authors: Walt Trachim Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs
Searching for Statesmanship in Lebanon
BEIRUT—Lebanon is the Middle East’s only melting pot. Never has the region more needed a peaceful oasis.
However, the country is a sectarian volcano. If the country crashes, so will the only Middle Eastern model for tolerant coexistence. Lebanon desperately needs statesmen willing to look beyond their personal and group interests.
Full-scale civil war erupted in 1975. That conflict ended in 1990. Since then, the country has suffered through conflict with Israel, spasms of sectarian violence, and now Syria’s implosion.
Despite all this, Lebanon remains generally free and uniquely diverse. But politics systematically u...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - October 21, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
On Constitution Day, A Reminder About Liberty and Eternal Vigilance
Two very recent episodes involving basic constitutional rights demonstrate the power of an informed and active citizenry successfully confronting government fear-mongering and overreach.
The first happened this week in Irving, Texas, where 14-year-old Ahmed Mohamed was arrested after bringing a homemade clock to school to show his engineering teacher. Government officials insisted that Ahmed’s clock might have been a bomb.
Distressingly, Ahmed claims that his interrogation occurred despite the fact that he asked to see his parents before answering any questions. Police allegedly refused, and continued the interrogati...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 17, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Patrick G. Eddington, Adam Bates Source Type: blogs
DHS Uses Local Law Enforcement To Shut Down Tor Access For Library Patrons
Earlier this year, the Library Freedom Project launched an initiative to test the use of Tor exit relays in local libraries as a means of helping library patrons browse the internet annonymously. As the LFP noted
To begin this new project, we needed a pilot, and we had just the library in mind – Kilton Library in Lebanon, New Hampshire, one of two Lebanon Libraries. Chuck McAndrew is the IT librarian there, and he’s done amazing things to the computers on his network, like running them all on GNU/Linux distributions. Why is this significant? Most library environments run Microsoft Windows, and we know that Microsoft pa...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - September 10, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Patrick G. Eddington Source Type: blogs
For Ronald Reagan Peace through Strength Did Not Mean War at Any Price
Alzheimer’s robbed Ronald Reagan of his memory. Now Republican neocons are trying to steal his foreign policy legacy. Reagan likely would have been appalled by the aggressive posturing of most of the Republicans currently seeking the White House.
Ronald Reagan’s mantra was “peace through strength.” Peace was the end, strength the means. He focused on the Soviet Union and its advanced outposts, especially in the Western Hemisphere.
Restraining the hegemonic threat posed by an aggressive, ideological Soviet Union led to Reagan’s tough policy. Still, Reagan avoided military confrontation with Moscow. Indeed, he rout...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 27, 2015 Category: American Health Authors: Doug Bandow Source Type: blogs
Hepatitis A in Lebanon
Hepatitis A rates in Lebanon are similar to those reported in neighboring Israel during the 1990’s [see graph]
In 1999 (arrow) Israel became the first country to introduce universal Hepatitis A vaccination, a policy which might help reverse the increasing incidence experienced by Lebanon. [1-3]
References:
1. Berger SA. Infectious Diseases of Lebanon, 2015. 389 pages, 54 graphs, 1,569 references. Gideon e3-books, http://www.gideononline.com/ebooks/country/infectious-diseases-of-lebanon/
2. Berger SA. Hepatitis A: Global Status, 2015. 184 pages, 183 graphs, 1,775 references. Gideon e-books, http://www.gideononline...
Source: GIDEON blog - April 24, 2015 Category: Databases & Libraries Authors: Dr. Stephen Berger Tags: Ebooks Epidemiology Graphs ProMED Hepatitis A Lebanon Source Type: blogs
