MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'allies'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 03:01:14 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4872067&cid=t_257797_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2Fz-y_2tycP0U%2F By Christopher PrebleFormer Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty’s brief visit to Cato yesterday elicited some snide commentary in the blogosphere, especially this piece by the Huffington Post’s Jon Ward. Ward notes how the just-declared presidential candidate has been pretty adept at annoying audiences with his answers to questions. This one rankled the questioner, and a number of others in the auditorium. I’m not one who is going to stand before you and say we should cut the defense budget. [...] I’m not for shrinking America’s presence in the world. I’m for making sure that America remains the world leader, not becoming second or third or fourth in the list. One can sort of forgive a governor for not knowing much about foreign policy, although governors ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4872067 Thu, 26 May 2011 17:53:25 +0100 4872067 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4852844&cid=t_257797_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FTwPlOqQeK_0%2F By Doug BandowIn the midst of difficult domestic political battles, Barack Obama begins a lengthy European trip today.  He should encourage the continent to increase its defense capabilities and take on greater regional security responsibilities. Presidential visits typically result in little of substance.  President Obama’s latest trip will be no different if he reinforces the status quo.  His policy mantra once was “change.”  No where is “change” more necessary than in America’s foreign policy, especially towards Europe. Despite obvious differences spanning the Atlantic, the U.S. and European relationship remains extraordinarily important.  The administration should press for increased economic integration, with lower trade barriers and streamlined regulations to encoura... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4852844 Mon, 23 May 2011 14:10:00 +0100 4852844 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4753672&cid=t_257797_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FO98ldZBeOgI%2F By Gene HealyBack in 2002-03, when France opposed going to war in Iraq, conservatives spared no venom for the country some called “Our Oldest Enemy.” In retrospect, though, France was a better friend to us then than she’s been in our ongoing Libyan debacle. As the bombing began last month, the LA Times ran a piece showing that French bellicosity (yes) had been instrumental in dragging the US to war: Earlier in the week, French papers reported that when Sarkozy asked [Secretary of State] Clinton to come out more forcefully in favor of action in Libya, she replied, “There are difficulties” and refused to be drawn out further. “Frankly, we are completely puzzled,” a French diplomat told one of his European counterparts. “We are wondering if Liby... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4753672 Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:22:21 +0100 4753672 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4719885&cid=t_257797_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FjFmU0d2pZjw%2F By Christopher PrebleA little over a year ago, I posted two different graphs (with the help of my colleague Charles Zakaib) that showed the growth of U.S. national security spending vs. that of other NATO allies over the last ten years. The data, based on the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ annual Military Balance, showed that U.S. taxpayers spend far more on our military, both as a share of total economic output, and on a per capita basis, than do any of our allies. New data, for 2009, was made available in IISS’s Military Balance 2011, and the revised graphs are shown below. (Again, thanks to Charles for his help). As I suspected, the gap remains as wide as ever. In a few cases, it has grown wider. As you can see, the $2,101 that every American man, woman, and child ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4719885 Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:37:31 +0100 4719885 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4653310&cid=t_257797_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FySEgFjmU-Kg%2F By John SamplesPresident Obama’s speech last evening offers a chance to assess the implications of the war in Libya. President Obama is not the first president to order attacks on another nation without the authorization of Congress.  This case, however, seems different. Prior to the intervention, the President’s national security advisors had determined that the nation had no vital interest at stake in the Libyan civil war. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has repeated that conclusion after the intervention began. For his part, President Obama emphasized in last night’s speech and before, that the war would preclude a “humanitarian catastrophe.” Why did that rationale win out over the realism of his advisors? President Obama tends to see our nation and the world as divided bet... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4653310 Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:21:52 +0100 4653310 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4382749&cid=t_257797_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FvbTJ4BCKkfc%2F By Christopher PrebleThe calls for cutting the federal budget continue to build in Congress as the new GOP members try to make good on their promise to rein in the deficit.  And, right on time, the latest issue of the Weekly Standard features an article by Robert Kagan critiquing the chorus of calls for cuts to military spending.  I think Kagan’s critique is reasonably fair, certainly more so than others of the recent past.  But his basic premise, that national security spending is unrelated to the national debt, simply is not true.  At the The Skeptics, I address this: It is of course true that entitlements and mandatory spending pose the greatest threat to the nation’s fiscal health, but $700+ billion [in defense spending] isn’t chump change. The question of what we should spe... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4382749 Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:48:42 +0100 4382749 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3662657&cid=t_257797_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2F7p_SHFUJGyM%2F By Christopher PrebleNational Journal’s Paul Starobin asks at the National Security Experts blog “Are America’s Alliances Fraying?” Starobin notes that two normally reliable allies, Brazil and NATO member Turkey opposed an additional round of sanctions against Iran. Meanwhile, President Obama has failed to persuade Europeans to provide large numbers of troops to Afghanistan. “Is the ability of Washington to assemble coalitions on behalf of its global objectives starting to ebb?” Starobin asks. “Are our alliances fraying — and if so, why? Does this trend have to do with our flailing economy, with inept diplomacy, or with some other set of factors?” Excerpts from my response: It is hardly newsworthy when one of America’s allies bu... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3662657 Mon, 14 Jun 2010 16:18:09 +0100 3662657 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3395369&cid=t_257797_150_f&fid=38374&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FePharmaSummit%2F%7E3%2FUTv4Q9AsIBA%2Fcomplimentary-web-seminar-tomorrow.html (Source: ePharma Summit) ePharma Summit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3395369 Tue, 23 Mar 2010 14:02:00 +0100 3395369 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3346725&cid=t_257797_150_f&fid=38374&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FePharmaSummit%2F%7E3%2F6PNIjeAC2iY%2Fcomplimentary-web-seminar-leverage.html (Source: ePharma Summit) ePharma Summit blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3346725 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:34:00 +0100 3346725 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3182321&cid=t_257797_133_f&fid=35084&url=http%3A%2F%2Fballastexistenz.autistics.org%2F%3Fp%3D594 When Allies Fail Something I would add is that when these sorts of things come up for any group of people (autistic people are far from the only ones, there is much culture and class-based stuff in there as well) whose normal way of interacting has been considered by those with power to lack “proper” social skills… when we get angry at people who perpetuate some form or another of prejudice or oppression is NOT the time to start lecturing us on how our social skills are atrocious and we need to calm down and be polite before anyone can listen to us. That is just adding a whole new layer of fail on top of whatever the original one was, and trapping us into a situation where we need to communicate in the same way those in power do before those in power will listen. (Which i... Ballastexistenz blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3182321 Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:37:28 +0100 3182321 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3171887&cid=t_257797_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FbbdOwtOl6hM%2F By Michael F. CannonSuppose you’re a family of four at or near the federal poverty level.  Under current law, if you earn an additional dollar, you get to keep around 60-70 cents. Under the House and Senate health care bills, however, you would get to keep maybe 38 cents.  Or 26 cents.  Or maybe just 18 cents. The following graph (from my recent study, “Obama’s Prescription for Low-Wage Workers: High Implicit Taxes, Higher Premiums”) shows that under the House and Senate bills, the combination of (1) a mandate tax and (2) subsidies that disappear as income rises would impose implicit tax rates on poor families that reach as high as 82 percent over broad ranges of income. This graph actually smooths out some rather bumpy implicit tax rates that spike as high as 174 percent. ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3171887 Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:55:10 +0100 3171887 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2712067&cid=t_257797_87_f&fid=36438&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FCato-at-liberty%2F%7E3%2FyK7_ZPAakUg%2F Yesterday, President Obama defended his new approach to the war in Afghanistan. According to the president, our strategy is to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and its extremist allies. In order to accomplish this goal, Obama’s strategy indicates we must create a functioning national state there. Why? Beltway orthodoxy tells us it’s because extremists will emerge in ungoverned parts of the world and attack the United States. As my colleagues Justin Logan and Chris Preble point out here, there’s reason to doubt whether state failure or poor governance in itself poses a threat. But responsible leaders would be upfront about the expected costs of our policy: to transform what is a deeply divided, poverty stricken, tribal-based society into a self-sufficient, non-corrupt, stable ... Cato-at-liberty blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2712067 Tue, 18 Aug 2009 20:59:28 +0100 2712067