The Associated Press

William Hartung in AP News | "Study says China top violator of Sudan embargo"

Communications — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:47:00 -0400

New America in the News:

(The AP)--China has been the "most egregious violator" of a worldwide arms embargo, providing Sudan with the vast majority of its small arms and weapons used for mass murder in Darfur province. . .

The arms and also political support are being swapped for access to the African country's oil reserves, according to a report issued on the eve of the Summer Olympics in Beijing. . .

Recognizing fast-developing China's need for energy, William Hartung, a veteran foreign policy analyst and author of the report for the New America Foundation, said the United States might consider energy cooperation with Beijing so it does not rely for oil on Sudan and other repressive regimes. . .

Reihan Salam in the Associated Press | 'Pawlenty: GOP Must Lure 'Sam's Club Republicans''

Communications — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:55:00 -0400

New America in the News:

Reihan Salam and Ross Douthat lean heavily on it in their recently published book, Grand New Party.

In an interview, Salam defined "Sam's Club Republicans" as working class voters without a college education who are anxious about the economic future of themselves and their children and looking to government to help ease those concerns. Ignoring their needs would cost the GOP, he said.

"What's happening now is Republicans are in danger of losing the middle-class suburbs," Salam said. "When you lose those middle-class, working-class suburbs, you lose the country." LINK to Article

Jeffrey Lewis in The Associated Press | 'Satellite Strike Struck Diplomacy, Too'

Communications — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:36:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Satellite Strike Struck Diplomacy, Too (The article appears on websites of Los Angeles Times, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune and FOX News.)

...Missile shields are one reason Washington has long resisted efforts in Geneva to negotiate a comprehensive treaty banning weapons in space. Some U.S. shield designs even envision using orbiting systems to knock out missiles. And the Americans aren't alone.

"Hit-to-kill" technologies are spreading, to China, Japan, Israel and India, for example, noted Jeffrey Lewis, an arms-control expert at Washington's New America Foundation.

"It seems to me we may never have had the opportunity to constrain the technology," he said. "It's pretty hard for me to see that happening now." more

Anatol Lieven in The Associated Press | 'Chill Between Russia and West Seen Deepening'

Communications — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 11:20:00 -0500

New America in the News:

No blows likely over Kosovo split, but chill between Russia and West seen deepening (The Associated Press)

...Detaching Kosovo from Serbia will likely aggravate disputes over a host of sensitive security issues ranging from missile defense to NATO membership for the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine.

"There are several different issues coming together that's what makes it so dangerous," said Anatol Lieven, a Russia expert who is a professor at King's College London and a senior fellow of the New America Foundation in Washington.

Eric Schmidt in The Associated Press | Google CEO Named Chairman of Think Tank

Communications — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 17:49:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Google CEO Named Chairman of Think Tank (The Associated Press)

Eric Schmidt, the chairman and chief executive of the world's largest search engine, needs to update his profile on the company Web site.

If he doesn't, his new chairmanship at the New America Foundation won't show up if Schmidt Googles himself.

On Thursday, the Google chairman and CEO became chairman of the Washington think tank whose various issues include telecommunications and technology policy.

His unpaid position will be effective June 1.

The first chairman for Google Inc. when he joined in 2001, Schmidt will be the think tank's second since it began in 1999. He's been on the think tank's board since its inception. He follows James Fallows, a national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly magazine. Fallows will remain on the board.

Schmidt's election also follows the September arrival of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll as the president and chief executive of New America, which has a $13.5 million annual budget, 75 staff members and 25 fellows. The group's policy issues also include economic growth, foreign policy and trade, among others. ... more

--This article appeared online in BusinessWeek, Forbes, Conde Nast Portfolio, CNN Money, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicel, Houston Chronicle, Newsday, Boston Globe and many more news media websites.

Michael Calabrese in The Associated Press | 'Airwaves Sale Is Payoff for Digital Move'

Communications — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:52:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Airwaves Sale Is Payoff for Digital Move (The Associated Press)

Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, said, "It's quite likely the D block will have to be re-auctioned without the reserve price."

Doug Rediker in AP | 'Foreign Investments Spur Concern on Hill'

Communications — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:38:00 -0500

New America in the News:

Foreign Investments Spur Concern on Hill (AP article appearing in Forbes and BusinessWeek)
The flow of funds from overseas could bolster the U.S. dollar, and sovereign wealth funds are the type of long-term investors that can stabilize the financial markets, said Doug Rediker, co-director of the international finance group at the New America Foundation. ...

AP Quotes Michael Dannenberg on Student Loans and Higher Ed Costs

Communications — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 14:04:00 -0500

New America in the News:

The Assosciated Press published a review of the surge in loan elimination in private schools for middle- to upper-class income students, and quoted Michael Dannenberg, Education Program Director with the New America Foundation.

... Michael Dannenberg, a scholar at the New America Foundation, notes that's also approximately the figure Congress spent this year to cut student loan interest rates from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent -- for the whole country. ...

Ultimately, however, other factors will play a much bigger role in college affordability for most people than Harvard's policies for its 6,600 undergraduates.

For instance, maximum Pell Grants -- the main federal aid program for low-income students -- are set to rise from $4,310 to $4,731 this year under a spending bill passed Wednesday by Congress -- though that's a $69 cut from what students had been promised.

But the biggest factor is the economy, says Dannenberg of the New America Foundation. Historically, when the economy falters, state funding for higher education is first to take a hit, and public college tuition soars.

"You could have this coming phenomenon where higher education at the elite colleges is becoming more affordable for the talented elite students who are accepted, but education for the masses to attend state and community colleges could become less affordable." ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.

Daniel Levy Quoted in The AP on Bush's Strategy in the Middle East

Communications — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 13:33:00 -0500

New America in the News:

President Bush once talked bullishly about Middle East peacemaking. He would "ride herd" on recalcitrant leaders, picking up the telephone whenever necessary and helping produce a long-elusive agreement.

In truth, Bush has been more a sporadic speaker than engaged enforcer during his seven years in office.

This week's peace conference is an effort by his administration to step more deeply into trying to help settle one of the world's most intractable conflicts. Two key questions are how much Bush himself will become involved and how much good he could do during the final year in the White House after a hands-off history.

Past presidents staked much on the Middle East; some even achieved encouraging results. But after decades of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians, there is no resolution to the Palestinians' desire for an independent state.

President Carter's 1978 Camp David sessions led to a peace treaty the following year between Israel and Egypt. A 1991 Mideast peace conference in Madrid, Spain, which was sponsored by the first President Bush and the Russians, paved the way for the Oslo peace accords and establishment of the Palestinian Authority. President Clinton brokered Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Wye River in Queenstown, Md., in 1998; at Camp David in July 2000; and in Taba, Egypt, in January 2001 — all to no avail.

For a host of reasons, Bush has behaved differently.

There was his inclination to discard all things Clinton, coupled with the recognition that past intensive efforts, including the Clinton-sponsored sessions that broke off just before Bush became president, had not paid off. The Sept. 11 attacks and the Iraq war drew the bulk of the White House's attention.

Then there is Bush's personal temperament and a business-school taught management style. He prefers to focus on establishing a grand vision and trusting details to subordinates.

"Hands off would be an understatement," said Daniel Levy, a former Israeli negotiator. He now heads the Middle East Initiative at the New America Foundation and the Prospects for Peace Initiative at The Century Foundation. ...

But Levy said Bush's engagement, when it has happened, has proved mostly unhelpful because it consistently has strengthened the Israelis' position over the Palestinians'. For instance, a 2004 exchange of letters with Sharon supported Israel's retention of Jewish settlements near its border and rejected Palestinian claims that refugees have a right to return to Israel. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link. For more information on Daniel Levy and the upcoming Annapolis peace conference, please visit the American Strategy Program website.

Jeffrey Lewis Quoted by AP on Iran's Nuclear Program

Communications — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 11:21:00 -0500

New America in the News:

U.S. defense officials have signaled that up-to-date attack plans are available if needed in the escalating crisis over Iran's nuclear aims, although no strike appears imminent.

The Army and Marine Corps are under enormous strain from years of heavy ground fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Still, the United States has ample air and naval power to strike Iran if President Bush decided to target nuclear sites or to retaliate for alleged Iranian meddling in neighboring Iraq.

Among the possible targets, in addition to nuclear installations like the centrifuge plant at Natanz: Iran's ballistic missile sites, Republican Guard bases, and naval warfare assets that Tehran could use in a retaliatory closure of the Straits of Hormuz, a vital artery for the flow of Gulf oil. ...

Nonmilitary specialists who have studied Iran's nuclear program are doubtful of U.S. military action.

"There is a nontrivial chance that there will be an attack, but it's not likely," said Jeffrey Lewis, director of a nuclear strategy project at the New America Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy group. ...

For the complete article, please follow this link.