Joshua Foust ← Writer in international affairs ← Page 4

Huffington Post Live Segment on Drones and Assassination

Mar

2013

I was on a Huffington Post Live segment today about drones and assassination. Watch here:

Ben Emmerson’s ISI Shuffle

Mar

2013

The UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, Ben Emmerson, conducted a three-day visit to Islamabad, Pakistan last week. And despite his stated purpose to investigate drone strikes, he didn’t actually talk to any of the agencies responsible for those strikes, or even visit strike sites: During the course of the visit the Special ...

The Great Transfer of Free Wealth

Mar

2013

The past few weeks have seen an explosion of writers coming out of the woodwork to complain about either being asked to, or feeling like they had to write for free. And that’s an important discussion that should continue. But it’s also part of a larger phenomenon as well. A few weeks ago I wrote ...

Urdu VOA: Access Point with Ayesha Tanzeem

Mar

2013

I appeared yesterday on VOA-Urdu’s Access Point with Ayesha Tanzeem to talk about the Iran-Pakistan pipeline and the U.S. response. In English; Urdu-language post here.

Why I Stopped Writing for Free

Mar

2013

The ongoing debate about writing for free on various websites has been fascinating. I have a personal stake in the matter: I have written for free for a number of various high-profile websites (CNN, Salon, the Atlantic, Foreign Policy, Reuters, The Hill, The New York Times), and I’ve been paid to write for others (I ...

For PBS: Why did the U.S. capture Sulaiman Abu Ghaith?

Mar

2013

Last Friday, the U.S. government announced it had captured Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law and al Qaeda’s one-time chief propagandist, in Jordan. His capture appeared like a major coup. When the U.S. invaded Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in 2001, Abu Ghaith told Aljazeera, “the planes will not stop,” referring to more 9/11-style attacks. In reality, however, his capture ...

Incoherence Is at the Heart of the Terror War

Mar

2013

The New York Times wrote an extensive story explaining the government’s reasoning behind its assassination of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki in September of 2011. It’s worth reading in full, but there are some things to expand upon, because they point to a key failure point in U.S. policy. Awlaki Became Operational Much of the ...

The Deepening Iran-Pakistan Petro-Relationship

Mar

2013

The Iran-Pakistan branch of the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (IPI) seems to be coming online. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has announced he will visit Iran for the groundbreaking of the Pakistan branch of a new gas pipeline on March 11. It will be his second visit to Iran in less than a month, part of ...

The Filibuster of Follies

Mar

2013

Senator Rand Paul made a lot of friends yesterday when he filibustered for twelve hours the nomination of John O. Brennan to be the next Director of the CIA. This was the first time a spoken filibuster lasted so long since Bernie Sanders talked for just over eight hours in 2010 to protest Obama’s tax ...

Planning for the Post-Employment Economy

Mar

2013

Eric Garland did a great job of summarizing an astonishing cleavage that is defining more and more of the economy. But there’s more to this phenomenon, especially as it plays out over time. And there might even be an upside. First, to summarize Eric’s post (which you should read in full): The theme in all ...