U.S. Campaign All Tied Up WIth Somewhere To Go

"Even Money and Media Can't Bring This Election to Life," Yorkshire Post, August 31, 2012, not available online. "The U.S. campaign seems to be a race that no one can win. But it isn’t for lack of trying. The British media report obsessively on the U.S. campaign, but they can’t convey its curious lack of momentum. President Obama has a lead of a single point over Mitt Romney in the latest poll of polls, but both candidates are trapped in a narrow range."

The Programme of Action is Ineffective and Dangerous

The U.S. Should Withdraw from the U.N.’s ‘Programme of Action’ on Small Arms, Heritage Foundation Issue Brief #3714, August 31, 2012. "The PoA contains a range of commitments on which participating nations have agreed to report biennially. It is not a treaty process: it is, in theory, a mechanism for encouraging voluntary cooperation. In practice, it has achieved little. On August 29, the U.N. released its International Small Arms Control Standards (ISACS), which epitomizes the PoA’s promotion of gun control norms. Since the PoA is ineffective and seeks to constrain freedoms protected by the Constitution, the time has come for the U.S. to withdraw from it."

Did US Arms Sales Really Triple in a Year?

Iran Drives Spike in US Arms Sales, Contentions, August 28, 2012. "The New York Times’ Thom Shanker cites a new Congressional Research Service report to make the startling claim that “weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high” of $66.3 billion, an “extraordinary increase” from 2010’s total of $21.4 billion and one that represents “three-quarters of the global arms market.” The full report, by Richard Grimmett and Paul Kerr, is available here. While the dollar figures that Shanker cites are accurate, the context he provides is not."

The Superstitions of Academic Freedom

Ayn Rand and the Academy, Contentions, August 28, 2012. "The most stifling part of the ivory tower atmosphere is not the way it turns some authors into nonpersons. It’s the tedious artistry inherent in the way smart people write on interesting subjects only to serve the agenda of snipping at conservatives."

Washington Post Credulity on China's Arms Exports

China’s Arms Exports Aren’t Mistakes, Contentions, August 28, 2012. "Colum Lynch had an interesting feature on China’s arms exports to sub-Saharan Africa in the Washington Post this weekend. His premise was that, while China does all it can to prevent this trade from becoming public knowledge, it is conducted without the approval of China’s diplomats. This may in some cases be true: the Chinese Foreign Ministry may not know about China’s exports of incendiary cartridges. But that just sums up the problem, which is that China is not a nation governed by law. Expecting it to have regular, lawful processes is quite beside the point."

Stopping the Arms Trade Treaty, Again

U.S. Should Act to Stop Renewed Rush to Arms Trade Treaty, Heritage Foundation issue Brief #3690, August 2, 2012. "The U.N. negotiating conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) ended on July 27 without reaching consensus on a treaty, but the ATT is far from dead. The conference was only one step in the process. When the U.N. General Assembly (GA) meets in September, it will have before it the report of the negotiating conference and the draft treaty text. The ATT’s proponents plan to vote it through the GA. The U.S. should act now to stop this renewed rush to adopt the ATT."