Wednesday, May 19, 2021

The Prospects for a US-UK FTA

"Primary Spotlight on Political Risk - Interview with Ted Bromund Reviews Prospects for a US - UK Free Trade Deal," Primary Access & Research, May 19, 2021. Not available online. "There are four major obstacles on the U.S. side. First, over the past two decades, Britain has become, in the eyes of the U.S. political system, a conservative country. That doesn’t mean Britons would vote Republican if they had the chance. It means that conservatives tend to like Britain and want to improve Anglo-American ties, while liberals tend not to prioritize improving Anglo-American ties. This isn’t a black and white dichotomy, but it is a tendency. With a Democrat now in the White House, it would be surprising if the U.S. administration worked vigorously to complete the U.S.-U.K. FTA."

Monday, May 17, 2021

Interpol Abuse ABCs

What Americans Should Know About Interpol Abuse, Daily Signal, May 17, 2021. "I have a lot of experience researching Interpol, and, though my work as an expert witness, I’ve seen a lot of Interpol abuse cases. Broadly speaking, I’d say the State Department’s list is a good start—Russia is certainly a notorious abuser—but far from complete."

Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Guns and Silliness at the U.N. in 2021

At the 2021 U.N. Programme of Action on Small Arms Meeting, the U.S. Should Get Real, Heritage Foundation Backgrounder #3613, May 4, 2021. "The last meeting of the U.N.’s Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (PoA), held in 2018, violated the PoA’s principle of working by unanimous consent. The PoA has few, if any, achievements. U.S. participation in it merely lends it a credibility it does not deserve: The only reason for the U.S. to participate is to prevent the PoA from making bad decisions. Now that the PoA has abandoned the principle of unanimity that allowed the U.S. to prevent bad outcomes, the U.S should not participate in the 2021 meeting of the PoA unless the PoA is reoriented to focus on specific, realistic, and relevant goals."