Kieran Lawrence looks at autonomous weapons and the effect they could have on modern warfare
Continuing a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Angela Merkel
Ben Bland examines the fallout from the Iowa caucuses and looks forward to the New Hampshire primaries.
In the first of a series on world leaders, Miles Deverson takes a look at Nicholas Sarkozy
The dark clouds have been a seemingly permanent addition over Washington D. C. in the last year. After the Congressional elections of November 2010 there was much talk of the Democrats and Republicans putting aside partisan bickering in favour of trying to maturely work together to do the best thing for America. Predictably such talk soon turned out to be complete rot.
The bicameral legislative system of the United States not only encourages the disintegration of effective government but seems ever more to have implanted a tradition of petty squabbling and ‘party over country’ politics in Washington. Since the Republicans gained their House of Representatives majority at the beginning of the 112th Congress in January, there has not only been a lack of significant legislation passing through but the very real threat of a government shutdown back in April over budget disagreements.
In an attempt to close the year off in a more pleasant fashion, President Obama took some time to remind Congress last Thursday of the Thanksgiving unity that is supposed to engulf all Americans come this time of year. One cannot help but think the creation of Thanksgiving failed to foresee what such a pathetically immature institution as Congress can be at its worse. “If we keep that spirit alive, if we support each other and look out for each other, and remember that we’re all in this together, then I know that we too will overcome the challenges of our time” the President told the nation in his Thanksgiving address. Rumours that House Speaker John Boehner was too preoccupied throwing darts at a picture of Obama’s face to hear the speech are as yet unconfirmed.
Of course, the President should be applauded on reaching out to the opposition as the year draws to a close, but then it seems unlikely that his words will make any bit of difference. Much like Bill Clinton, Obama is becoming so hated by the Republicans that everything he says is treated with supreme distrust and contempt.
To be fair to the GOP, the Democrats do not seem to have been working overtime to try and encourage bipartisanship over the last twelve months. Just four days after the President reached out to the opposition, Democrats working on the Obama 2012 campaign released a video attempting to portray Republican presidential nomination front-runner Mitt Romney as a Gollum-like character troubled by indecision.
That thaw in partisanship was really nice while it lasted.
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