@FutureChallenges: The Annual Bertelsmann Conference: Making a Comeback

I attended the annual Bertelsmann Foundation conference—Making a Comeback: A Return to Jobs and Growth—which discussed the economy, jobs, and the political state of Washington, D.C. and Europe. Check the following links for my coverage, all posted at FutureChallenges.

Here's a link to a general review of the event, including descriptions of some of the more interesting discussions and panelists.

One of the panels had a lengthy discussion on risks to the international system. This interesting conversation featured panelists Ian Bremmer, from Eurasia Group, and Anne Krueger, from SAIS.

At the conference, Bertelsmann Foundation and the Kiel Institute proposed a new international, non-profit, credit rating agency (INCRA), to address some of the short comings and possible conflicts of interest in the current for-profit model.

In one of the more interesting panels, Congressman Gregory Meeks (D-NY) provided a discussion on the Democrat's take on the debt and tax issues. Fiscal Consolidation: A Technical Term for Partisan Quarrels.

A Marshall Plan for the Middle East - Part I

My newest article, A Marshall Plan for the Middle East:  Part I, on FutureChallenges (a division of the Bertelsmann Foundation) discusses the need to develop a new approach to the current revolutionary fervor in the Middle East and North Africa.  Relying upon lessons from the Marshall Plan, the post-WWII plan to rehabilitate Europe and prevent the growth of communism, the article argues that the West must rely upon techniques to foster democracy in the Middle East in order to not only promote Western ideology but to strengthen Western security.  The frequent debate, within policy and journalist circles, between those who support democracy promotion (liberals) and those who support regime stability in order to maintain security (realists), is increasingly irrelevant - a product of an outmoded way of thinking.  The two goals are, particularly in the long-run, mutually inclusive.