New America in the News: 2007

The White House has welcomed news that Pakistan is going ahead with elections before 15 February. But U.S. officials appear sceptical about President Pervez Musharraf's ability to deliver democracy to the Pakistani people. Following a phone call between President Bush and President Musharraf, Pakistan announced it will allow elections to take place by 15 February. But some senior U.S. officials appear sceptical of the Pakistani President's commitment to democracy.

The new crisis in Pakistan demonstrates the hypocrisy of Bush administration saber-rattling against Iran, foreign policy analysts say.

Pakistan’s president and top Bush “war on terror” ally Gen. Pervez Musharraf staged what many call a military coup Nov. 3, declaring a state of emergency, suspending the constitution, firing the entire Supreme Court and jailing hundreds of lawyers and other protesters including trade unionists.

...At a time when at least 47 million Americans went uninsured last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, the problem of health care just won't go away. To shed some light on this issue, we brought in four guests with a medley of mindsets: an economist, a moral philosopher, a public health professor, and a minister.

The following article is a positive and well-deserved profile of Tim Wu -- quoting Chris Sacca of Google -- that plays off the impact of his New America paper on wireless net neutrality. Google CEO Eric Schmidt is on New America's Leadership Council.

"Tim Wu, Freedom Fighter: His wireless-phone manifesto was the inspiration for Google's new mobile-software strategy, which includes the Open Handset Alliance."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has held only one hearing on Iran this year; its House counterpart has held five. ...

The hearings that have been held have exposed lawmakers to some alternative views of Iran’s intentions. Ray Takeyh of the Council on Foreign Relations, for example, told House Foreign Affairs that Iran might want nuclear weapons to deter attacks and enhance its power rather than to actually use them, and that its support of Shiite militias has historical roots and probably is not intended to incite a broader conflict with the United States.

The candidates for the 2008 presidential nominations have not been as detailed about education policy as in some recent elections. But that doesn’t mean the stakes of the Democratic and Republican races aren’t high for K-12 schools. ...

The ousted chief justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court sought to rally lawyers Tuesday to continue street protests against President Pervez Musharraf's imposition of emergency rule. Regional experts discuss the pivotal role lawyers are playing in the protests and assess the latest developments in the crisis. ...

MARGARET WARNER: What's your view, Steve Coll, of the prominent role lawyers are taking in this?

When a group of companies with a combined market value of nearly $1 trillion decides it wants a favor from the federal government, it shouldn’t have trouble making quick time of the opposition.

Such a super-wealthy group is the White Spaces Coalition, formed by the likes of Google, Microsoft, Intel, Dell and Hewlett-Packard. Their goal is to provide advanced wireless communications services on vacant TV channels without having to secure licenses from the FCC at auction.

Medical journalist and author Shannon Brownlee has written extensively about the lack of scientific evidence for many medical practices, and the problem of unnecessary care, which accounts for as much as a third of the nation’s health care bill.