Cassilis

Welcome to week 3 on the roundup and a distinctly international flavour to this weeks selections.

The Henry Jackson Society

• I referenced this article by Robert Simcox late last week anyway but worth including here again. HJS identify, and welcome, the continuity between Blair's famous Chicago speech on liberal interventionism and David Miliband's speech at Oxford last week. Whether Miliband would appreciate the suggestion that his speech was 'Reagan-esque' is another matter.
• HJS also have a interesting & succinct response to Kosovo's declaration of independence. They suggest the episode symbolises many of the challenges that Europe faces today and also point out that US and NATO assets were key to the resolution both of the 1999 Kosovo crisis and the subsequent battle for independence - in the view of HJS their continued involvement in European affairs should be welcomed and encouraged.

Royal United Services Institute

• I don't have the stomach to find and link to the Daily Mail's take on this article again but if you want to cut through their despicable agenda and actually read the article it's worthwhile. Still not good reading for the government, Professor Gwyn Prins and Lord Salisbury suggest that 'flabby and bogus strategic thinking' is a fundamental source of danger to the security of the United Kingdom. Their article expresses the consensus of an influential group of former military chiefs, diplomats, analysts and academics.

The Heritage Foundation

• A few interesting selections from the respected US think tank - starting with a white paper from Stuart Butler on the fiscal problems facing the US Social Insurance program.
• A lecture from William Voegeli on why the case for limited government is such a difficult one for US conservatives to make.
• A background piece on what Obama \ Clinton \ McCain will need to do to prepare the US military for the next 10 years.
• And finally today a bit of fun (in a sad, nerdy sense) from Edwin Feulner on landmark dates in Conservative history - you may want to challenge his selection or broaden it to include landmark dates in political history as a whole...?

That's it for this week - briefer than before but hope there's something of interest anyway. I've made it to week 3 so this seems to be worthwhile but, as ever, your feedback on this is welcome and if you spot something you think I should flag here let me know.

Labels: Think Tank Roundups