On Friday, I explained why UBS was the only bank that offered to take a hit on its contracts with AIG during the government’s backdoor bailout of the ailing insurer. The reason? A looming US investigation of UBS that meant the Swiss banking behemoth was in no position to play hardball. In an interview this [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Foreign Policy’
Imperiled UBS Threatens the Entire Swiss Economy
Posted in Mother Jones, tagged Business, Foreign Policy, Taxes on February 2, 2010 |
UBS: Bank Bailout Good Guy?
Posted in Mother Jones, tagged Business, Foreign Policy, Recession, Scandal, Taxes on January 29, 2010 |
I’m working on a larger piece on the UBS whistleblower, Bradley Birkenfeld, so I’ve been following news of the bank rather closely. One exchange from the Congressional hearings on AIG regarding UBS caught my eye so I decided to put the piles of research I’ve done on it to good use. My editor liked the [...]
CIA Agent Reluctantly Recants Waterboarding Claims
Posted in Mother Jones, tagged Foreign Policy, Scandal on January 27, 2010 |
This MoJo blog post was assigned by the bureau chief. It’s both amazing and depressing that the full story hasn’t been more widely told. UPDATE: The story got out: Kevin Drum, the most popular blogger on MotherJones.com, also featured the news on his blog after seeing it on Time magazine’s Swampland blog. UPDATE 2: My [...]
Climate Change or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Posted in Mother Jones, tagged China, Environment, Foreign Policy, History on December 18, 2009 |
In his post, reflecting on the fleeting chance of a global climate agreement, Nick writes, “there simply isn’t much precedent in human history for comprehensive global agreement on tough issues.” I disagree. As the Montreal Protocol to prevent the depletion of the ozone layer and the tattered Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty have (thus far) proven, when [...]
American Hikers to Face Trial in Iran
Posted in Mother Jones, tagged Activism, Foreign Policy, Media, Scandal, Travel on December 16, 2009 | 3 Comments »
For some reason the editors-in-chief, who have been closely following this case because Bauer last wrote for Mother Jones, wanted me to chop the last two paragraphs. I’ve included that upbeat bit added-value reporting to this version of the post. (The Daily Show segment I link to at the end is funny, fascinating, and highly [...]
Economists Agree: Cut Carbon, Save the Economy
Posted in Mother Jones, tagged Environment, Foreign Policy, Politics on December 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve been researching the issue of climate change economics for months now so I’m happy to finally publish something on the subject–and just in time for the kick off of the Copenhagen Climate Conference. The piece was radically reduced so it could run as a blog instead of an article, but it was still newsworthy [...]
Bush, Favre, and Another Vikings Victory
Posted in Hiar Learning, tagged Foreign Policy, Minnesota, Politics, Sport on November 29, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
With a 10-1 record unrivaled since their historic 15-0 season in 1998, the Minnesota Vikings have this long-suffering fan feeling a bit strange. Watching the football game this afternoon, I found myself emitting the same sort of smug laughs President Bush must have made when given progress updates during the invasion of Iraq. Will the [...]
Climate Regulation Lives Another Day
Posted in Mother Jones, tagged Environment, Foreign Policy, Recession on September 24, 2009 |
I first became aware of Sen. Murkowski at the costs of cap-and-trade hearing I attended last week. She griped to the panel of experts about how it would cripple our already weakened economy and they pointed out that all the proposals on the table wouldn’t go into effect for until like 2012. Clearly, reality did [...]
The World’s First Global Debt Clock
Posted in Mother Jones, tagged Foreign Policy on September 22, 2009 |
World leaders are gathered today at the UN General Assembly to discuss reforming the international financial system, laying the groundwork for a global climate change agreement and many other costly and contentious issues. They would do well to remember the money that has already been wasted through inaction (and costly wars) by consulting the Economist [...]
