Guest Commentary


Since then, we in Pakistan have traveled a long road on an arduous journey. Yet in the next six months, Pakistan will make history by going to the polls for the first peaceful and constitutional transfer of power in our 65-year history. This is only the beginning. As we are reminded every day on our streets and in our villages, achieving democracy is one thing; making it work is quite another. Even after two centuries of practice, the Congress is still accused of not delivering or listening to the people who elected it. It is no surprise that the democratic system in Pakistan is subject to stringent criticism as it evolves and protects institutions such as a nonpartisan electoral system, a president who devolves his powers to parliament, a federal government that passes power on to the provinces and a free, independent media that holds everyone accountable.

There are no easy solutions for what is happening now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The country’s challenges are almost indescribable: A quarter the size of the United States, it has the same amount of paved roads as Houston. Arguably the richest nation in the world in terms of mineral wealth, its 73 million citizens stand on one of the lowest rungs of the development ladder. Host to the world’s largest peacekeeping mission, it has dozens of militias that continue to commit abuses with impunity. Perhaps the only sure conclusion to be drawn from recent unrest is that the international community’s DRC policies as a whole — its human rights and peacekeeping efforts — have failed. If the international community is to redeem itself, it must do three things: Dedicate resources commensurate to the task, leverage — not blame — key regional stakeholders and promote sustainable solutions to development.

The road to a measure of justice for Sergei Magnitsky — the anti-corruption lawyer who died after being tortured in a Russian prison three years ago — was a long one. After two years, Congress has finally passed the Russia and Moldova Jackson-Vanik Repeal Act of 2012 (H.R. 6156). It passed in the Senate last week by a vote of 92-4 and in the House several weeks ago by an overwhelming bipartisan majority of 365 to 43.

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During my three years as chairman of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee (INTA), several high-profile issues have stirred considerable excitement: the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty and the increase of Parliament’s role in trade policy; the ratification of the European Union-Korea Free Trade Agreement; the refocusing of the Generalized System of Preferences; and the debate on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).

At once the most unexpected and welcome development, however, was the November 2011 launch of the High Level EU-U.S. Working Group and their yearlong exploration of the feasibility of an EU-U.S. Free Trade Agreement — unexpected because this project had long been taboo in European Union trade policy, for fear that a bilateral deal between two of the world’s largest economies would hurt the Doha Round beyond repair; and welcome because of the great potential for mutual gains. Read more...

Now Ukraine’s parliament must work to further our democracy and usher in needed reforms — work that will include listening to voices that are critical of our political progress.

Those voices haven’t been shy.

Yet, in a world of shifting and diffuse power, the self-evidence of the trans-Atlantic bond seems to fade. Read more...

BP's constructive actions, which no doubt were prompted by hostile congressional hearings and public outrage, sadly are not the rule when it comes to how oil companies handle environmental disasters they cause. Just this month, the United States Supreme Court issued a major decision against Chevron, refusing to overturn an appeals court ruling against the company, which is fighting a multibillion-dollar judgment against it for spilling some 18.5 billion gallons of oil and highly toxic waste into one of the world's most precious and fragile biodiversity hotspots: the Ecuadorian Amazon.