Jean MacKenzie

The US Has Spent $7.6 Billion On A Drug War In Afghanistan, Where Opium Production Just Hit A New Record High

The US Has Spent $7.6 Billion On A Drug War In Afghanistan, Where Opium Production Just Hit A New Record High.

Jean MacKenzie
By Jean MacKenzie
Afghanistan Opium

KABUL, Afghanistan — Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, Afghanistan’s new president, has basked in a warm wave of national goodwill since taking office last month. Afghans are just happy the transfer of power happened without bloodshed — a rarity here. But Ghani has his work cut out. As he whittles away at corruption, economic problems, and the insurgency,

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How MH17 Affects The Calculus On Aiding Syria’s Rebels

Now here’s a scary news mash-up: What if Putin were Obama and separatists in Ukraine were US-backed rebels in Syria? With the downed Malaysia airliner, we may have just caught a glimpse of a worst-case scenario.

Jean MacKenzie
By Jean MacKenzie
Tawfiq Hassan

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. — The tragic deaths of 298 people aboard a Malaysian airliner downed over eastern Ukraine might seem a world removed from the escalating conflict in the Middle East. But in a cruel twist on the butterfly effect, the alleged actions of a scruffy group of Ukrainian separatists may well torpedo proposed assistance to beleaguered

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Will Afghanistan Be The New Iraq?

The pessimists — and those who want to put the blame for the mess squarely on Obama — have no doubt that it will.

Jean MacKenzie
By Jean MacKenzie
Afghanistan

It’s now been more than a month since Islamic State extremists swept through northern Iraq, gaining large swaths of territory, a huge chunk of cash, and the dangerous mystique of an unstoppable force. The United States has watched the spectacle with horror as a country that claimed 4,500 American lives and more than $2 trillion all but

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One Of These Men Will Lead Afghanistan

Experts call it ‘a real dogfight.’ But the Afghan vote will show whether the country has a shot at a peaceful, stable future.

Jean MacKenzie
By Jean MacKenzie
Afghanistan Election

On Saturday, Afghans will go to the polls to elect a new president. If things go smoothly, it will be the first-ever peaceful transfer of power in a country where regime change has historically been engineered via assassination, coup, or foreign military intervention. It will also serve as a verdict on the long and bloody US-led war that

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How Russia Could Strangle The US Space Program

If you use a cellphone, have a GPS system in your car, or get cash from ATMs, you should be worried.

Jean MacKenzie
By Jean MacKenzie
In this photo taken with a fisheye lens and with long time exposure the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-10M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)In this photo taken with a fisheye lens and with long time exposure the Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-10M space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky)

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. — Think Russia has no way to put pressure on the United States? Think again. The US relies heavily on Russia to furnish the engines that power rockets that deliver both military and civil payloads into space. This includes GPS systems in cars and cellphones, and even systems that allow ATMs to function. Weather satellites

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Fears Of A Russian Takeover Likely Unfounded

Recent events in Crimea are giving Russia’s neighbors the chills, but experts say there’s no need to panic just yet.

Jean MacKenzie
By Jean MacKenzie
Ukraine

As the crisis in Ukraine deepens, alarmist drum rolls can be heard ever more distinctly. The language is fraught with historical portent. Words like “appeasement,” “Sudetenland,” and  “anschluss” conjure images of Europe’s darkest days. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was even more direct at a private fundraiser in California last

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The US Is Sneezing Like Crazy. Will The World Catch A Cold?

Analysis: John Kerry says the government shutdown is ‘an example of the robustness of our democracy.’ The world may not be buying it.

Jean MacKenzie
By Jean MacKenzie

BUZZARDS BAY, Mass. — It’s not every day that Chile gets to wag its finger at the United States. Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bali this week, Chilean President Sebastian Piñera sounded like an irate parent when he said Washington had to confront its fiscal problems "in a better way than they are doing it now

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