This week President Obama and http://www.tastingscience.info/sale-24h-levitra/ his wife traveled to Saudi Arabia to pay their respects to the late King Abdullah. Mrs. Obama refused to wear a headscarf when meeting the new Saudi ruler, prompting consternation from many Saudi writers. So was this a faux pas by the First Lady or an act of courage? Does it say anything about the U.S.-Saudi relationship?
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This week, authorities in Belgium carried out raids against suspected terrorists. The men were said to be plotting an attack similar to the one last week on French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo. Combined with the two attacks in Paris last week, this latest episode has Western Europe on edge. Has the over here threat of Islamic terrorism in Europe come to a head?
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Nick Brana, who writes at SocioEvolved.com and is a frequent guest on The Square Circle, has written a review of the documentary The Global Warming War. Read it here.
The major story this week was the change in U.S. policy toward Cuba. President Obama announced a deal with the island nation that includes an exchange of prisoners, an easing of travel and trade restrictions, and the re-opening of the U.S. embassy in Havana. Many hailed the deal as heralding a new era in Cuban-American relations. But others said the president gave away too much leverage and essentially rewarded the Castro regime for bad behavior. Senator Marco Rubio–a Cuban-American–called the deal “disgraceful” and promised to block it in the new Congress next year.
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The big story this week wa
s the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on the CIA’s torture program during the Bush administration. The report presented damning evidence of horrific techniques that CIA agents used against terrorist captives. But CIA director John Brennan publicly defended the program on Thursday. Others have accused the Senate committee staff of misleading the public. Leaving aside the question of whether the report is truthful, was the CIA justified in using these interrogation techniques?
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This week a grand jury in New York decided not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the 
choke-hold death of 43-year-old Eric Garner. Coming just a week after the Ferguson decision, this newest episode sparked a fresh round of protests around the country. However, there seems to be widespread agreement that Pantaleo was at fault. Is this one of those rare moments when left and right agree, and if so, what kinds of reforms can we expect to see?
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President Obama made big news on immigration this week. Last night he outlined his executive order that would shield millions of illegal immigrants from deportation. Republicans criticized the move, saying that it’s illegal and undermines the rule of law. Did the president poison the well on immigration, as Republicans had warned? Does this move make it more or less likely that comprehensive immigration reform will pass?
Big news this week on climate change. President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to limit their countries’ carbon emissions. Many have hailed the agreement as a breakthrough, but some in Congress worry that it would hurt the U.S. economy for no discernable effect on the climate. How big is this deal, and how much should we trust Washington and http://www.thealphaseer.com/buy-levitra-viagra/ Beijing to make good on their promises to reduce emissions?
The Republican Party scored big night during Tuesday’s elections, taking control of the U.S. Senate, widening its lead in the House of Representatives, and sweeping into several governorships.
This week, new travel restrictions went into place on flights from West Africa as part of the effort to contain the spread of the Ebola virus. They come amid numerous calls by several Republicans–and even some Democrats–to institute a travel ban on the region. Is the White House giving in to the pressure for a travel ban? Does a travel ban make sense?
