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A hard landing for soft power
One year, a niece in the throes of adolescence gave me a birthday card in the form of a piece of construction paper torn in half with...
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Admin
- Oct 11
A tale of two alliances
AUKUS. The acronym has a nice ring to it. Perhaps it’s the “K.” It makes me think of a large island-bound bird that is now extinct. It...
Admin
- Sep 7
My adventure in disaster response
A confession from the disaster response implausible deniability industrial complex To say that I was horrified at the news coming out of...
Admin
- Aug 7
Odd partnerships
For better or for worse, Palau gets more attention than most of its neighbors. Or any of its neighbors when looking toward Micronesia....
Admin
- Jul 9
Anchor babies for the new Cold War
Guam and Chuuk have an icy soulmate: Greenland. With autonomous self-rule except for defense and monetary policy, and perhaps a limited...
Admin
- Jun 15
Tug of war
By now, either it happened, or it didn’t. Either the United States dove off the fiscal cliff and defaulted on its financial obligations—...
Admin
- May 4
The world Chinafied
Several years ago, I happened to be in a shopping mall in a random country in Southeast Asia sipping coffee and watching a fashion show....
Admin
- Apr 9
The hard part of sovereignty
Despite the shortcomings of human memory, when I lived in Chuuk, I remember reading a blog entry along the lines of “Why I didn’t Join...
Admin
- Mar 8
New words for a new Compact
I’ll give Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. credit for one thing. Actually, I have tremendous respect for him, so I’ll give him credit...
Admin
- Feb 6
How free is ‘free association’?
One afternoon as I was preparing to move to Palau, I uncovered in my local library a copy of “Embattled Island,” one of the few works...
Admin
- Jan 8
What I say when I talk to myself
I think I’ve been repeating myself. Granted, most people do that more than they realize, but lately I feel like I’ve been reliving the...
Admin
- Dec 6, 2022
Junkets and the geopolitical freak show
The lighter side of climate change It’s not easy being green. The conferences generate considerable greenhouse gas emissions. Host...
Admin
- Nov 1, 2022
Jinping Monroe? Rhyming with History
We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable relations existing between the United States and those powers to declare that we...
Admin
- Oct 9, 2022
High-stakes drama in Marshall Islands
Or just another day at the office? A word of free advice: if you’re going to try to bribe legislators to create a special zone to attract...
Admin
- Sep 8, 2022
A mismatched policy
When I first arrived in Palau, I was surprised to hear that gout—a form of inflammatory arthritis whose culprit is uric acid, and whose...
Admin
- Jul 10, 2022
‘A rotten foundation’
Will Justice Gorsuch give the territories a Brown moment? In 1954, the nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously agreed in...
Admin
- Jun 5, 2022
Bases and opportunity: The real threat in the Solomon Islands
Somewhere in my house, buried in a box of junk, is a phone to repair. This particular phone is the one I used when I lived in Chuuk. It...
Admin
- Mar 5, 2022
The politics of sunken republics
I was a hardcore environmentalist when I started college. I’ve since become more pragmatic. I view environmentalism as the web of...
Admin
- Feb 11, 2022
Climate change refugees or seekers of better economic opportunities?
It’s virtually impossible to live in the islands without hearing the word “diaspora” among foreigners. Diaspora itself is a biblical...
Admin
- Jan 8, 2022
New Caledonia: A future in limbo
What do submarines and Tesla batteries have in common? France’s role in the Pacific, of course. Last September, Australia canceled a $66...
Admin
- Dec 2, 2021
Climate change negotiation and orchestration
The Conference of the Parties… calls upon parties to accelerate the development, deployment and dissemination of technologies, and the...
Admin
- Nov 7, 2021
Hidden riches in paradise
October 2021 was a big deal for taxes, and not because the extended filing deadline for those required to file a U.S. tax return fell on...
Admin
- Oct 6, 2021
The curious case of Tiki racism
“Tiki: [Māori] A large wooden or small ornamental greenstone image of an ancestor or any human figure.” --Oxford English Dictionary One...
Admin
- Sep 7, 2021
When ‘free association’ becomes a loose phrase
Every few years for the past 15 years or so, a certain obsession grips Pacific Island civil society, which is to say, the media, the...
By Gabriel McCoard
- Aug 12, 2021
Biden defends the sacred right to vote, but skips over the US territories
The recent opinion in Fitisemanu v. United States, in which a federal appeals court ruled that American Samoans are not U.S. citizens,...
By Gabriel McCoard
- Jul 5, 2021
A new life for the Insular Cases
American Samoa’s joy is Guam’s defeat — along with that of other island territories We have grave misgivings about forcing the American...
By Gabriel McCoard
- Jun 6, 2021
Guam’s lack of a vote in Congress is related to oranges from Puerto Rico
On the evening of Feb. 15, 1898, an explosion ripped through the USS Maine, a U.S. Naval Battleship anchored at the harbor in Havana,...
By Gabriel McCoard
- May 4, 2021
China versus China: Where does Micronesia fit in?
U.S. ambassador to Palau John Hennessey-Niland, alongside Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr. visited Taiwan, officially known as the...
By Gabriel McCoard
- Apr 2, 2021
Stupid Guam quotes
Among my random possessions is an antique globe. It’s one of my favorite things. Parts of it are battered and illegible. There’s a dimple...
By Gabriel McCoard
- Mar 4, 2021
Whither the Pacific Islands Forum: Is there an alternative to regionalism?
The event itself happened quickly enough. Members of the Pacific Islands Forum elected Henry Puna, former Prime Minister of the Cook...
By Gabriel McCoard
- Feb 2, 2021
A modest proposal
Covid-19 has wrought more than its share of havoc on everyone. I don’t bother combing my hair unless I have a video conference, which is...
By Gabriel McCoard
- Jan 7, 2021
A preview of what’s to come
I once had a professor who shared a story about working on Capitol Hill for a prominent U.S. senator who stressed the importance of...
By Gabriel McCoard
- Dec 7, 2020
Glimmers of hope amid economic chaos
Palau has long had certain advantages, and advantages beget benefits. Palau is closer to Asia. Non-stop flights eliminate the need for a U.S
By Gabriel McCoard
- Dec 13, 2018
Whither the status quo?
New Caledonia and the curious tale of sovereignty “Members of the United Nations which have or assume responsibilities for the...
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