The American Psychological War On Iran Is A Failure

October 25th, 2012 by Ava Kiai

Last week, we endured the latest installment of the Iran diplomacy debacle. The presidential candidates battled over semantics; the New York Times and the rest of us became confused about the actual conversation between the two countries; and meanwhile, private businesses and Iranian citizens still feel the crush of the economic strain.

Last Saturday, The New York Times published a confusing report that vaguely stated the United States and Iran have agreed upon one-on-one nuclear talks following the presidential election. The administration official remained an anonymous tipper, while White House spokesman Tommy Vietor denied that any such concrete agreement had been made.

The following day, the Iranian Foreign Ministry denied the report as well. The promise of nuclear talks had been used as a ploy by Iranian officials over the past several years to delay aggressive action against Iran, so naturally any such promises being made now are subject to a heightened level of scrutiny. Read more…


Debate Finals Were Sunday, J-Sex Drank Diet Pepsi The Whole Time

April 24th, 2012 by Sophie Kleeman

The final contest of the first annual Bickel & Brewer-NYU Global Debate Program took place last night, with two teams competing for the title and $10,000 in scholarship money.

Preparation for the event began last fall, when registration opened for interested students. Formal debating experience was not required, and the involvement of any and every student was encouraged. This also extended beyond the borders of NYU’s New York campus—students from around the globe were invited to join, and the top 16 teams would ultimately be comprised of members of NYU’s London, Abu Dhabi, and New York campuses.

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What We Learned From Not Watching Last Night’s Tea Party Debate

September 13th, 2011 by Ari Lipsitz

Last night, the Republican presidential candidates debated in Tampa, Florida, under the umbrella of a “Tea Party Debate.” This is different from the actual Republican debate last week insofar as CNN sponsored it, and CNN loves the idea that the “Tea Party” is a tangible force, instead of, y’know, a media-invented umbrella term for vague right-leaning political discontent. I don’t own a TV, which sucks for multiple reasons, but it’s worth it because I usually just watch stuff on the internet anyway. Only trouble was, I couldn’t find the debate online, whether because of CNN’s complete control over their content or because of my own technological ineptness. Either way, I was stuck watching the blogs, who were in turn watching the debate. Here is what I learned:

Ron Paul called out the United States and people booed hard. Basically, he said something along the lines of “we deserved 9/11 because of our stupid interventionism, stupid.” And people didn’t like that for some reason. Understand that Ron Paul is not an anti-American liberal apologist, he just really really really likes the idea of borders, and staying inside them. But yeah he’s totally not getting elected now, in case anyone had any doubts at all. Read more…