John Lyman

John Lyman is an intern at Foreign Policy Digest.

Articles

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Somalia: At the Margins at Our Peril

DEVELOPMENTS Dismissed as a failed state, Somalia is sometimes perceived as less significant to international affairs than it should be. But the region’s instability and complexity has recently attracted more attention. The United States (U.S.) military has been training and supplying the Somali national army in an attempt to bolster its efforts to retake the capital, Mogadishu, and other parts of the country from Al Shabab, an Islamic organization that has waged an insurgency against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) since 2006. Al Shabab controls most of Mogadishu except for a very small section of the city held by the TFG. Around 5,000 African Union troops also provide military support for the government.

March 31, 2010
John Lyman
March 2010

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30,000 More U.S. Troops Being Sent to Afghanistan

President Obama’s address to the nation at the West Point Military Academy on Tuesday December 1st was well received in as much for its subject matter as for the fact that Mr. Obama has decided upon a course of action. This action will consist of sending roughly 30,000 thousand U.S. troops to Afghanistan on top of the thousands that are already on the ground. The speech and Mr. Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan does have it detractors as well as its supporters.

December 1, 2009
John Lyman
Longstanding Conflict - December 2009

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The Price of Success: Obama’s Efforts to Reform Military Spending in the Midst of Two U.S. Wars

Speaking before a national Veterans of Foreign Wars convention Monday in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. President Barack Obama had sharp words for members of Congress. “If Congress sends me a defense bill loaded with a bunch of pork, I will veto it.” Obama’s warning comes after the House approved in late July by a vote of 400-30 a $636 billion Pentagon spending bill, as the Pentagon executes an obstacle-laden withdrawal from Iraq while shifting U.S. military might to Afghanistan.

August 18, 2009
John Lyman
War and Peace - August 2009

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Why Obama’s Ghana Speech Comes at a Time of New Hope for Africa

President Obama went to Ghana this past July on his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa since becoming president. Obama chose to visit Ghana partly because it is a stable democratic country, with a growing economy relatively free of political corruption. The choice conveyed his message that the continent had the potential to overcome the corruption and mismanagement that holds back much of the region and that frustrates major aid donors and potential foreign investors. Comments concerning poor governance from previous U.S. presidents have sometimes been seen as paternalistic. But by complimenting Ghana’s progress, and through the perceived credibility that comes with having a cultural connection to the continent, by virtue of his Kenyan father, Obama conveyed a message that has been met with a rapturous response on the ground in Africa.

July 1, 2009
John Lyman
Democracy and Rule of Law - June/July 2009

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Education in Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s history is a complex and violent one marked by a series of foreign evasions and occupations. The twentieth century history of Afghanistan is highlighted by its gaining independence from Great Britain in 1919, the Soviet Union invasion in 1979 followed by a lengthy proxy war with U.S. backed mujahedin forces.

May 1, 2009
John Lyman
Education - May 2009