scholarly journals The financial legacy of Afghanistan and Iraq: How wartime spending decisions will constrain future U.S. national security budgets

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda J. Bilmes
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Department Of Defense ◽  
The United States ◽  
Veterans Affairs ◽  
Department Of Veterans Affairs ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
To Come ◽  
Basic Equipment ◽  
States History

The Afghan and Iraqi conflicts, taken together, will be the most expensive wars in United States history, totaling somewhere between US$4 to US$6 trillion. This includes long-term medical care and disability compensation for service members, veterans and families, military replenishment, and social and economic costs. The largest portion of that bill is yet to be paid. Since 2001, the U.S. has expanded the quality, quantity, availability, and eligibility of benefits for military personnel and veterans. This has led to unprecedented growth in the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense budgets. These benefits will increase further over the next 40 years. Additional funds are committed to replacing large quantities of basic equipment used in the wars and to support ongoing diplomatic presence and military assistance in Afghanistan and Iraq. The large sums borrowed to finance war-related operations will also impose substantial long-term debt servicing costs. As a consequence of these wartime spending choices, the United States will face constraints in funding investments in personnel and diplomacy, research and development, and new military initiatives. The legacy of decisions taken during the Afghan and Iraqi wars will dominate federal budgets for decades to come.

Transformation of the US Veterans Health Administration

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan B. Perlin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Veterans Health Administration ◽  
The United States ◽  
Veterans Affairs ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Veterans Health ◽  
Department Of Veterans Affairs ◽  
Health Administration ◽  
The Us

Ten years ago, it would have been hard to imagine the publication of an issue of a scholarly journal dedicated to applying lessons from the transformation of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Health System to the renewal of other countries' national health systems. Yet, with the recent publication of a dedicated edition of the Canadian journal Healthcare Papers (2005), this actually happened. Veterans Affairs health care also has been similarly lauded this past year in the lay press, being described as ‘the best care anywhere’ in the Washington Monthly, and described as ‘top-notch healthcare’ in US News and World Report's annual health care issue enumerating the ‘Top 100 Hospitals’ in the United States (Longman, 2005; Gearon, 2005).

Iran gas can diversify European supplies in long term

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Third ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
To Come

Significance The deal reached between Iran and the P5+1 negotiating group (UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany) on July 14 promises to end most sanctions on the country, in return for suspension and monitoring of its nuclear programme. If ratified by all parties, it will create opportunities for an expansion of Iran's gas production and exports. Iran is the holder of the world's largest gas reserves, according to BP estimates. It is also the third-largest producer (after the United States and Russia, and probably having overtaken Qatar during 2015), and the fourth-largest consumer. Impacts Iran could increase gas exports by advancing projects stalled by sanctions, although most of these will take some years to come to fruition. Iran would seek to attract foreign investment into its gas industry to increase production and exports in the longer term. If this occurs, Iran will compete with other gas exporters, particularly Russia, into the 2020s.

The Ukraine-Russia Conflict: A Way Forward

2016 ◽  
Vol 27 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 315-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Rojansky
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
European Security ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Vital Interest ◽  
Frozen Conflict ◽  
Settlement Mechanism

The United States has a vital interest in the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty and the resolution of its conflict with Russia, which are key to de-escalating growing tension across the wider European and Euro-Atlantic space. Yet the conflict in Ukraine’s East has settled into a largely recognisable pattern: a new and very large “frozen conflict,” increasingly reminiscent of that in Moldova, Georgia and Armenia/Azerbaijan, where intense fighting at the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse was reduced by de facto cease-fires, but no effective long-term conflict-settlement mechanism was found. Washington should seek agreement from all parties to engage more directly in an osce-mediated process to stem the ongoing damage to European security, the deepening human and economic costs, and the threat to Ukraine’s sovereignty.

Advocating for minority Veterans in the United States: Principles for equitable public policy

2021 ◽  
pp. e20210024
Author(s):  
Kai River Blevins ◽  
Andy L. Blevins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Multiple Identities ◽  
Veterans Affairs ◽  
Department Of Veterans Affairs ◽  
Intersectionality Theory ◽  
Minority Veterans ◽  
Policies And Programs ◽  
The U.S

LAY SUMMARY Minority Veterans in the United States are often excluded, whether intentionally or not, from public policy initiatives, leading to approaches that attempt to account for, or include, minority Veterans after the policy process has begun rather than at the foundational stages. This leads to policies and programs that do not adequately serve or that may harm minority Veteran communities. Drawing on their work with the U.S. Senate and House Veterans’ Affairs Committees and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the authors outline four principles for equitable Veteran public policy to better support minority Veterans and their communities. These principles are grounded in intersectionality theory, a framework that starts from the recognition that everyone has multiple identities and that these identities relate to the inequalities one experiences personally and systemically. The authors hope these principles contribute to more equitable public policy analyses and practices to better serve minority Veterans and lessen instances of inequality or injustice.

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