The Foreign Service Journal, June 2012

J U N E 2 0 1 2 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 13 ing in the Council feature prominent scholars and former government offi- cials with major influence. On March 12-13 the Council of Councils convened it s inaugural con- ference i n Washington, D.C., to tackle four main issues: multilateral coopera- tion, the nuclear nonproliferation regime, the dollar’s future as the world’s reserve currency and the crite- ria for humanitarian intervention. Among the speakers were outgoing World Bank President Robert B. Zoel- lick and Under Secretary of State for Economic, Energy and Agricultural Affairs Robert D. Hormats. CFR and the other 18 think-tanks plan to harness videoconferencing, wikis and mobile platforms to facilitate direct lines of communication between international fellows and experts dur- ing crises. This will add to the dialogue by supplementing existing intergov- ernmental and personal communica- tions. —David J. Barton, Editorial Intern Would Less Foreign Aid Be More Effective? A May 8 report from the Center for American Progress ( www.ameri- canprogress.org ) and the Center for Global Development ( www.cgdev. org ) ma kes a case for greater selectivity in deciding where and howWashington should allocate foreign assistance. In “Engagement Amid Austerity: ABipar- tisan Approach to Reorienting the In- ternational Affairs Budget” ( www. americanprogress.org/issues/2012/ 05/foreign_aid.html ), Jo hn Norris and Connie Veillette propose four ways to reform U.S. foreign affairs institu- tions to better reflect national interests and reduce ineffective spending. First and foremost, they advocate reallocating U.S. bilateral assistance to about half the number of current re- cipients. Of the 146 nations that re- ceive at least some funds, 103 get economic aid and 134 receive security assistance. Norton and Veillette rec- ommend concentrating economic as- sistance programs on just 53 countries and providing security assistance to 72 countries. The report makes three additional recommendations: • Accelerate cost-sharing arrange- ments with upper-middle-income re- cipients of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, including Botswana, the Dominican Republic, Namibia, South Africa, and several others in the Caribbean and Central America. • Overhaul U.S. food aid laws and regulations to end U.S. cargo prefer- ence, eliminate monetized food aid and allow for more local and regional food purchases. • Establish an International Affairs Realignment Commission, akin to the Defense Base Realignment and Clo- sure Commission, to overhaul U.S. for- eign affairs agencies and operations. The IARC would present a package of institutional and program reforms for an up-or-down approval by the admin- istration and Congress. The report, based on input from a senior-level, bipartisan working group of international affairs experts, includes a country-by-country analysis of where the United States spends its economic and security assistance and an interac- tive map, “Ranking Our Foreign Aid Recipients.” —Steven Alan Honley, Editor C Y B E R N O T E S SITE OF THE MONTH: www.wrestlingroots.org Wrestling Roots is a nonprofit project aimed at gathering information about in- digenous forms of wrestling around the globe. Throughout history, many cultures have created their own versions of the sport; examples include Sumo in Japan, Kushti in India and Pakistan, Lutte in Senegal and Nuba in Sudan, to name just a few. Wrestling Roots’ goal is to document and promote these traditional forms and explore how they are intertwined within the culture they were developed in. Since many of these sports are taught according to oral traditions handed down from village elders to younger generations, they tend to lack written rules. To docu- ment them, the site brings together first-person essays by participants, reports on the history and cultural aspects of the sport in different cultures, and manuals detailing the different styles of indigenous wrestling. The two people behind Wrestling Roots have earned bumps and bruises of their own along the way by entering indigenous wrestling festivals in Vietnam, China, Mon- golia, Ethiopia and India. One, Mark Lovejoy, is a State Department Eligible Family Member; the other, Tim Foley, is a journalist based in Chicago. Wherever Mark’s FSO spouse is posted, one of the ways he connects with the local community is by entering that particular country’s indigenous wrestling festival. To continue their journey, Lovejoy and Foley would appreciate feedback (and a couch to crash on) from any post that has a connection within the local traditional sports community. You can contact them through the site. — Steven Alan Honley, Editor