Weekly Round Up: June 29 - July 2, 2009

National Security

After the "Reset"

Ahead of next week's meeting in Moscow between Presidents Dmirtri Medvedev and Barack Obama CAP published “After the “Reset,’” a report outlining a new strategy and agenda for U.S. Russia policy. Samuel Charap, one of report’s authors, told us how the United States can begin preparing for the Moscow summit in an Ask the Expert video and provided Russia policy recommendations for the summit and beyond.

Brian Katulis and Emily Hogin argued for a “diplomatic surge” in Iraq after this week’s U.S. troop redeployment from Iraqi cities. And Katulis presented a photo essay on Israel’s borders.

Lawrence J. Korb also explained why the president should repeal the military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy in another Ask the Expert video.

Economy

Job Losses, the Recession, and Gender

Heather Boushey's analyses on the latest job numbers detailed how the recession is affecting men's and women’s employment and how an economic recovery may be months away.

Greater risk exposure threatens retirees’ income security, argued Christian Weller in a new report. He also showed in a column how the financial crisis and the recession are delivering a double whammy to retirees.

Domestic

Financing Health Care Reform

David M. Cutler and Judy Feder proposed a plan to insure that the cost of health reform is budget-neutral. And Ruy Teixeira wrote that the public is concerned with high health care costs and sees a public plan as central to solving the problem.

Nico Safra Quintana argued that denying lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people access to family benefits and civil rights might be contributing to higher poverty rates in the LGBT community than in the general population.

Energy and Environment

The Green Bank

CAP presented a short guide for understanding how a green bank can help finance the transition to a clean-energy economy. Andrew Light, Julian L. Wong, and Samuel Charap suggested that the United States and Russia can work together on climate change and energy efficiency. And this week’s Easy Being Green explained how you can gain independence from polluting fireworks.