Link of the Month: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is located within the Office of Management and Budget and was created by Congress with the enactment of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (PRA). OIRA carries out several important functions, including reviewing Federal regulations, reducing paperwork burdens, and overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs.

The Regulatory Review Dashboard at www.reginfo.gov, is the offices public website disclosing information about OIRA's review of draft regulations, as well as allowing access to a number of publications surrounding regulations and rulemaking produced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the General Services Administration (GSA).

The “Unified Agenda” tab is the entry point for the semiannual Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions and the annual Regulatory Plan, both required by Executive Order 12866, "Regulatory Planning and Review” and gathered and published by GSA's Regulatory Information Service Center (RISC).

Through the “regulatory review” tab the website gives access to federal regulations and information reviewed by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) as well as other services provided by the OIRA, for example government-wide policies on information technology, information quality, privacy, and statistics, which have been developed and overseen by the agency. The search of regulatory review allows search by agency, stage of rulemaking and other advanced criteria.

In addition, under the “Information Collection review” tab the ICR Dashboard provides an up-to-date and easy-to-follow graphical representation of information collections currently under review. The ICR Dashboard displays these information collections by agency, length of review, and type of ICR.

Link of the month: Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)

The OCC was established in 1863 as a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury and is headed by the Comptroller, who is appointed by the President.
The main purpose of the OCC is to provide regulations and supervision of the charters to all national banks. Therefore the website allows the researcher not only to access pending and recently enacted legislation, but to explore law and licensing documents providing guidance, establishing precedents and court documents of interest. In addition one may check if any national bank or foreign branch has ever been under scrutiny by the OCC.

Peace in the Caucasus?

Russia and Georgia agreed to end the hostilities and return to the conference table. But don't be fooled - peace is far away, if not impossible, in the current situation.
Russia wants to maintain control in the region, and will not sit back and accept independence for the two breakaway Georgian provinces. Georgia on the other hand will continue to fight for South Ossetia, that it considers part of Georgia.
Obviously the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili took a big gamble with his military offensive against South Ossetia, which began last Thursday evening. He must have believed that Europe and especially the USA, who have been a big supporter of the Georgian independence movement, will come to the rescue, and support Georgia in it's fight against the Russian army. But the West's solidarity has so far been limited to words. Now a negotiator, who has the trust of both sides, is necessary to develop an agreement that is acceptable to Russia and Georgia.

War in the Caucasus

When the fights in the Caucasus region started on Friday, we saw the start of a war that was simmering for month, if not for years. Since the fall of the Soviet Union the entire region has been separated by different interested and subsequently the support came from different sides, too. South Ossetia, supported by Russia, and Georgia, which has received US military assistance, are bitter enemies. From Moscow's point of view, Ossetia has been an important strategic base near the Turkish and Iranian frontiers since the days of the czars. The USA, on the other hand, are courting Georgia, which they see as a way to curb the Russian influence in the southern Caucasus. Georgia is also an important transit country for oil being pumped from the Caspian Sea to the Turkish port of Ceyhan and a potential base for Washington efforts to encircle Tehran.
And we all know, as soon as oil is involved there is no fast way out. So the fight continues.

Back to the Cold War?

After Russian military experts and diplomats started the discussion on reopening a military base on Cuba, Prime Minister Putin took over the debate. On Monday, August 5th, Putin said that Russia has to have a stronger military presence on Cuba and in other countries. So far Cuba doesn't seem to excited about this outlook and no official comment has been heard. The United States on the other hand are strongly objecting these plans and warned the Russian government to realize them.