Brookings Today, 7/9/14

A roundup of some of the content published today by Brookings.

• Fixing credit ratings. Ann Rutledge and Robert Litan argue that credit agencies need a cardinal credit scale to measure credit quality in the U.S. debt capital markets as opposed to the current ordinal scale.

• Impact of anti-Obamacare ads. Niam Yaraghi asks if anti-Obamacare ads have backfired, finding a positive association between the anti-ACA spending and ACA enrollment.

• Understanding Obama’s Syria policy. Michael Doran explains the competing demands faced by President Obama over Syria, discussing Obama’s promise to increase support for the Free Syrian Army.

• A transoceanic canal in Nicaragua. Richard Feinberg discusses a proposed Chinese-Nicaraguan transoceanic canal a huge project that would transform the Nicaraguan economy while slicing the nation into two.

• Improving the Special Procedures in the UN. Ted Piccone gives three tips for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to maintain the independence and support for the independent experts, or Special Procedures, appointed by the UN to monitor human rights worldwide.

Elina Saxena contributed to this post.