Archive | July, 2009

Raúl Castro postponed on Friday what would be the first Communist Party congress in twelve years. The meeting was to take place by the end of this year, and Castro has not yet set a new date.
His reason? The Party must still make a great many preparations—including analyzing current economic conditions …

Defying the government ban, ten of thousands of Iranians gathered yesterday at Tehran’s main cemetery for the 40-day commemoration of those killed in the aftermath of the election.  Police used tear gas and baton to break up the demonstration.  The Press TV reported that …

“The greatest inspiration is often born of desperation.” -Comer Cotrell, American Entrepreneur (1931- )
In the face of hardship and disaster, one most often finds the most inspiring people you will ever come across. For many when we reach the point of desperation we find ourselves over whelmed and wanting …

Here is a smattering of stories that crossed my desk today:
The World Food Program has tabbed John Kufuor, President of Ghana from 2001 to earlier this year and head of the African Union in 2007-2008, to lead an effort to fight hunger among schoolchildren throughout the world. …

United States and China to Cooperate on Climate Change and Energy is the word from the excellent weekly, “EERE Network News,” put out by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).  As I noted recently here, DOE Secretary Steven Chu …

The 2003 death of Evergreen student Rachel Corrie still seems to stir debates and outrages from both sides of the Israel-Palestine debate. Corrie protested Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip and attempted to stop an IDF bulldozer by standing in its path. The IDF claims that the bulldozer could not …

Jacob Zuma’s choice to take over as national Commissioner of Police, Bheki Cele, has raised the ire of opposition leaders across the political and ideological spectrum who claim that Cele is unqualified and that his appointment represents the spoils of political access rather than the triumph of …

Mvume Dandala, the parliamentary leader of the Congress of the People, and that party’s presidential candidate in South Africa’s recent elections, recently offered to resign his leadership post in the beleaguered and fractured party. The party requested his offer, which was probably wise. Dandala was clearly not …

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Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) has long been the institutional embodiment of Lee Family Power.  Using the PAP, Lee family patriarch, Lee Kuan-Yew created a political monopoly,  in the nation of  4.6 million people, that has lasted its entire 50 years of independence.   This monopoly allowed the establishment of a …

We build memorials to remember the dead.  Those that died in wars, in natural disasters, on the front line or the victims of stubborn and vision-less politicians.  We do so for a number of reasons, to not forgot, for some to realize the absurdity of war, for others as a …

The Obama adminsitration is developing a strategy to finally push through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The treaty has been stalled in the Senate since 1994, when the United States signed the 1994 Agreement on Implementation of UNCLOS. This compromise included a few notable …

Cuba to create agency to fight corruption “cancer”
Cuba’s National Assembly will set up a powerful new agency on Saturday tasked with fighting corruption, which President Raul Castro has called a “deadly cancer” plaguing the communist-ruled island’s economy. Official information on corruption in Cuba is sparse but, in …

The recent loan of $280 million given to Bolivia by the Iranian government serves as another example of Iran’s growing influence in Latin America.  This loan is given to Bolivia in addition to 1.1 billion Euros that Iran pledged in August 2007 to invest in Bolivian agriculture, industry, …

The Indian Defense Ministry has come under sharp criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for financial irregularities in awarding of defense deals. The French Scorpene submarines and the second-hand Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov were amongst the prominent deals slammed by the …

“Our future is certain; it’s the past that keeps changing’ was how Soviet dissidents lamented the re-writing of history.
If only they knew what was coming! Today’s Russia may have lost the certainty of a Communist future, but certainly not the state’s stranglehold over the past.
Russia is not alone, of course. …