Archive | November, 2010

Tis’ the season of giving and there are so many endless ways that you can help a child in need. Therefore here is a few ideas to get you started and help make a child’s life better this holiday. Why not pick a few off the list to …

Still traveling, in Saint Louis for a speaking engagement after spending Thanksgiving with my Mom; but wanted to comment on the most recent crisis with North Korea.  2010 marks the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War and the 57th of the Mutual Defense Treaty we signed with …

In international relations theory, there’s a lot of talk about the offensive advantage, that being the advantage a country gains by striking first in a military conflict.  There’s comparatively less written about the defensive advantage.  When a country is attacked, the victim population is galvanized against the attacker and neutral …

I’ve written on this before; now, sadly, I’m writing on this again, so here goes:  I could not then, cannot now and will not, ever, defend the jerked, jolting way that every instrument of industry, learning and commerce in Bangladesh has shuttered for the second time this …

Every informed and honest observer has known since 2002-3 that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program and that, in the absence of a general regional agreement, nothing ultimately will stop it from obtaining nuclear arms. It’s also pretty clear that the holocaust deniers currently running the country might actually …

The International Panel on Fissile Materials, a MacArthur-supported international group of scientists that has been promoting a treaty to terminate production of explosive material for nuclear weapons, has learned from the Indian government that it will not be allowed to hold a meeting it planned for December in …

The estimable Bill McKibben and the hard-charging activists at 350.org have organized 350 Earth – “the world’s first art exhibit large enough to be seen from space.”  There are photographs, videos and text here to suit any palate.
As the late, great Phil Ochs …

Proprietorship of information is an integral part of any nation’s foreign policy and national security. Ultimately, through collecting, maintaining, and exploiting secrets, governments can accrue advantages over both adversaries and partners, whether political, military, or even economic.
Conversely, loss of such an advantage can have unforeseen and particularly damning consequences. …

The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article on a small but growing number of U.S. students applying to British universities – not as study abroad but as their home institution.  The article is here.   U.S. high school and transfer students are looking at colleges outside …

So all of you are familiar with the Buena Vista Social Club right? The film, the soundtrack, the impact made by reuniting some of Cuba’s most experienced musicians.   Well, Afrocubism is the record that was supposed to get made back in 1997, but, for a number …

My apologies for the unexpected little break. Between the end of the turn and the American Thanksgiving holiday and family being in town things got a little hectic. Expect things to pick up here soon.
Texas in Africa has a great post about the solipsism …

I’ve already said my peace on the shameful acts of the Wikileaks’ group and their enablers in the mainstream media and this latest State Department secret document dump only solidifies my feelings. While the leaders and leakers of Wikileaks are rightly being near universally condemned, major newspapers like …

The incessant mantra in the Middle East is often that Israel (often called the “Zionist entity” or an “apartheid state”) is an unwelcome gnat hovering around Arab states’ peaceful picnic. In a defiant move, Egypt singed a peace accord with Israel, which was followed approximately a decade and a half later by Jordan. …

With all of the positive news coming out of Sao Paulo’s stock exchange and the ministries of Brasilia recently, this weekend’s crackdown on organized crime in the Complexo de Alemão and Vila do Cruzeiro favelas reminded the world of the crime-ridden Rio de Janeiro of …

U.S. foreign policy is in the news today with the release by Wikileaks of secret diplomatic cables. As a blogger for the Foreign Policy Association, foreign policy is naturally something that I take seriously and I’m really amazed and stunned at this malicious attack …