The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
February 27, 2011
Statement by National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor on Iran
The United States strongly condemns the Iranian government’s organized intimidation campaign and arrests of political figures, human rights defenders, political activists, student leaders, journalists and bloggers. The Iranian government also continues …
Defense Minister of Afghanistan Abdul Rahim Wardak had an hour long conversation with noted interviewer Charlie Rose this past Friday evening. The conversation touched on everything that you might want to know about Afghanistan; how the Karzai administration intends to go work with President Obama impending draw down; what the …
Been off the blogging sphere recently because of travel; now that I’m back home in Colorado thought I would give my thoughts on the Libyan situation. As I write this, according to press reports, anti-government forces are in control of most of the eastern portion of Libya, to include a …
Long viewed as a safe investment in times of economic turmoil, the US dollar, also known as ‘Greenbacks,’ may be losing its safe haven appeal as it suffers strong downward pressures resulting from rising oil & commodity prices, high Federal budget deficits, soaring national debts and economic uncertainty in the aftermath of several financial crises.
I’ve never been more proud to be a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. I spent a few happy years in Madison way back when. It was just past the days of the anti-war demonstrations, and I was generally apolitical about things for a brief time in …
It is very easy to think you understand what it is the IAEA, or, as it is called in so many media stories, the “UN Nuclear Watchdog”, can actually do to detect a covert nuclear weapons program or the diversion of nuclear material. You envision IAEA safeguards inspectors busting …
The Israelis and the Palestinians often interact like a crotchety elderly couple, sniping at one another and dismissing their shared future. The New Yorker has another spin on this relationship in a rather good editorial cartoon:
Has former Armenian president Levon Ter-Petrossian been personally profiting from the Iranian narcotics trade? This is the conclusion that some people are drawing from a Wikileaks release on the Norwegian news site Aftenposten. The cable can be viewed here, and the story has gotten circulation on Armenian …
Moments after seeing TV images of Vladimir Putin professing a liking for a then poorly rated white leopard as the Sochi Winter Olympics mascot, which was being chosen through a nationwide poll, my dad said: “Mark my words: that will be the one”.
Funny how a …
International educators have been stressing the importance of universal education for years, as leaders, NGOs, and research all attest that it is the must sustainable way aid developing countries. Universal education is the best way to reduce poverty and increase public health and living standards for people across …
Here are two radical proposals for Afghanistan. Neither of them has yet been attempted by the United States. They are: engage in counterinsurgency and attempt to make peace deals with the Taliban.
As I’ve noted before (here, here, and here), though there’s a lot of …
Laurent Gbagbo’s intransigence has quickly gone from the noisome to the deadly to the potentially catastrophic. There are all kinds of signs that Gbagbo has decided “je suis l’etat,” and as a result with each passing day the likelihood of civil war — something with which the mass of Ivorians …
NYU’s Center for Global Affairs and the Quebec Government Office in New York City will be co-hosting a panel tomorrow, Monday, February 28 at 6:30 pm entitled, “Going North: The Geopolitics of Northern Development.” The main topic of discussion will be how resource and shipping developments in the Arctic are …
Not yet confirmed, but inside sources tell me that mass action days are planned for Zimbabwe (1st or 21st March), Angola (7th March), and Swaziland (1st April).
No surprise there! Why? The three countries share something in common:
1. Zimbabwe: Dictatorship, human rights abuses, worse economic condition, and …
I flagged an event to you recently, “The Climate for Renewable Energy,” cosponsored by the government of Navarra and NYU’s Center for Global Affairs. There were some excellent presentations made by the impressive group of panelists assembled for the evening.
The President of Navarra, Miguel Sanz …
