My mom just drew my attention to what might be the greatest defense arms music video ever made. Earlier this year, Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems decided to celebrate the strengthening of India-Israel military ties and the virtues of its products in song and dance. In this Israeli video, a man decked out in a […]
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has disclosed the ugly face of hypocrisy and bigotry of the Roman Catholic Church. For the children who were raped, beaten, and treated like animals, or what the Second Vatican Council refer to as ‘People of God’, the revelations in the report is yet another example of acute […]
“I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our devoted attention, not our divided attention.” – Kenny Guinn (American educator, businessman and two-term Governor of Nevada from 1999-2007) Children […]
FBI Director Robert Mueller told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that the threat posed by harboring terrorist at U.S. detention facilities was a threat on par with that posed by high-ranking gang leaders. “The concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being in the United States run from concerns about providing financing, radicalizing others,” Mueller […]
On the eastern edge of Georgia and stretching up along the Caspian sea, the troubled Republic of Dagestan has been largely forgotten. Escalating poverty, hopelessness, and the militant Islamic Shariat Jamaat is driving many of its youth into extremism. Mixed in the fray are ordinary Salafis who are being targeted as extremists. These individuals, easily spotted by […]
According to the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Director-General Pascal Lamy, International trade helps solve food crisis, and had not been part of the problem for the increased food insecurity of the last year and the increased level of poverty. “To suggest that less trade, and greater self-sufficiency, are the solutions to food […]
The Congress Party wins big, while Hindu nationalists and communists lose out in the largest democratic elections in the world. And the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty keeps going and going… BBC’s vast election coverage (beaming with post-colonial pride) is worth checking out. India’s Finance Ministry is holding a contest to see who can come up with a […]
Sri Lankan officials Monday claimed defeat over the Tamil Tigers guerrilla organization amid reports its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed in the latest raids. The victory puts an end to nearly a quater century of violent conflict in Sri Lanka, though the reconciliation campaign may take even longer. European Union nations called Monday for an […]
It’s with hindsight that we can also analyze how war shapes images and content. For journalists working in Iraq during the height of the conflict, it became a profession of high risk and danger. The following entry looks back at some of the Iraqi journalists who risked their lives – some murdered – to write […]
“I am not sure how many “sins” I would recognize in the world. Some would surely be defused by changed circumstances. But I can imagine none that is more irredeemably sinful than the betrayal, the exploitation, of the young by those who should care for them.” -Elizabeth Janeway (1913 – 2005) American author and critic. […]
Looking at the US from a distance, one cannot help but wonder why there exists a culture where hypocrisy is alive and vibrant. The extreme variations between the political systems of thought and the almost zealous drive to hold onto those ideologies seem to undermine its strengths. There has been a lot of debate in the news […]
The chains of slavery and gender-based violence run deep, they are tied to all forms struggle including poverty and armed conflict. However this is not something that just plagues developing countries, it is a scourge that is found in every American city and the key to breaking the cycle is through sustainable empowerment programs. Therefore […]
Free market principles have failed the one sixth of the world’s population that continue to live in abject poverty. The idea that economic growth will somehow magically lift those individuals out from their poverty has proven a failure. Every day, an average of 27000 children die from lack of food and access to basic medical care […]
UN takes to field to play charity soccer scrimmage UN ambassadors and officials, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, took to the field to play a game of soccer for the charitable Play31 organization. Named after Article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Play31 seeks to use soccer to facilitate […]
The last week and a half has brought with it all the trials and tribulations of modern conveniences and technology. First a complete phone malfunction, then our web server appeared with some hitches and glitches, then to top it off my laptop got a virus which just seems irremovable for any point of time longer […]