Reforming Afghanistan’s orphanages Afghanistan’s new national director for orphanages, Sayyid Abdullah Hashemi, has been conducting inspections of the country’s provincial children’s homes in an effort to root out corruption by local officials, who often siphon off not only the $1.50 that is allocated daily per child, but food and clothing. Hashemi is finding that, outside […]
U.S. diplomat Dennis Ross argues compellingly in today’s New York Times that Iran sanctions are biting hard and that Tehran may be getting in the mood for serious negotiations. In particular, Ross reports that Iran has declared its willingness to discuss the so-called Russian step-by-step plan, in which parties to the nuclear dispute take reciprocal […]
I have a love-hate relationship with Awareness Days. First, I do think they are needed to help promote awareness and educate society on various heath causes and human rights issues. Many such days make headlines thanks to political pushes and great community support, while others with little political power and international appeal pass with little notice. Such […]
When speaking about US foreign policy during the Republican Primary debates, Mitt Romney often returns to a familiar theme: his belief that troop levels in Afghanistan should be determined through close consultation with the commanding generals on the ground. It is both a criticism of President Obama’s June 2011 decision to begin drawing down troop […]
Surging tides from the Indian Ocean, linked in part to climate change, have pushed salt water into Tanzania’s Rufiji Delta, home to the world’s largest mangrove forest and where “more than 90% of households…make their living from rice farming” according to a report from Altertnet by Kizito Makoye. Due to the destruction of rice crops by the […]
Despite an infusion of funding from international donors to dull the effects of an ongoing drought in West Africa’s Sahel region, countries in the region are still in danger. One of these countries, Mauritania, has a perennial problem with locusts that attach crops and is “a country that is three times the size of Arizona […]
Children in Somalia continue to suffer needlessly from hunger as politics hinder the much needed distribution of food aid. In Somalia, it is women and children who bear the brunt of the famine. Children are susceptible to malnutrition that decreases their ability to fight off disease, while women are unable to access the services they need […]
In December’s post, Expectant American Mothers Help Raise Funds for Mothers in Developing Nations, the Imagine Me & You contest finalists had been announced. The Million Moms Challenge has now chosen a winner from its photo contest, in which hundreds of expectant mothers from across the United States submitted images with original messages, written on their “baby bumps,” stating […]
The North Koreans allegedly conducted secret, nearly undetected nuclear tests in 2010. And they almost got away with it. That is, until Lars-Erik De Geer, an atmospheric scientist at the Swedish Defence Research Agency in Stockholm, took a closer look at the monitoring data from Russian and Japanese stations close to North Korea. Reporting in […]
Nigeria polio campaign gains momentum Dozens of governors across Nigeria have signed up to support the Nigeria Immunization Challenge started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to combat polio. The immunization initiative is part of the foundation’s efforts to support Nigeria’s fight against top priority public health concerns, such as HIV/AIDS prevention and providing […]
Leave it to Gary Trudeau to distill something to its basics. God love him. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan noted some time back, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” The science is settled. And no, my Denialist friends, I am not going to enter into yet-another long hassle. You can […]
Kenya’s military had one of its biggest victories this past weekend when two of its helicopter gunships attacked an al Shabaab convoy in Southern Somalia, killing more than 100 militant fighters, according to Kenyan Military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir. This comes after the January 21 announcement that Kenya’s military incursion passed the halfway point in its […]
The cold snap that has frozen most of Europe solid has created some tensions over Russia’s role as supplier of natural gas to its neighbors. On Friday, a Gazprom official claimed that Ukraine was taking more than its share from the pipeline that runs through its territory. For those who remember the unpleasantness between Moscow […]
The Roosevelt Institute recently celebrated the anniversary of the birth of President Franklin Roosevelt. In this post on the Institute’s website, Senior Fellow David Woolner reviews some of FDR’s accomplishments for a generation that may be more familiar with Facebook than fireside chats. Most of the essay has to do with the domestic economic institutions […]
Good news: Conditions in Somalia have improved enough for the UN to declare an end to the 8-month famine. Bad news: The food security situation remains perilous for Somalis. The declaration of the end of drought conditions is good news, but it brings the risk that the international community will see it as the end […]