Malaria: The beginning of the end? Global eradication of malaria is a step closer after the announcement last week of the discovery by scientists of the disease’s apparent vulnerability, a critical component of human red blood cells that can be targeted to stop the malaria parasite from completing its life cycle within the body. Trials […]
The UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has produced four comprehensive Assessment Reports since 1990 detailing the science behind climate change, the impacts, ways to mitigate our radical forcing of the climate system, and ways to adapt to the clear, present, and intensifying dangers that this crisis engenders. The IPCC has also produced some extremely […]
Yesterday’s New York Times and presumably other major newspapers as well carried a small story on an inside page about a violent explosion that took place at an Iranian test facility, killing one of the country’s top rocket scientists, among others.”There was immediate speculation that Israeli saboteurs were responsible for the blast, which Israeli officials […]
Differences in interepretation of the IAEA report center on what it says–literally and between the lines–about whether Iran continued with weaponization activities after 2003. As they say in television, let’s go to the videotape. The report says in Paragraphs 19 and 20 that in the late 1990s or by the early 2000s, weaponization activities were […]
Ever since the people of the Arab world, from Iran to Morocco, started rising up against their authoritarian and dictatorial regimes demanding accountability and representation, a lot has been said about the perils and obstacles of their undertaking. From historical and cultural legacies, to economic and political shortcomings, nothing looms as a larger obstacle than […]
The Easter Rising was an rebellion staged in Ireland, by Irish republicans seeking the end of British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic. Over a six day period during Easter week, Easter Monday 24 April to 30 April 1916, more than 250 civilians were killed, 28 of who were children aged between two and 16. A lecturer […]
I have written previously about efforts by House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chair Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Ranking Member Howard Berman to tighten the rules regarding the export of nuclear technology. Well, like a moth to the flame, I’ve been drawn back into that fold. I have written a piece which has been published by the […]
As developments unfolded in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) during the past 8 months, one thing has become abundantly clear: the political transformation will not survive without an economic transformation. As many analyst have pointed out, an overwhelming motivation of the people who took to the streets with the ‘Arab Spring’ was the […]
I’ve been considering a post titled “Late-Blogging the GOP Debate.” I’m using the term late-blogging as opposed to live-blogging. I wasn’t able to watch the foreign policy debate over the weekend and had it saved on my DVR for later viewing. I’m not really sure anyone would appreciate “late-blogging” since the debate has already been […]
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced her intention of lifting her country’s ban on sales of uranium to India. Although this will set up a clash within the Labor and Green coalition, she probably doesn’t have to muster the votes to push this through the Australian Parliament; an executive order may well suffice. Even […]
2011 – in the world of religion and politics, we have seen banning of Muslim “Hijab” in France, Congressional Hearings on “Radicalization of Muslims in America” and various similar acts across the globe; but what I keep coming back to in my mind are the lives lost on account of the Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan. […]
A Russian spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Monday, taking NASA astronaut Dan Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin on a mission to the International Space Station. This marks the start of the U.S. tag-along space policy in which U.S. access to low-earth orbit is provided by Russia. It’s nice […]
Since last week’s release of the latest IAEA report on Iran’s nuke program, I have seen a schism between those who believe the report is noteworthy and those who think it is simply more of the same from the Agency. I fall firmly into the former camp. As I noted in my previous post, the […]
It is almost impossible to watch this documentary and not be moved to tears. It is a story about a Jewish woman, Arna Mer-Khamis, who created a children’s home and art center in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin. Even in her advanced age, Arna was a firebrand who railed against the occupation by Israelis. […]
The Republican presidential candidates didn’t exactly cover themselves with glory last night, which is perhaps not surprising, given that President Obama’s handling of foreign policy seems generally unassailable (even if he has not always explained and promoted his policies as well as he might, as some critics have complained). Gingrich and Romney expressed a position […]