No need to be naive: we all know that in quasi-military operations against drug lords, their not-necessarily-so-innocent significant others and their completely innocent children are bound to get killed sometimes. The same goes for operations against terrorists operating, say, out of Pakistan’s Northwest Territories: However precise the weaponry, it’s hard to kill a significant leader […]
I write often about communicable diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, which get a lot of international attention and popular support, spurred on by celebrities, government leaders, and the media. What is ignored, however, is the growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic or “lifestyle” diseases. With the upcoming United Nations High Level Meeting […]
Whether due to the hunt for Gaddafi, or in anticipation of Obama’s new plan to create jobs, Afghanistan has taken a backseat to other news developments vying for Americans’ attention. The Washington Post’s David Ignatius has an intriguing article, consequently, that some may have missed. Ignatius discusses a classified CIA analytical piece on the state of […]
I had just returned to the States from a relatively innocuous tour in The Bahamas as a diplomat with the U.S. Department of State. The most personally significant event during my time in Nassau was meeting and marrying my Romanian-born wife. My onward assignment was to Moscow, Russia with a year of intensive Russian-language training […]
In catching up on some reading this morning, I came across this article: Eight Bio-based Technologies for 2050. (I seem to have been spending the last 40 years catching up on my reading. You ever get that?) The article, from Biofuels Digest via Renewable Energy World, mentions eight “bio-based” technologies (or systems) that have tremendous […]
In yet more news of the reach of the “non-existent” A.Q. Khan network, the IAEA has confirmed in a recent report that North Korea used the black market network to acquire “material needed to establish a uranium enrichment facility at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.” In preparation for the upcoming meetings of the IAEA Board of […]
The Voice of Russia published this piece today on U.S. perceptions of Muslims. The article cites a recent study conducted by the Brooking Institution and The Public Religion Research Institute, which states that 30% of Americans believe that Muslims in the United States would like to establish Sharia law. The article clumsily states that: According […]
UNHCR: Somalia famine needs not effectively met Somalia’s food woes are far from over and food shortages will last well into 2012, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres warns. Guterres said the international aid response has been insufficient to address drought and famine across the Horn of Africa and efforts need to increase. […]
As many of you, like myself, are just returning to work this week after a long weekend in honor of Labor Day, you find the time of rest quickly passing you by once again as you work to get your children back to school. Yet while you run in search of last minute school supplies […]
Over the weekend, Médecins Sans Frontières president Dr. Unni Karunakara created a stir by chastising charities for creating an unrealistic expectation of what humanitarian aid was capable of achieving in Somalia. According to Karunakara: There is a con, there is an unrealistic expectation being peddled that you give your £50 and suddenly those people are […]
Keeping up with policy and international developments can be exhausting. Do certain tools make it easier or better for you? Do you believe that Twitter, for example, exposes you to different opinions and news that you wouldn’t normally read? Without a doubt, Twitter and other social media outlets have provided intangible assistance to the wave […]
Is Turkey’s grandstanding vis-a-vis the Palestine issue hypocritical in light of its own continually deleterious approach to another stateless group – the Kurds? What conditions support the notion that there should or should not be a dichotomy between Turkey’s approach to the two groups – Kurds and Palestinians? With this, how does the apparent contrast […]
We had a fabulous trip in, in the immortal phrase of Donald Rumsfeld, “Old Europe.” The only problem, Rummy, with your formulation is that … well, it’s wrong. France, in the Southwest, where we were for part of the trip, is smart, prosperous, progressive and with friendly folks. France, though, is far too reliant on […]
Recently released U.S. State Department cables from Wikileaks show that the Chinese government exerts strict control over journalists. Domestic Chinese journalists are particularly under tight restrictions. In terms of foreign news organizations, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Liu Jianchao said during a late-night press conference in November 2008 that Chinese nationals can only work […]
Ok. Now we’re into it. Administration top dogs have thrown ATF Director Ken Melson and US Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke under the truck.In firefighting, they call it a ‘controlled burn,’ torching a perimeter of just enough man-made flame to meet and beat the advance of a wildfire impervious to less-drastic solutions.
Good luck, gentlemen.
The House Oversight Committee’s investigation into the DOJ/ATF gun-running operation known as Fast and Furious is roaring through the halls of Congress, and despite DOJ’s efforts to spin the story every which way but up, Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif) and Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) are on a trail insiders whisper may lead investigators all the way to the top.