As a growing shortage of arable land on Earth has led to controversial practices such as land grabs, can the solution lie in space? Watch this report from BBC about efforts to learn how to grow food in space. In the short-term, it is meant to supplement astronauts’ diets, but there are also long-term goals […]
UN launches push for better sanitation The United Nations unveiled a major push to halve the number of people around the world without access to basic sanitation by 2015. Michelle Obama: African youth can push change U.S. first lady Michelle Obama is using a visit to Africa to encourage young Africans to push for greater […]
By Atef Said I got on a plane to Cairo on February 4, ten days after Egyptians took to the streets in a popular revolution that eventually led to the ouster of notorious dictator Hosni Mubarak. I had mixed emotions when leaving for Egypt: anxiety about the family I was leaving behind and about my […]
UNICEF has released their 2010 Annual Report, the report gives a global overview of the previous year’s achievements and highlights a number of various international, regional and national collaborations. The report, released today, highlights UNICEF’s contributions to achieving the Millennium Development Goals in 2010 by providing assistance towards improving children’s health, expanding access to quality education and protecting […]
President Obama addressed the nation last night and put forward his plan to draw-down U.S. forces in Afghanistan starting with 10,000 troops this year. As you may have expected, his plans have been met with criticism, with some members of his base saying it’s not enough and members of the GOP opposition saying it’s too […]
I wrote in a previous post that the IAEA Board of Governors was preparing to finally make a decision regarding referral of Syria to the UN Security Council for continuing to stonewall the IAEA and preventing safeguards inspectors from having a look at Dair Alzour. You will recall that this was the site of an […]
A senior Palestinian official told the Associate Press today that the Palestinian leadership is ready to drop demands for Israel to completely halt all settlement building in the Occupied Territories. So if negotiations are restarted, a full settlement freeze would no longer be part of the Palestinian preconditions. I wonder if they’ll stick to that […]
Global Zero, the international movement pressing for the phased and verifiable elimination of all nuclear weapons, has issued a report estimating that the 8.5 nuclear weapons states–North Korea is rated halfway there–will spend about $1 trillion dollars in this decade upgrading, expanding and maintaining their atomic arsenals. The study, which has received some notice in […]
Last week on 16 June 2011 the government of the African nation Chad signed an action plan to end recruitment and use of children in its national army and security forces. In a press release issued by the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. The Secretary-General, […]
Apologies for the lack of blogging. Other projects are taking up my time and energy, so radio silence is likely to continue for an indefinite period of time. In the meantime, there is plenty else going on in the FPA-o-sphere to keep you entertained and informed. So for the time being, I refer you to […]
I just watched President Obama’s talk on Afghanistan and thought I’d share my first thoughts. At this point it might be useful to review the President’s goals and objectives for Afghanistan as outlined in his December 2009 speech at West Point. “ Our overarching goal remains the same: to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda […]
With Europe’s E. Coli outbreak fresh in mind, many Americans may have asked the question: “How does our government handle outbreaks of contaminated food?” A new audit of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) performance during 17 food recalls that took place in 2007 and 2008 may renew the questions about how unsafe food […]
The National Family Partnership recently released an awareness campaign to bring much needed awareness to the often silent and unseen prescription drug abuse by children. The campaign is strategically timed with the end of school, as summer takes hold more children will be spending greater time at home, many of which will be unsupervised. Prescription […]
The Democratic Republic of the Congo was previously touted at the worst place in the world to be a woman and while they have since dropped from first place according to a new survey, this is no time for celebration for the DRC or their successors to one of the worlds least coveted titles, Afghanistan. […]
AI is the future, and the leviathan is the past. AI and modeling can be of enormous benefit to the state in issues that involve the complex interplay between states, interests, and human dynamics. Although the state works because of human dynamics and the negotiations that occur between those who feed it, the problem lies in that one beast can often misunderstand the other. AI offers a radical promise for situations involving state interests because it would allow for speed and efficiency in matters that can be lengthy, drudging, contentious, and lead to abhorrent waste and loss of life.