Farishta, Patricia McArdle’s first novel, is a compelling and readable book about the challenges faced by soldiers and civilians stationed in Afghanistan — the constant fear of attack; the unforgiving landscape; the hostile and often corrupt warlords; the uncertain loyalties of Afghan colleagues; the efficacy of their mission; and the constant isolation. See the rest of the review at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephenie-foster/farishta-a-compelling-nov_b_870080.html?ref=tw
It appears to me that President Obama has made another excellent choice for his administration for advancing the cause of clean tech and living up to the responsibility of fighting the climate crisis. He has named John Bryson, a founder of the seminal environmental organization, the Natural Resources Defense Council, as the new Secretary of […]
Since September 11, every now and then someone will bring up the Barbary Wars as a precedent to the United States’ post-9/11 military actions. (See this Washington Post piece from October 2001 and this National Review piece from 2005.) This time the phenomenon emerges with Marion Smith who, writing for the National Review, argues that […]
There’s a tricky gray area in the non-profit world around “mission creep” and funding when it comes to human rights. Non-profit organizations (and charitable foundations) obviously want to maximize their funding. And most NGOs, or people working for or supporting NGOs, care about more than one issue, even if they have a narrow focus: generally, […]
As promised, here’s some more information on Afghanistan I received while participating in recent Department of Defense sponsored Blogger’s roundtables. At the end of April, Major General Stuart Beare spoke on the topic Growth and Professionalization of the Afghan National Police Force. According to General Beare, the Afghan police don’t yet have the capacity to […]
As Peter Mellgard of the FPA Current Conflicts blog noted last week, Thomas Friedman recently offered a perhaps seemingly novel proposal to the Palestinians. His proposal? A massive nonviolent protest movement advocating a two-state solution. Friedman writes: If Palestinians peacefully march to Jerusalem by the thousands every Friday with a clear peace message, it would […]
On Tuesday, May 31, 2011, delegates from various law enforcement agencies and NGO’s providing services to survivors of human trafficking filled a conference room at the Washington Dulles International Airport; to witness Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell (R) signed three bills, all of which work to prevent human trafficking in the state. House Bill 1893 was […]
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the new Medicare initiative to reward hospitals with better performance metrics, and punish those with worse. On Monday, the New York Times published an article which gave greater detail about the proposed payment methodology. According to the article, the “plan has drawn fire from hospitals” due to a clause which requires […]
I wanted to share this with you all. What do you see as a solution to this, if any? I will post my own thoughts to that question this coming Friday.
Indian state takes action on child marriage Police in the Indian state of Rajasthan have taken the rare step of arresting 16 local caste leaders for issuing a decree calling for village community members to ostracize a man who refused to allow his 16-year-old daughter to be married. The last mile of polio eradication may […]
…evidence that the US did in fact sign such an agreement with Mexico, authorizing ATF, in cooperation with Mexican authorities, to implement the gun-walking ‘sting’ that provided Mexican gunman with killing tools used to fire on and murder US agents would corroborate the intent and involvement, at the highest levels, of ATF officials, of the Attorney General (either Holder or his representatives would have had to sign off on the operation), and of the President of the United States—who, as Holder’s supervisor, must be held accountable for the decisions and actions of his subordinates.
It would be difficult, as well, to believe that Eric Holder would have undertaken such a risky endeavor, such a politically sensitive gamble, without a discussion having occurred between Holder and Obama before the implementation of the ATF operation. The stakes, in terms of US-Mexico relations, would have just been too high.
The PBS program, Need to Know, had an important segment recently on the implications for human health from climate change. These are, unfortunately, many and various, and include disease vectors exacerbated by warming, allergies, health impacts from too much or too little water, and heat. The show looked at a number of concerns, articulated by […]
Today many people find themselves saying; “Happy Memorial Day” as they visit with family and friends in the newly found summer sun, for the first BBQ’s and pool parties of the year, yet Memorial Day is not a day of celebration, but that of a day of remembrance for all U.S. Service Members who died […]
Germany’s Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen announced that Germany is going nuclear-free by 2022. The country’s seven oldest reactors were taken off-line shortly after the Fukushima meltdown, and an eighth (the glitch-prone Kruemmel facility in northern Germany) has been off-line for technical reasons and won’t be returned to active service. Six more will go into shut […]
Last week in the two part series, Looking Deeper into Child Marriage, looked at the often hidden and forgotten plague of child marriage and the some 25,000 child marriages that occur everyday. According to UNICEF some 60 million children are forced to enter into marriages before they are of legal age, half of which are […]