Reactions to the so-called twitterspat between Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo and British journalist Ian Birrell that I posted on Monday is still in full swing online. The reactions I posted then pretty much summed up general opinion about the incident with most people siding with Birrell. And while I am […]
“Action This Day” is what Winston Churchill demanded in his World War II memos. That’s what the National Academies are calling for in their fifth and final report on America’s Climate Choices. Their press release said the report, prepared by a blue-ribbon panel of the National Research Council, “… reiterated the pressing need for substantial […]
The legal debates about the killing of Osama bin Laden continue. My previous posts on the subject (here and here, for example) have focused mostly on the jus ad bellum dimension (the UN Charter’s Article 51 and the inherent right of self-defense). But recent discussions at Opinio Juris turn my attention to the jus in […]
It seems that more and more people share a desire to become invested in the products they purchase. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/05/16/iou.facebook.qr/index.html?hpt=C2 Artisans in undeveloped areas of the world are connecting to their purchasers via Facebook. They include images of the products and describe the journey it took to get to you. You can even take a picture […]
On Saturday, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda engaged in an off the cuff debate with British journalist Ian Birrell on Twitter regarding the right of non-Rwandans to judge Rwanda and the ongoing argument over the human rights situation in the country. Yes, you read that correctly: a sitting head of state took to Twitter to […]
That’s how I imagine Variety would have headlined last week’s very big news that Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, is abandoning any push for new nuclear power and will make a concerted effort to promote renewables. I lauded Germany’s Chancellor, Angela Merkel, when she made essentially the same decision in March. A panel of experts […]
Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, the world’s largest state-owned oil company, has announced plans to double the amount of power it can generate to about 4,000 megawatts by 2015. “Currently we have approximately 2,000 megawatts of generating power internally … we want … to go to 4 to 4.5 gigawatts depending on new facilities that are coming,” […]
Inflation has risen 3.2% over the last year in the U.S., mostly because of increased food and gas prices. This is the biggest 12 month increase since October 2008. The number comes from the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the most widely used measure of inflation. While this may seem like a lot, inflation is even […]
Peace Corps pledges improvements on volunteer safety The U.S. Peace Corps has not been “sufficiently responsive or sensitive” to young volunteers who are the victims of crimes, especially in instances of rape, the agency’s director on Wednesday conceded to U.S. lawmakers. Congress is expected to increase oversight of the Peace Corps after former volunteers and […]
Think small, think negative. America is bogged down in a seemingly purposeless war in Afghanistan while facing a fleeting enemy, the Taliban. Authoritarian regimes in the Arab world – Bahrain, Libya, Syria, etc. – refuse to allow for self-determination and continue to massacre civilians. Rohingya (a minority under grave threat in Burma) in Bangladesh are […]
On 11 May the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict of the United Nations issued the Annual Report of the Secretary-General to the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict. Each year the report is published to lists those parties involved in the recruitment of children in armed conflict, as well and use, kill […]
Earlier this week Iraq’s Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, pledged to seek a political consensus in Iraq on keeping U.S. troops in the country beyond 2011. According to the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) currently in place, the United States is obligated to withdraw all combat troops from Iraq by the end of this year. Muqtada […]
Did the US get away clean? Almost. As close to it, maybe, as Fate allows. For the past few days, another story, a sidebar to the bigger report, has been gaining steam: one of the Stealth Blackhawks used to invade the bin Laden compound crashed as a result of a ‘hard landing.’ An accident. No matter. It turns out that the Stealth Helicopters used to transport the Navy SEALs are “never-before-seen,” state-of-the-art military technology, composed of carbon fibers that resist standard detection by the enemy. Cutting edge, top-secret, and not available to the world.
Today 14 May is World Fair Trade Day, this years theme is “TRADE FOR PEOPLE – Fair Trade your world”. The theme encompasses the strong belief in the need to put people and the environment at the heart of trade and consumption, Trade for people means trade for sustainable development of local communities. Fair Trade […]
The game theory modeling world can be academically exclusive, full of rivalry, and especially abstract, but I believe it can provide a very real, significant push in moving from war and instability to peace and hope. To put my argument up front, if America wishes to take a real step towards furthering peace, writ large, it […]