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Standard & Poor’s, a leading credit ratings agency downgraded Japan’s long-term sovereign debt Thursday, a sharp reminder of the heavy financial obligations plaguing one of the world’s largest economies.

The 2011 annual gathering (Jan 26-30) of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which brings together hundreds of business, political, and finance movers & shakers from around the world, began today in Davos, Switzerland, a renowned winter ski resort for the wealthy and connected.

Every speechwriter knows that when a politician needs a speech, there are certain key words and phrases to hit on. In the case of the President of the United States, they are usually things like “hope” and “challenge” and “promise.” There is also the seminal standby: reaching across the aisle to work with (fill in […]

Cairo protests (credit: twitpic/shefaa) A second day of protests swept across Egypt today. Inspired partly by a popular revolution in Tunisia, thousands of people took to the streets in Cairo, Suez, and other cities, in defiance of government threats. As many as twenty thousand gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. According to reports, four people have […]

Trade, global economic competition, job growth, the Federal deficit, spending cuts, taxes, infrastructure investments and technology innovation were the focus of President Obama’s annual State of the Union address to a newly divided Congress last night.

TUNIS Jan 26 (Reuters) – Tunisia has dissolved an agency which acted as an effective censor of foreign media during the rule of ousted president Zine al-Abdine Ben Ali, a cabinet minister said on Wednesday. The External Communications Agency will be replaced by an independent body that will help coordinate with foreign media but will […]

Internet sites such as Twitter and Facebook were cut off within Egypt today as the government of President Hosni Mubarak tried to prevent social media from being used to foment unrest. Many sites registered in Egypt could not be reached from outside, according to Herdict.org, a website where users report access problems. Twitter, YouTube, Hotmail, […]

Well, I was wrong, The U.S. and South Korea did manage to get a Free Trade Agreement signed last month. This one, of course, replaces the FTA signed by President Bush in 2007. This deal is very similar to that one except it is better for the auto industry and worse for the meat industry. […]

So talks with Iran failed last weekend.  And as the New York Times piece on the subject suggests, they fell apart for the very reason I noted in my 2010 Year in Review post: the collision of the UN Charter and the NPT.  According to the Times: Mr. Jalili consistently demanded that first the six […]

In an atmosphere of reconciliation and peaceful transition, but with a backdrop of tires burning in the streets of Beirut, a new prime minister has been nominated in Lebanon. Najib Mikati was prime minister for a few months in 2005, and he is Lebanon’s richest man. Mikati’s first speech struck a conciliatory tone: “My hand […]

MALAWI: Better pediatric HIV services reduce infections More mothers and pregnant women in Malawi are attending antenatal clinics since the increased training of health workers in pediatric HIV care improved services to prevent mother-to-child transmission  (PMTCT) of HIV, and pediatric HIV testing and treatment. Today, 45 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women use PMTCT services, putting […]

As the Duma, Russia’s Parliament, debates New START ratification, one thing is clear: the treaty doesn’t legally restrict U.S. missile defense options.  Another thing is clear: Russia will probably withdraw from the treaty if the U.S. deploys a missile defense system that significantly reduces the effectiveness of Russia’s strategic deterrent.  As Kostantin Kosachyev, head of […]

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes. Marcel Proust Why do American foreign policy decision makers and diplomats continue to misjudge the political character of Latin America and the Caribbean? Our understanding (really our misunderstanding) of the socio-political landscape of this region traps us into supporting […]

(Here’s a great graphic from DOE’s Energy Information Administration that shows how we deploy energy in the US.  Gas is a big factor.) I caught this comprehensive but succinct item at the NYT recently:  Time to Tap the Bounty of U.S. Natural Gas.  It lays out the fact of the astonishing ballooning of new, proven […]

A view over Beirut After the Lebanese government collapsed last week, many feared that the conflicted society might descend once again into violence. That danger appears to have passed, and Lebanese leaders have been quick to reassure the international community that the crisis would be resolved peacefully. However, the process of forming a new government is […]