Greetings from Edinburgh! I am so glad that you stopped by our group blog, Women and Foreign Policy. Our motto is “lively commentary on international affairs from women around the world.” We have a special interest in the role of women in political life and, for the lack of a better phrase, women’s issues. Some […]
Germans were out in force this past weekend in Berlin to give vocal and visible protest to Chancellor Merkel’s plan to extend the life of nuclear power plants beyond their statutorily mandated closure dates. The World From Berlin – “Most Germans Don’t Want Nuclear Power” was the headline from Der Spiegel. Between 100,000 and 40,000 […]
Six months ago today on March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. Today, September 23rd, several important reforms will become law. Six major reforms will be enacted today, including the expansion of healthcare coverage to millions of children who previously fell through the cracks of our health care system. The changes which […]
Every Child Matters has released the second edition of their report We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in America. The report takes a deep look into the number of deaths in the United States which are the result of child maltreatment. The report’s figures and findings are somewhat shocking, however inclusion illustrates how we can reduce […]
“Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding“. -Ralph Waldo Emerson Today is International Day of Peace…This year, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on young people around the world to take a stand for peace under the theme, Youth for Peace and Development. The International Day of Peace was established in […]
You remember the Waxman-Markey bill – The American Clean Energy And Security Act. It passed in the House of Representatives in June of 2009. Oh well, the Senate – being the Senate – allowed the historical moment to pass. In this case, the cowardice, political cynicism and utter lack of clear thinking has been a […]
I sometimes disagree with choices Google makes, but one note they have consistently hit is the importance of transparency. As a corporate entity they are obligated to follow the rules in the countries in which they operate – as long as they want to work there. This often means they have to be the tool […]
–>Just wanted to pass on a heads up I received from PBS about a program being aired on their network this evening at 10 PM (www.pbs.org/pov/tvschedule). It’s THE OATH by Laura Poitras. Film synopsis: Filmed in Yemen and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, The Oath interweaves the stories of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, […]
Documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras’s ‘The Oath’ will air on PBS tonight. According to PBS: Filmed in Yemen and Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, The Oath interweaves the stories of Abu Jandal, Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, and Salim Hamdan, a prisoner at Guantánamo facing war crimes charges. Directed by Laura Poitras (Flag Wars, POV 2003; the Oscar®-nominated […]
This film deserves the Oscar it received for best foreign language film. It is the story of a young Jewish family that flees Nazi Germany in the late 1930s to Kenya. Walter Redlich, who had been a lawyer in Germany, is left to manage a farm in a deserted region. His wife, Jettel, and daughter, […]
There is a very good story in the NYT about an initiative being launched today to finance clean-burning cookstoves for the developing world. I have written about the pernicious health impacts of burning biomass in open fires and the burden of black carbon deposition that so badly exacerbates global warming. The NY Times reports “Nearly […]
China is an economically successful country. Growth rates of 8-11% per year. Fx reserves north of $2.4 trillion, closing in on 20% of US GDP. Investment rates that represent 40-50% of GDP (vs. 15-20% in the US). Private credit growth of 32.5% last year, vs. 5.6% in the U.S. A Human Development Index that now stands at 49.7, […]
In a recent post I expressed dismay about Jeffrey Goldberg’s “Point of No Return” article: its implicit suggestion that the United States should attack Iran’s nuclear facilities so as to save Israel the trouble of doing something so senseless and self-defeating, and the decision by The Atlantic to publish a piece of work that is […]
I was a bit late to the webcast since I had class, but I tuned in to hear the speech made by Graca Machal. She is the third wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela and the widow of the late Mozambican president Samora Machel. She is the only person in the world to have been […]
Not much to report so far, but the tone has been set by the General Assembly President Joseph Deiss, who says, “We must achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We want to achieve them. And we can achieve them.” The Gates Foundation has a live stream of the conference that you can access here.