“A President McCain would almost certainly have subverted the schedule and tried to keep more troops, and more active combat troops, in Iraq than the Iraqi legislators wanted,” wrote Juan Cole earlier this week. Cole was referring to the Status of Forces Agreement between Iraq and the United States, which states in Article 24: 1. […]
The media is often used by those with competing messages to disseminate information or dis-information. Sometimes, though, the message is a lie. Vietnam is an unfortunate example of manipulating the media and choking free speech for their own destructive ends. Just yesterday, several Vietnamese writers were given honors for their work under severe pressure from […]
Thirty-eight US billionaires have pledged at least 50% of their wealth to charity through a campaign started by investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. See the list of donors here, and August pledge letters here. Generous and impressive. Thank you! (But don’t you just love initiatives “specifically focused on billionaires”?)
While you wait for the results of the Kenyan referendum, consider this article coming from the BBC today about Uncle Bob: Zimbabwe has demanded apologies from three Western diplomats for walking out of a burial ceremony on Sunday for President Robert Mugabe’s sister. German, US and EU envoys left after Mr Mugabe attacked Western nations, […]
On August 2, 2010 the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) announced they would hold a joint cooperative air defense exercise with the Russian Federation Air Force (http://www.norad.mil/News/2010/080210.html). This is the first ever air defense exercise between Russia and NORAD and will include U.S., Canadian, and Russian participants operating from command centers at Elmendorf Air […]
There is one piece of breaking news this afternoon that sent both my Twitter and Facebook feeds into a frenzy: Federal Judge Vaughn Walker has ruled that Proposition 8, the bill that amended the Californian Constitution to prohibit granting marriage licenses to same sex couples, is unconstitutional. From the ruling: “Proposition 8 fails […]
BP’s blundering CEO Tony Hayward didn’t escape the wrath of the U.S. media even after agreeing to step down on October 1. Amid the general cries of good riddance to the man accused of trying to minimize the extent of BP’s Gulf oil spill, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz erred inexcusably in the other direction by overestimating […]
I am now writing from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. I arrived here on Sunday and am freelancing for several organizations for the next few months. While I will try to keep a broad lens for the blog, I thought I would kick it off with a post on human rights in Haiti, as the human rights situation […]
By now you’ve heard perhaps the biggest buzz filling the August news hole nationwide – that rapper Wyclef Jean is considering a bid for the presidency of Haiti. I’d say he’s got a heck of a chance of winning aside from any legal issues that may prevent him from partaking in the poles. And why […]
A Lebanese reporter was killed during fighting on the Israel-Lebanon border on Tuesday. The reporter, Assaf Abu Rahal, worked for the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar. According to media reports and press freedom organizations, he was killed near the southern town of Al-Adaysseh. He was killed when a shell landed next to him. Abu Rahal was 55 […]
How much more of the $378 billion transmitted via the casa de cambios and inserted into Wachovia accounts represents criminal revenue is anyone’s guess, because no further inquiries into the origin of these funds has been undertaken.
Last month the Chinese government announced that police have used DNA technology to reunite 730 families, whose children were missing, and are now speeding up the establishment of a national DNA database to assist in reuniting missing children and their families. “The DNA database has helped reunite 730 children with their families,” Meng Qingtian, an […]
This film is phenomenal. Written, directed, and starring Charlie Chaplin, the movie satirizes Nazi Germany and Adolf Hitler. He plays two roles: that of Adenoid Hynkel, the dictator of Tomainia (clearly Hitler), and a Jewish amnesiac barber who are dead ringers for each other. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/zroWIN-lS8E” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Chaplin uses humor to criticize […]
Add this to your reading list: Famine & Foreigners: Ethiopia Since Live Aid by Peter Gill. Peter Gill was the first journalist to reach the epicentre of the 1984 famine and one of the TV reporters who brought the tragedy to light. This book is the story of what happened to Ethiopia in the 25 […]
Bonn is home base for the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and it’s where meetings are taking place this week to advance international agreement. With Copenhagen in the rear-view mirror and Cancun up ahead, there is a lot of discussion going of technical matters, and lots of side meetings […]