According to UNICEF, “More than 70 per cent of almost 11 million child deaths every year are attributable to six causes: diarrhoea, malaria, neonatal infection, pneumonia, preterm delivery, or lack of oxygen at birth.” Recently there has been a lot of discussion on meeting the Millenium Development Goals (MDG) as the 2015 deadline grows increasingly near […]
This past weekend, President Obama delivered the commencement address to West Point’s graduating class of 2010. In it, he stressed to the cadets the importance of diplomatic engagement in addition to military might as part of U.S. national security, saying, “America’s armed forces are adapting to changing times, but your efforts have to be complemented. […]
Some fascinating things that I’ve read in the last week, related to the social determinants of health and policies to improve public health. Greg Lindsay at Fast Company charts the linkages between public health and urban sprawl, an association that was once deemed radical. He writes about Dr. Richard Jackson, former CDC Chief,’s realization that America’s urban […]
Last Monday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon named Costa Rica’s Christiana Figueres to be the organization’s top official on climate change. The appointment comes after the resignation of UN climate chief Yvo de Boer, last February, considered to be a severe blow to the UN and ongoing climate negotiations. Figueres will succeed Yvo de […]
It was an interesting week for intelligence issues. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence released the unclassified version of their report on the attempted Christmas day terrorist attack (http://intelligence.senate.gov/100518/1225report.pdf) and the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Dennis Blair, stepped down from the post amidst reports he had lost the confidence of President Obama. I’m stating […]
Can anything stop the Euro’s decline and its toxic after-effects? With the single currency facing the biggest crisis of its existence, Market reaction was cool; the Euro sank this week to a four-year low against the Greenback, and European stock markets have taken a battering.
The U.S. Senate had finally, and unexpectedly, passed the much ballyhooed Wall Street Reform legislation. The Senate vote, 59-39, represents a major achievement for the Obama administration despite strong GOP opposition and coming just months after the historic, but substantially watered-down, Healthcare reform package.
In order to understand current events related to terrorism as well as possible, it is essential to explore all aspects of the topic, such as influential Islamist philosophers, the history, background, and structure of a variety of terrorist organizations, and terrorist tactics and strategies. Let’s start with an overview of suicide terrorism, arguably the most […]
The Center for a New American Security has released a report by Kristin Lord of CNAS and Marc Lynch of George Washington University. “America’s Extended Hand: Assessing the Obama Administration’s Global Engagement Strategy,” is well worth a thorough read. The executive summary includes: The purpose of this report is to assess rather than recommend […]
UN seeks more women for peacekeeping A five-year effort to increase the numbers of women involved in United Nations peacekeeping operations is producing results in police units, but lagging in military units, UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations officials say. The presence of female peacekeepers, supporters argue, can be a calming influence during tense security situations […]
I wanted to quickly point out an excellent article in the Economist from a few weeks back, highlighting Kaiser Permanente’s approach to integrated approach to healthcare. While I find it interesting in the context of the American health insurance debate, I’m most intrigued by the element of aligning incentives. The Economist writes: Kaiser also aligns […]
Interesting commentary by the Atlantic Council’s James Joyner on what the UK election results will mean for the Anglo-American “Special Relationship” here. Joyner believes the abundance of common interests in the U.S.-UK relationship will ultimately prevent it from fraying too much, and history suggests that he is right. In addition to those interests, the “Special […]
I was interviewing a world-class expert on energy and the environment yesterday for a project I’m on, and the discussion came around to many environmentalists’ distrust of cap-and-trade and other modes of “market-friendly” environmental activity. I was reminded of the video from Nathaniel Keohane, Environmental Defense Fund’s Director of Economic Policy and Analysis. (It is […]
Uganda, one of the more stable societies in Africa, plans to enact the death penalty for gay and lesbians who repeatedly engage in homosexual relationships. Last year, American missionaries spread their version of the Gospel in Uganda. Hatred, against gays and lesbians, was never too distant. ‘The Ugandan MP who sponsored the bill, David Bahati, […]
In the spirit of yesterday’s photos of the Gulf of Mexico, this photo essay from Newsweek is also resonant. I would’ve added the Canadian tar sands and mountaintop removal mining.