A version of this article appears at the website atlantic-community.org. The Atlantic Community is a foreign policy think tank based in Berlin and Washington D.C. International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is at a crossroads. Though first implemented to reduce war casualties and prevent atrocities, over the course of the last fifty years the nature of armed […]
A previous post on this blog discussed a UN appeal for funds to combat the food crisis that continues to cripple Niger. Now the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN’s food agency, says it plans to step up aid to herders and shepherds in Niger and its eastern neighbor, Chad, after both countries […]
Today April 22, 2010 is Earth Day and it’s not only a day to remember to recycle and take a day off from the car, but it is also a day to teach our children about protecting the environment. Today is a day to learn how to safeguard the future children across the globe. To […]
Earlier this month, on World Health Day, I wrote about how we are all in this together, with a focus on the social determinants of health, including the social and environmental factors which affect our health. What I overlooked, however, were the environmental determinants of health – a conversation which is pretty timely, considering that […]
UN concerned DR Congo exit would worsen sexual violence The battle against sexual violence will likely suffer if the United Nations peacekeeping force pulls out from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict Margot Wallstrom warns. DR Congo authorities are pushing for an end to the UN mission. […]
I mentioned this movie back in November here and thought it looked as if it were a great flick. I finally saw it last night on PBS and it was better than I thought it was going to be! It is fluent, fluid, funny, poignant, smart, hugely informative, and dead on the money in its […]
To borrow a catchphrase from Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, yes, we most certainly can eliminate coal-fired power plants. Knowing what we know, we know that we should, and sooner rather than later. I’ve decried the many harmful impacts of coal mining and burning to public health, communities and the environment here on numerous occasions. See […]
Unsurprisingly, John Bolton doesn’t like the new START. Also unsurprisingly, his arguments against the treaty are severely flawed. He believes countries like Iran and North Korea will perceive the treaty as a signal of U.S. weakness and warns of the resulting dangers: Faced with the Obama mindset, Iran and North Korea are now more likely […]
At the 14o Characters (tee hee) Conference some peeps were talking about using Twitter to monitor elections. Yes yes, we’ve been over that before. Shenanigans in authoritarian regimes, blah blah. Ah, but they were talking about America. The WSJ wrote it up. “This is something we can do without running to the lawyers on election […]
I’m planning to devote Wednesdays to simple solutions that have a big impact in Global Health. In anticipation of World Malaria Day (April 25th), I thought I’d highlight some of the latest research on insecticide-treated nets and some of the simple solutions that are being utilized to get them where they are needed most. […]
Sec. Clinton is off in Estonia for a High Muckamuck level confab to talk about what NATO should be doing with itself. I think the biggest military alliance the world has ever seen has been managing to keep busy just fine, but every few years they seem to have these angsty existential crises. NATO’s core […]
Loosely defined, a climate shock is a deviation from typical regional climate conditions that often results in unfavorable conditions. From floods, droughts and cyclones to hurricanes and tsunamis, these episodes affect livelihoods in many ways. They wipe out crops, reduce opportunities for employment, ratchet up food prices and destroy property. For wealthy households shocks can […]
The Fog of War is particularly foggy in cyberspace. Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, NSA director and the new nominee to head up Cyber Command, produced 32 pages of answers to Senators’ questions leading up to his nomination hearings. AP wrote a piece on one aspect: the Pentagon’s plan to counter any Internet-delivered attacks “swiftly and strongly.” […]
In an effort to focus this blog – and provide myself a bit of structure and sanity! – I’m devoting Tuesdays to “systems issues”. For today, let’s start with the basics: what is a health system? I know, this sounds patronizing, but in fact, the goal of defining and strengthening health systems has only recently […]
