In recent months, I’ve addressed the range of environmental anecdotes, U.S. climate “scandals” and the larger debate over the legitimacy of climate science. Generally speaking, it’s obvious to me that no matter your stance on the issue, waiting for 100% clarity is waiting too long. Instead, we can take very meaningful action now that, in […]
Iranian expatriate. Marjaneh Halati has created a center in Tehran called Omid e Mehr, where women living on the margins of Iranian society can come for training and hope for a better future. That is what this documentary is about. It follows the lives of four young women over an 18 month period and shows […]
Just a few of my favorites from this last week… Learning from developing countries – Jaclyn Schiff at NPR has written an excellent article about lessons that so-called first-world countries can learn from third-world countries. She references Lord Nigel Crisp’s op-ed in The Times which precedes his forthcoming book, Turning the World Upside Down: The Search for Global Health in […]
Last week the NYT ran an editorial by Peter Feaver of Duke University that explains really well what the Obama’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) actually says. I completely agree with Feaver that “the changes in terms of doctrine aren’t nearly as epochal as the White House would have us believe or its critics would have […]
I frequently think of the Congo and the plague of war that has entombed the country for more than a decade. The conflict has been one of the most violent and deadly, its brutality taking countless men, women and children. I seem to have somewhat found my answer as recently the CNN reported the the […]
In a week of tragic accidents, the WikiLeaks story may be the toughest one to bear, horrifying both for what it showed about the current state of war and what it says about the current state of our media environment. As most know, thanks to the whistle blowers at WikiLeaks, U.S. military video footage, purloined […]
So now it’s four months after the meetings in Copenhagen. I’m in the group who thinks that more was accomplished than meets the eye and that it was an important way station to achieving more international agreement on stemming the tide of greenhouse gases we confront and adapting to the massive impacts they’ve already caused […]
The Internet sure is good at misinformation. The saints at Snopes fix it one debunking at a time. Cyberwar Bingo! An awesome tongue-in-cheek look at CyberAlarmism. Michelle Bachmann (R-NUT) thinks the United States should keep the option of nuking nations who hit us with a cyber attack. The Guys with the Cool Robes in the […]
UN-Habitat released its biannual “State of the World’s Cities” report in March, a 250+ page document that covers all manner of subjects about our increasingly urbanized world. More than half of all people now live in cities, and this figure will reach 60% in less than twenty years, and 70% by 2050. A very interesting […]
Sorry I’ve been silent the last couple of weeks. In Alabama last week taking care of family stuff; returned home this week but have been laid low by Hay Fever. If any of you have any good remedies you can share it would be much appreciated! One day in the late 70’s, I was […]
Want an excuse to lament the sad state of American democracy? Look no further than Dianne Feinstein and Jon Kyle’s bizarre debate about the new START on the PBS Newshour:
Russia and the U.S. signed the new START Treaty today in Prague. It was the kind of international event that would have garnered major press coverage in times past, but no longer. If you were busy today, you may have missed the news. It has been some time since the world lived with the fear […]
By Sarah Rose Ch. 4: Shanghai to Hangzhou, September 1848 Robert Fortune was patient as the coolie attended to his new coif. A small blue and white tea bowl sat nearby on a dusty crate, and swirling its sediment of leaves, Fortune spilled the cooling liquid out onto the dirty deck. Floors were the place […]
Last week President Obama flew to Afghanistan to rally the troops before the upcoming offensive in Kandahar. He also paid a visit to President Karzai. According to the Associated Press, “The trip was intended to let Obama tell Karzai that he must deal with corruption and cut the flow of money from poppy production and […]