Quick hits of interesting stories about which I’m too lazy to blog: Poisoned PDFs are currently behind 80% of system compromises. Should web browsers trust web sites certified by a Chinese authority? Iran is shutting down Gmail. The US disapproves. Freedom to Connect, baby! China stomped a hacker training company. Picked the wrong targets or didn’t […]
This week I returned from a trip to Uganda. While there I saw evidence of the favorite topic of many in the international development community – the role of Chinese foreign assistance in Africa. Across the street from the parliament building is an enormous construction site with working ongoing 24 hours a day, 7 days […]
Over at The Atlantic, James Fallows has a great piece on China’s military and their cyberwar chops. The first segment is an excellent overview of the state of play on the US-China military rivalry in the real world. (Synopsis: USA! USA!) Fallows then dives into his main point: that on a virtual battlefield, China has some real […]
Pipelines used to be just a way to get oil or gas from Point A to Point B — mostly political locally, especially for environmental reasons. Sometimes, they are locally strategic, the way they are in Nigeria — want to get the government’s or the company’s attention? Blow up a pipeline. Increasingly, they are geo-strategic, […]
by Guest Blogger Donald Bowser [email protected] In Afghanistan the international community has finally come around to understanding the need to fight corruption. Until recently corruption in the country was seen as either being “too engrained” in Afghan society or ”too sensitive” an issue to push for reform. However, the situation is dire and too little […]
Just a quick note: A former student of mine jumped in the other day with some comment about the recent nuclear power announcement from the White House. Here is her take and my response. For a stunningly strong and incisive analysis, go to Kate Sheppard’s article yesterday at “Mother Jones.” One of the several eye-opening […]
I have written before about Robert Kennedy’s trip to South Africa in 1966 (that post is here). A movie has just been made about that trip and the connections between the anti-apartheid and American civil rights movements. “RFK in the Land of Apartheid: A Ripple of Hope” is directed by Tami Gold and Larry Shore […]
With abstract metaphors of cybersecurity involving foreign invaders or hacker burglaries, it is easy to forget that almost all security breaches come about because of actual human mistakes made while programming software or web sites. It’s almost as if your architect, working in a slapdash manner, designed your house such that anyone could easily get […]
Sri Lanka — For years, ships from other countries, laden with oil, machinery, clothes and cargo, sped past this small town near India as part of the world’s brisk trade with China. Now, China is investing millions to turn this fishing hamlet into a booming new port, furthering an ambitious trading strategy in South Asia […]
Children’s rights abuses are shocking at any level, and working in the anti-slavery field I am not as likely to be shocked as many, due to the fact that I have heard so many unimaginable stories of abuse that I am sadly rarely surprised at what a human is capable of doing to another. Don’t […]
Over the weekend, I watched the Great Decisions episode on the responsibility to protect (R2P). The episode consists of a conversation with Joe Volk (from the Friends Committee on National Legislation) and Monica Serrano (from the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect), among other experts, including Ban Ki Moon, who chime in on the […]
I came across the following course given by the Institute for a Humane Education (IHE) a non-profit, 501(c)(3) educational organization dedicated to creating a humane world through humane education. The organization states that; They foster a compassionate, just, sustainable world by training humane educators and by providing people with the tools, knowledge and motivation to […]
Nicolas Sarkozy made the first visit ever by a French president to Haiti, once his nation’s richest colony — offering aid to a country laid to waste after a catastrophic earthquake.
A national food security assessment completed in December 2009 in Niger showed approximately 7.8 million people, totaling three-fifths of the country’s population, face moderate to severe food insecurity, say UN officials. Specifically, 2.7 million Niger citizens suffer from severe food insecurity and 5.1 million suffer moderate food insecurity. An irregular and shortened rainy season last […]
Amnesty International (AI) has suspended a senior officer for raising concern over the charity’s association with groups that support the Taliban and promote Islamic Rights ideas. An article published on February 7 by the Sunday Times quotes Gita Sahgal as questioning AI’s high-profile relationship with Guantanamo-detainee Moazzam Begg. Gita Sahgal is or now was…head of […]