Someone I know at NYU has co-written a paper positing an interesting theory on why some countries sign, ratify, then violate the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The theory: authoritarian leaders sign and ratify the CAT, then violate it, to show their domestic opponents how committed they are to suppressing opposition. Read about it at The […]
We’re looking for a super intern who will devote 10 hours a week to our dear site. Main duties are writing posts and promoting Women and Foreign Policy in the blogosphere, the Diggosphere and beyond. This is perfect fit for an undergraduate or graduate student with an interest in international affairs who wants to gain […]
Russia does not do the overt Internet censorship that China does. That’s good. They still do plenty of stuff to interfere with the Freedom to Connect. That’s bad. The heroic Russian paper Novaya Gazeta* was just subjected to a massive DDOS that knocked their main web site off the air. Here’s their Livejournal parallel site […]
I hate to keep poking at China but… OK, that’s a lie. Their government acts like thuggish authoritarians online, and so I like poking them. Unlike equally nasty but more impoverished countries like, say, Turkmenistan, they have the cash to actually make bad stuff happen.* The government – or “patriotic” hackers – DDOSed a bunch […]
I had a good time the other night talking about climate change policy and politics with Amanda Little on The Hyperbole Hour. We’re on the same wavelength. (You can download the show as an mp3 file and listen in from around 29 minutes.) One of the points we made was that we really need to […]
Following Nicolas Sarkozy’s statement last summer that burqas are “not welcome” in France, the French Parliament recommended a partial ban last week on any veil that covers the face. For now, that ban would only cover public transportation and public buildings such as school and hospitals, not women generally on the streets. It also only […]
Christiaan Tuntono and Dong Tao of CSFB reported today on the only health care reform taking place in the G-2 at the moment, this one in China (see article below). In the workers’ paradise in East Asia, such welfare state fundamentals as health care, social security, and unemployment insurance are not provided extensively by the state. […]
Jack Goldsmith wrote a provocative op-ed in the Washington Post from Monday suggesting that if Hillary wants to stop cyberattacks across the Internet, she needs to look a bit closer to home. As in, America is a leading cyberbully. The bulk of the piece is a ridiculous attempt at creating a moral equivalence between America and […]
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing, China in 1995. With one hundred and eighty-nine Member States adopting the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which laid out a comprehensive agenda for women’s political and economic empowerment and the foundations for gender mainstreaming. The […]
The U.S. is working with allies to increase pressure on Iran leading up to a possible imposition of new sanctions over the issue of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. This news-wire report from Reuters notes that the U.S. is in the preliminary stages of drafting a new sanctions resolution: France and the United States have both […]
So it seems the Obama administration has decided not to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), a decision that comes as no surprise. The news comes from Jurist, which reported last week about a talk given by the U.S. Ambassador-at-large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp: Speaking at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, […]
“Iranian filmmakers- despite heavy restrictions – have over the years provided an intriguing and provocative look at Iran’s dynamic social, religious, and political culture.” That from fellow FPA blogger Sahar Zubairy who takes a look at two new films that define the new Iranian cinema. “Kick in Iran” is a documentary about Sara Khoshjamal-Fekri, the […]
Last week the UK’s Serious Fraud Office brought bribery charges against an agent of British defense contractor BAE. These are the first criminal charges to be brought against a company that has been under investigation for more than five years. The status of BAE is highly contentious. Unlike Siemens, another major company accused of bribery, […]
You can’t beat that. Catching up on my reading, I came across this terrific article, Construction plant, from the FT from a couple of weeks ago. Hemp is the building material that can work wonders. (This reminds me of biochar, one of the most exciting developments in agriculture and horticulture to come along in a […]
Swaziland is Africa’s last absolute monarchy. It has the world’s highest HIV infection rate and its citizens have a life expectancy of 31 years. King Mswati III, who was installed in 1986, appears to be out of touch with his people who live lives of devastating poverty. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/o37iJhBo7VU” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] This documentary […]