The other day The Wall Street Journal ran a good summary of China’s conflict with Google. It looks like we’re in for another international war of words but, this time, it won’t be a classic Cold War confrontation over political-military issues, but rather a war of words over words — censorship, to be precise. China’s […]
The UN News Centre reported earlier today that the UN 1267 Committee removed five senior Taliban members from its list of individuals subject to sanctions. You can read the UN Security Council news release here. The 1267 Committee, officially called the “Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee,” was established by UN resolution 1267 (downloadable […]
The Grey Lady just ran an ominous piece on the undeterrable world of cyber war. It raises a number of the very real problems with virtual warfare: Cyber attacks are non-attributable – while the headline-grabbing hacks of Chinese dissidents’ Gmail accounts probably came from China, some initial evidence pointing that way is inconclusive. Those in charge […]
Once a net exporter of grain products, Zimbabwe’s fortunes have reversed over the past decade, becoming a steady seeker of food aid and increasingly relying on international food aid. Approximately half of the nation’s 12 million people are in need of aid, as crop failures and barren fields resulted in the all-time high number being […]
Campaign finance is one of the gray areas of corruption, a practice that makes those concerned with accountability squirm, but one that is largely legal. Few would claim that democracy is served when a donor’s financing of a political campaign leads directly to policies in favor of that donor – but such a link is […]
President Obama will deliver his first State of the Union address to Congress tonight. As this report in the Washington Post notes, it is expected that domestic issues will dominate the speech. I’m fairly certain that some foreign policy issues will mentioned, but probably not as many as I would like. From a U.S. role […]
Daily update of talking points, central issues being discussed in Davos’ World Economic Forum 2010 by world leaders in politics, finance, central banks, corporate, energy, lobbyists and philanthropy.
From the UN News Centre: Despite the fact that international law clearly prohibits secret detention, the practice is widespread and “reinvigorated” by the so-called global war on terror, several independent United Nations experts stated, outlining a series of steps aimed at curbing this human rights violation. In a 222-page study which will be presented to […]
Call for papers: UNICEF and the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) at The NewSchool will host an international conference on adolescent girls in April 2010. With an emphasis on reviewing existing evidence and policies, the conference will focus on the role and potential agency of adolescent girls in meeting emerging global challenges. The conference, […]
As an activist and writer, one who focuses on issues that face children, but with a passion and concentration on modern day slavery, I live and work in a world that is full of stories of the worlds most heinous and shocking crimes against humanity. Often I am asked how do you do it…how do […]
A year after the Gaza War, the debate rages on about the conduct of forces on both sides during the three-week conflict. By now, major human rights organizations both in Israel and abroad have had their say in what crimes may have been committed during the war, and the UN released the results of their […]
This month, I made a donation to an interesting organization that is helping with the disaster in Haiti. We Care Solar is a U.S.-based non-profit that helps hospitals in developing regions by providing health workers with reliable lighting, blood bank refrigeration and mobile communication using solar electricity. The organization was founded by Dr. Laura Stachel, […]
The U.S. is defending freedom on the internet. Amid allegations of cyberattacks on an American company, Secretary of State Clinton gave a speech encouraging China to respect the free flow of information on the net: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy The full text can be found here and […]
In my experience, most people, if you ask them about oil (or gas) drilling, make references to Daniel Day-Lewis with a pickax, snarling something about milkshakes, or perhaps Jed Clampett shootin’ at some food. For those interested in energy issues, it never hurts to be a little more well-versed in the how-to’s. So if you […]
I wrote, in the wake of the shameful Chinese performance in Copenhagen, about China, Climate and Trade. A couple of days after that post, there was an excellent analysis in the “FT” and I wrote a letter to the editor, alas unpublished. Here’s the letter now: Geoff Dyer rightly wonders “…whether China’s political system is […]