1) General Petraeus before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today: Achieving progress in Afghanistan will be hard and progress there likely will be slower in developing than was the progress in Iraq. Nonetheless, as with Iraq, in Afghanistan hard is not hopeless. Wonderful to put to rest any suspicions that the military might be trying […]
One thing that could be considered, but won’t, is scrapping the absurd Afghanistan-Pakistani border. It was demarcated in the late-19th century by Great Britain as part of “The Great Game”, because Britain wanted to establish a buffer zone in between Czarist Russia and India. Needless to say, those political calculations don’t hold any worth today. […]
Socialism and energy have a peculiar relationship to each other. In most countries, no matter who owns the surface land, the subsurface rights to the oil, gas, or (sometimes) minerals, belongs to the national government, and, in theory, the people of the country. The idea did not start with the 20th century: kings and rulers […]
This past Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) completed its compelling determination that greenhouse gases pose a danger not only to the planet, but to human health. Over the coming year, this endangerment finding will have significant domestic implications. Many already believe it will be just the wedge to leverage action from the Congress […]
1) Dawn, Pakistan: We must come together—now 2) Dawn, Pakistan: U.S. signaling 3) The Nation, Pakistan: No light in the Afghan tunnel 4) Guardian, U.K.: The U.S. cash behind extremist settlers 5) Hurriyet, Turkey: Pakistan and Turkey’s difficult decision
Does porn drive sex trafficking? In a world where sex is everywhere and we use motto’s in business, such as “sex sells”, on is left to question where the line of genuine sexuality and harm begins and ends. “The act of rape is merely the expression of the standard, ‘healthy’ even encouraged male fantasy in […]
A new story today by the BBC details the growing problem of police violence in Nigeria. The morgue at the Nigeria University Teaching Hospital overflows with bodies brought in by police, often unnamed but reported to be suspected criminals, such as armed robbers or thieves. In some cases, that may be the case but in […]
As you may have heard, a small gathering is taking place in Copenhagen to discuss the weather. Countries from all over the world are sending delegates to the 2009 Climate Change Conference and heads of state (including President Obama) will soon attend to discuss the dangers of global warming and map out what they intend […]
Apparently, 11,000 Brazilians have been killed by the police over the last six years. Yikes. Brazil’s future as one of the next major powers—indeed, the B in BIC* stands for Brazil—over the next few decades looks almost assured. It faces no credible threats, possesses a large population and a significant allotment of natural resources. If […]
Last month I wrote about an interesting report from the Brookings Institution on how the US can expand cultural diplomacy with the Muslim world – and why that would be beneficial to all involved. Now, New York University’s Center for Dialogues has released a report, “Bridging the Divide between the United States and the Muslim World through Arts […]
The Committee to Protect Journalists reported earlier this week that two prominent journalists, Hengameh Shahidi and Saeed Laylaz were sentenced to extended prison terms of up to six yeas and three months, and no less than 9 years respectively, after being arrested earlier this year. Shahidi, who is an adviser to defeated presidential candidate Mehdi […]
Time Magazine is reporting that today U.S. special envoy Stephen Bosworth is headed to Pyongyang, North Korea to begin a day and a half of talks regarding a return to the “six-party talks” format that prevailed under the Bush Administration. According to the article, “North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong Il has previously declared the six-party […]
I wrote here recently about what the initial stakes of various big players are for Copenhagen. Lord Nicholas Stern, author of the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, and one of the world’s leading experts on the economics of climate change and energy, says, in this “FT” op-ed piece yesterday, that with what’s […]
Robert Art’s America’s Grand Strategy and World Politics, published earlier this year, is a collection of essays on U.S. grand strategy that Art wrote over the past couple decades. In one essay, “U.S. Foreign Policy and the Fungibility of Force,” Art states: …[M]y goal is to show that arguments about the severely diminished utility of […]
Copenhagen climate conference opened today. 1) Mayor of Kabul sentenced to four years for corruption. 2) Russia and India signed a nuclear agreement. 3) Iraq election law dispute resolved—for now. 4) Somalis are protesting the brutal bombing last week that killed three government ministers along with medical school graduates and their families. Al Shabbab, the […]