Remember the fable of the grasshopper and the ant? The ant toils away storing grain for winter, while the grasshopper parties through the summer and dies of starvation in the winter. Something like that is happening in Chile. Chile is the world’s largest copper producer. Like several resource-rich countries — especially those with oil like […]
Human Rights Watch has landed back in the news, though not in the way that it likes. For the last few months the organization has endured controversy over its coverage and position on Israel. First, news broke in July of a fundraising trip that Human Rights Watch undertook to Saudi Arabia where the representatives allegedly highlighted […]
Let us now all mourn the passing of Paul Bloom. Who? I hadn’t heard of him either till he died. So I took a few moments to research. Why should you care that he died? Paul Bloom was one of those bureaucrats who — to many people who do not want to be bothered with […]
As the economic crisis and the plight of ordinary Americans deepen, the Obama administration is finally beginning to embrace stronger bank and financial industry reforms proposed by courageous refromers such as Paul Volcker, Sheila Bair, Elizabeth Warren, Barney Frank and former NYS Governor, Eliot Spitzer. It’s about time!
Whether you subscribe to the idea that we need to return to 350 ppm of carbon dioxide equivalent in the atmosphere or not, last Saturday’s worldwide expressions of concern were wonderful, eye-opening further evidence of how deep and how broad that concern runs.
A story sure to give you nightmares is the harrowing story behind child labor across the globe. Whether it is costumes made from cotton picked by child labors in Uzbekistan or clothing sewn by child labors, ghoulish make-up with minerals mined by child labors, chocolate candy-bars made from cocoa picked by the hands of child […]
U.S. might accept spousal abuse asylum claims The Barack Obama administration’s recommendation to grant asylum to a Guatemalan woman fleeing severe spousal abuse opens the door for other battered and sexually abused women in other countries to seek refuge in the U.S. Rody Alvarado Pena’s case had languished in immigration courts for 14 years. Federal […]
The Christian Science Monitor has good coverage of the ongoing boat people controversy in Australia. Due to the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, there has been a global surge in Sri Lankan Tamils seeking asylum with other countries. Given Sri Lanka’s location, many of these asylum seekers pay people smugglers for spots on […]
Right from the start this film draws the audience in. It is a movie about a young Honduran woman named Sayra who rides on top of trains hoping to reach Texas through Mexico. It is also about Casper (a.k.a. Willy), a Mexican gang member in trouble who meets up with Sayra along the way. Casper’s […]
Ian Bremmer, President of the Eurasia Group, a political risk advisory firm, provides a ‘bird’s eye’ overview of the impact of the Obama foreign policy agenda — the “New Era of Engagement” doctrine — on the world, on U.S. corporate competitiveness and on global markets.
This RAND study finds that 20 percent of eight-year olds, and 40 percent of all twenty-year olds in Anbar province are fatherless. Moreover, half of all households have reported losing at least one family member. This is, obviously, a tragic story, but also presents a whole host of problems for Iraqi society and governance. The […]
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came out today against the rehabiliation of Soviet leader Josef Stalin’s image, in no uncertain terms: “Millions of Soviet citizens died under Stalin’s rule and Mr Medvedev said it was not possible to justify those who exterminated their own people. He also warned against efforts to falsify history and defend repression.” […]
I wrote a thumbnail sketch the other day of where we are in the US on domestic climate change and energy legislation. Let’s now take a quick look at how things are shaping up only 37 days before Copenhagen. As you know, the world has been building toward the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP […]
Looks like Mr. Hu and Mr. Obama and company may have stepped back from the brink of a trade war. See CSFB report below on the recent G-2 meeting on trade and commerce. Not that it’s all about individuals, but sometimes international relations can be driven by the tastes of individual leaders, as argued in a […]
