Is Russia on the rise or in decline? Does Moscow and its regional and global ambitions pose a threat to U.S. interests? In dueling analyses, Sean Goforth and Andrew Swift debate whether Russia is an over-hyped power or gaining ground and steadily tilting the balance of power in its direction. Goforth argues that “Russia undermines […]
1) The Congress Party’s hold on India, and its determination to protect (censor?) the legacies of its leaders, is examined here. 2) Some wealthy Germans want a bigger tax burden. 3) A horrific weapon is being used in the now fifteen year struggle in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. (I’ve never quite understood […]
The Chinese economy is roaring out of the Great Recession, and looks to reach eight percent growth this fiscal year. A massive, $586 stimulus package has propped up the recovery—as has the stimulus package passed in the United States (without which economic conditions would be much worse). But contrary to America’s stimulus package, the Chinese […]
In 2001, Argentina defaulted on billions of dollars of sovereign bond debt, closing itself off from access to the international capital markets. For years thumbing its nose at global capital, the Argentine government left the country’s borrowers severely underfunded, and infrastructure and other important investment spending suffered. Once thought of as a rich country and a middle […]
Robin Morgan, an American author, feminist, and child actor, made the following statement in her book, Theory and Practice: Pornography and Rape, in, The Word of a Woman, part 1, which which was written in 1974, but published 1992; “The act of rape is merely the expression of the standard, ‘healthy’ even encouraged male fantasy […]
Barely a majority (56 percent) of Russians believe their country “needs democracy”, according to a new poll from the Levada Center. But that’s not the only grim statistic in the data. A full one-fourth said that democracy was not suitable for Russia, and virtually all respondents (95 percent!) agreed they “had little or no influence […]
The BBC reports on the Mozambican government’s agricultural program designed to permit inmates of its burgeoning prison population the ability to grow their own food. The idea of producing and varying the current diet of beans, rice, and porridge to include potatoes, pumpkins, lettuces, and other vegetables, and allowing inmates to work outdoors, is a […]
Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food’s, Prof. Olivier De Schutter’s, second presentation to the UN General Assembly. The interactive dialogue that followed Prof. De Schutter’s presentation is an excellent example of how the Special Procedures system of the UN Human Rights Council allows for greater […]
For most of its existence, the UN hasn’t dealt with oil, gas or mining much. It has gotten involved on mostly small scale, small bore development projects, and, of course, the disastrous oil-for-food program in Iraq. Natural resource development is considered an internal matter, and one involving the private sector — a part of the […]
The venerable Matt Wald at the “NY Times” had a revealing story yesterday: Fossil Fuels’ Hidden Cost Is in Billions, Study Says. He cites a study, commissioned by Congress, just out from the National Research Council. Monetizing the value of human life cut short by air pollution – “small soot particles, which cause lung damage; […]
Former Federal Reserve Bank Chair, Paul A. Volcker and Chair of President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, has beed advocating for more aggressive reform and regulation of the financial industry, but is being resisted by the administration’s top economist – who have strong ties to Wall Street.
Dexter Filkins’ recent NYTimes magazine piece is lengthy but worth reading. Filkins, a veteran war correspondent for the NYTimes, is adept at story-telling and doesn’t disappoint in this article. With his familiar, almost folksy, tone of writing, Filkins draws a vivid picture of the American war in Afghanistan: “The Marines around McChrystal, including the local […]
“The multipolar world has become a global reality, recognized as a near certainty by no less an authority than the U.S. intelligence community,” writes Elizabeth Dickinson in the latest issue of Foreign Policy. While missing the complexities of the debate about the global balance of power, the article details some of the historical moments when […]
“Be a patriot – kill a priest.” That was a bumper sticker seen on vehicles run by the national guard in El Salvador in the 1980s. The reason is that the entrenched elite of that country believed that Roman Catholic priests were becoming radicalized and increasingly political and who therefore threatened their interests. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/ILCZh1SIypA” […]
Someone in my class at Pace University in NYC a couple of years ago mentioned that she thought that earthquakes and other similar phenomenon were being influenced by climate change. I pooh-poohed the idea, saying that climate change was responsible for a lot of ills – with more to come – but that it couldn’t […]