The U.S. and European media are focusing heavily on the disastrous defeat of the Social Democrats, and an apparent shift of the electorate to the center-right, in their analyses of the German elections on September 27, which reinstalled Christian Democrat Angela Merkel as Chancellor. Many commentators also use the German results as a peg to […]
The credibility of the African regional human rights system suffered a serious setback last week when President Yahaya Jammeh of The Gambia made comments threatening human rights activists. This is not the first time an African head of state has made disparaging remarks about human rights activists and unfortunately will probably not be the last. […]
The powerful Financial industry lobby and Wall Street and community bankers argue that the proposed agency will restrict financial innovation and otherwise inhibit economic growth. Despite such mendacity, Alan Greenspan, the highly respected economist and former Fed Chair endorsed President Obama’s far-reaching proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA).
By Cordelia Rizzo I remember meeting Mexican politician and human rights activist Gilberto Rincón Gallardo seven years ago and hearing his story about his incarceration in the mythical Lecumberri prison. He was charged with throwing stones and “quickly running away from the cops” during one of the 1968 student-police confrontations. Gallardo, the first head of […]
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted a meeting in New York on global food security and strategies to combat ongoing food shortages in the wake of the global financial crisis. Speaking at UN headquarters on Monday, Mr. Ban called the global food crisis “an issue that affects all […]
As European & Canadian companies retreat from NYSE listings, Emerging Market companies change complexion of U.S. stock markets, and thereby drive performance of U.S. market performance.
Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal is lionized – and rightfully so –in this documentary. The film follows him from his life in a German concentration camp until his death in 2005. It shows how relentless he was in tracking down war criminals and how scrupulous he was. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Z8pW6dr_Fy4″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] While many jumped […]
They are some of the most discriminated and marginalized people in Europe. Facing rampant racism and social exclusion, some European country policies are intentionally segregating Roma children in schools. Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic all place Roma children in separate classrooms. In these conditions, the quality of education afforded to Roma children is […]
Paul Krugman had a couple of columns, today and Friday, with some complementary posts at his blog, “The Conscience of a Liberal,” on the economics of cap-and-trade as well as the dire situation in which we find ourselves relative to warming and its impacts. To refute some of the nonsensical – and false – claims […]
For decades now, speculators in oil have justified their bidding up oil futures with the concept of peak oil: to wit, we have discovered all the major fields that there are and soon there will be no new oil, and this will lead to wars and exorbitantly high prices, and so although not now, but […]
The current Yaz birth control controversy illustrates the continued tension between what pharmaceutical companies and the doctors that they pay claim is safe for consumption, and contrary scientific evidence. Natasha Singer of the New York Times is reporting that Yaz, a birth control pill manufactured and marketed by Bayer, is under fire as an […]
A synopsis of U.S. Economic Foreign Policy issues on the agenda as global leaders gather for the 64th U.N. General Assembly; and kudos to Foreign Policy & the Global Economy from the NYT’s ‘The Caucus’ blog.
This year’s annual World Leadership Forum from the Foreign Policy Association was keynoted by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. He gave a fascinating speech calling on the US to resume its leadership in the world and to be supported in this by “…a new ‘driving centre’ of global politics and the global economy – a […]
Scrapping fossil fuel subsidies is the idea here. The caption is from today’s lead editorial in the “Financial Times.” Among its many felicitous effects, is the fact that “If effective in promoting efficient consumption, elimination would reduce the risk of runaway global warming.” The Third Assessment Report (2001) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change […]
Throughout all of Europe, undocumented workers, migrants, refugees and others attempt to carve out a life. Many make the treacherous journey to seek a job to send money back home. But if you get sick…hope for the best. So can it be true? Sweden? That wonderful Scandinavian country where everyone is healthy, wealthy, and attractive? […]