UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon organized a truly historic event today: the Summit on Climate Change. President Obama was among the many speakers. Carol Browner, Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change, and one of the critical voices within the Obama Administration for a robust and progressive approach to meeting the challenge of climate […]
So while presidents, premiers and prime ministers were over at Ban Ki-moon’s Summit on Climate Change today saving the world, some pretty extraordinary innovators were elsewhere on Manhattan Island talking about green building. I went to the Green Buildings Expo back in June and visited a lot of folks at their booths and talked with […]
A huge banner with a photo of David Plouffe festooned a media conference I attended in Croatia last week. The former Obama campaign manager is coming to Zagreb later this year and those running local election campaigns are eager to welcome “the unsung hero” who “helped restore the trust in the United States of America.” […]
Does the US care enough about Pakistan to face the long haul? Does Pakistan? The New York Times reported Sunday that the Obama administration is trying to decide what economic assistance to offer Pakistan, given the level of corruption and waste. American officials said the need to assist the Pakistani economy directly became alarmingly clear […]
History was made tonight. With screenings in more than 550 cinemas in more than 45 countries, the global premiere of “The Age of Stupid” has made a Guinness world record. It would appear that this film might pack less of a wallop because of former United States Vice President Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” But […]
By Geraldine Forbes and Usha Thakkar Dr. Neera Desai [Neeraben] one of the pioneers of Women’s Studies in India, died on June 25, 2009 after a long struggle with cancer. Neeraben, born Neera Druv in Ahmedabad in 1924, lived most of her life in Bombay/ Mumbai where she founded India’s first Research Centre for Women’s […]
Embedded video from CNN Video Fareed Zakaria interviewed Russian President Dmitry Medvedev about his relationship (or rivalry) with Vladimir Putin, Russia’s ties with the United States, Iran’s nuclear program, politics and the economy. Recently, Medvedev penned a piece arguing that “an inefficient economy, semi-Soviet social sphere, fragile democracy, negative demographic trends, and unstable Caucasus represent […]
(AP) WASHINGTON – The CIA’s harsh interrogations are likely to have damaged the brains of terrorist suspects, diminishing their ability to recall and provide the detailed information the spy agency sought, according to a new scientific paper. The paper scrutinizes the techniques used by the CIA under the Bush administration through the lens of neurobiology […]
General Stanley McChrystal, the Obama Administration’s guy in South Asia, has warned that without more troops the war in Afghanistan “will likely fail”, reports the Washington Post. President Barack Obama, not surprisingly, is worried about becoming embroiled in an escalating situation, where victory only requires an ever-increasing number of ‘just a few more (thousands) troops”. […]
Chinese babies stolen by officials for foreign adoption Though conventional wisdom says many of the thousands of Chinese babies who have been adopted since the early 1990s were abandoned by their parents because of Chinese family-size restrictions and the traditional preference for boys, harrowing stories of coercion are emerging among parents whose children were forcefully […]
Critics are slamming the fake, provocatively sexy, video sneaked onto YouTube by the Danish state tourist board, VisitDenmark, in an underhand manner earlier this month. But the controversial marketing ploy is seen by its sponsors as a huge success. The video shows a young blonde Danish woman, “Karen,” with her baby, “August,” saying she wants […]
In yet another in a seemingly endless series of gems of reporting on climate change, energy and sustainability, the “Financial Times” has this today. The report looks at critical developments from sub-national governments from California to Sao Paulo to London and many points in between. There are also interesting ads from TckTckTck and UNDP. There’s […]
Last week I was pleased to meet with a delegation of Members of Parliament and staff from the Parliament of Ghana, who were in town as part of a USAID-supported legislative strengthening visit coordinated by the SUNY Center for International Development.While in Albany, NY they spent the week meeting with state legislators, staff from the […]
Here’s a succinct and hopeful message from UNFCCC Executive Secretary Yvo de Boer on where we are on the international politics. We will know more this week after the UN Climate Summit and the G20 meetings.
Most anyone sane who has ever had to suffer through Eurovision song contests walks away stunned. The event has gone on for something like 50 years and drives the Europeans mad. And the associated kitsch isn’t even remotely interesting. Though I’m sure someone like John Waters wouldn’t agree. Genius has no bounds and thankfully, no […]