Stories of soldiers murdering civilians, illegal wiretapping, targeted killings of indigenous people, assassinations of labor rights activists and other human rights abuses are troubling, but not troubling enough for the US State Department. Last week the State Department certified Colombia as complying with basic human rights requirements, a necessary condition for releasing the remainder of […]
Wu Bangguo, the head of China’s Congress, is enjoying a warm welcome in Washington. He met with President Obama, calling for closer economic ties, and attended a dinner on Thursday evening hosted in his honor. Secretary of State Clinton said, as she has done several times before, that “building a strong relationship with China is […]
Washington said that it would accept Tehran’s offer of comprehensive talks, even though Iran continues to refuse to negotiate over its nuclear program. The chess move – a strategy designed to force Iran to talk seriously or encourage rising powers to place greater pressure on Tehran to curb its hostile actions – was announced as […]
40,000. There are now over 40,000 Japanese over the age of 100. The number is staggering and an impressive display of the high level of public health, but it also points to Japan’s aging and shrinking population and a looming demographic crisis. Graphic from Reuters. Hat tip from FP Passport.
I wrote recently about some solid policy analysis that would move the US off its massive dependency on coal for electricity toward a greater reliance on natural gas – until renewables fully kick into their potential. (Limitless, not incidentally.) A few days after my post, there was a depressing article in the “NY Times” about […]
W.B. Yeats penned one of his most celebrated works at end of first the World War. The Second Coming drew allusions to a world that had lost hope, to an existential crisis into the human condition where a destroyed landscape had been littered with so many bodies – all for a few yards of dirt […]
I wanted tp cross-post today, DC takes on Human Trafficking and wins!, as the event is such a great example on how cities and communities across the country can really take a stand against Human Trafficking/Modern Slavery and make it a fun event for all ages! As the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies prepared to […]
On this anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks I’d like to call your attention to the website of the History Channel where they showcase their programming dedicated to remembering 9/11. They feature an interactive map representing eyewitness accounts, a timeline of the events of that day, and an archive of radio broadcasts. They also highlight […]
We were over in Europe in the summer of 2003, just a few days after the heat wave broke. It was plenty hot even then. In this article from the “FT” from last weekend, the experience of the proprietors of a famous French vineyard, returning early from their holiday, is recalled. “Instead of rows of […]
Nilson Teixeira ([email protected]) and his team at CreditSuisse Brazil, one of the formidable analytical teams among Brazil’s brokerage firms, today published a comprehensive 170 page guide to the Brazilian economy. Timely, given that the world’s eighth largest economy is now one to be watched, invested in, and profited from. CSFB says this guide is good for […]
Christopher Dickey is an award-winning author and Paris Bureau Chief and Middle East Regional Editor for Newsweek Magazine. His most recent book, Securing the City, was published in February 2009. Mr. Dickey’s Shadowland column, about counter-terrorism, espionage and the Middle East, appears weekly on Newsweek Online. His newest book is a rare inside look at […]
I just attended a meeting of the subcommittee on human rights at the European Parliament in Brussels. On the agenda was Burma. And as ever, the lack of political will and inaction in the international community was particularly salient. For two decades Aung Sun Suu Kyi has been in the headlines. Her cause celebrated and […]
Overlook Press has recently published Dilip Hiro’s new book: Inside Central Asia, which is an all-encompassing history of practically everything the average reader of history might want to know about the region. It even considers the ancient history of the 5 major “stan” countries, as well as Iran and Turkey. In fact, the first chapter […]
It wasn’t Paul Kennedy who first said that great powers who over-extend themselves — either externally or internally — fast-forward the date of their decline, but he wrote about imperial over-extension and decline so convincingly in a best-selling book in the late 80’s. Political Scientist Robert Gilpin in War and Change in World Politics argued […]
According to the most recent economic data released this week, the U.S. trade deficit in July hit the highest level in six months as a record rise in imports outpaced a third straight month’s increase in foreign demand for American products, according to government data released Thursday. This is a boon for the Obama recovery stimulus paln.