Last week I was thrilled to host a dinner for a delegation from Uganda in the US on a State Department International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) visit. The conversation over dinner was an amazing mix of informal chat and high politics. The members of the delegation came to Albany, NY on the final leg of their multi-city tour […]
As we wait for Gen. McChrystal’s report on the war in Afghanistan I thought I would call your attention to this YouTube video in which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen invites questions from the public on national security and military personnel issues for an online discussion billed as a […]
According to reports in both the Financial Times of London, as well as the New York Times, the Federal Reserve has made a $14Bn profit on TARP loan programs to struggling banks using tax-payer funds.
The cracks are widening. The pieces are falling through. The people are holding on for dear life, trying their best to regroup – to speak to a world where so many are suffering. Journalists have been barred. Only a few brave individuals with camera phones were able to record the brutality of the Iraqi Security […]
Relative to my post, There Oughta Be a Law, on energy recovery, see this terrific article from Worldwatch, A Bridge to the Renewable Energy Future, fleshing out this “…largely overlooked but potent way to minimize fossil fuel use and the damage it causes.” On the same subject, see also this from earlier in the summer […]
Interesting segment by 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft, in which he walks viewers through the fundamentals of these financial WMDs called Credit Default Swaps which were the derivative products underlying the near collapse of the global financial markets.
Malnutrition in Guatemala:A national shame Guatemalan authorities are failing to act effectively against the country’s high rate of child malnutrition, The Economist says. Nearly half of all Guatemalan youngsters suffer from chronic malnutrition, the sixth-worst level in the world despite the country having potential financial resources sufficient to provide better health care, education and food […]
A recent incident where Madonna was booed by concert goers after speaking out against the widespread discrimination against Roma in Romania has reignited the debate over the general treatment of Roma in Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe. Roma, more colloquially referred to as Gypsies, have suffered rampant institutional discrimination since their arrival in Europe centuries […]
Understanding U.S. Foreign Policy in the context of the nation’s changing demographic landscape, and a discussion of ‘Why Africa Matters’ by the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson.
Guatemala can be considered a vanguard country in ensuring the right to food, in that it has developed legal and institutional protections designed to protect and promote this right. Several national laws exist to promote and ensure the right to food, such as the law (SINESAN) to operationalize the national food security and nutrition plan […]
‘For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die.’
Fellow-blogger Ted Lipien makes some valid points about seemingly basic mistakes that the State Department has made in public diplomacy in the new Administration. In particular, he notes, a chance was missed earlier this month to express solidarity with the victims of terrorist attacks in Ingushetia. Eventually the Department did comment, but it took longer […]
Angering China, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou announced yesterday that the Dalai Lama will visit southern Taiwan next week. Beijing is always irritated when the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, travels abroad and the government often issues strong rebukes to foreign hosts. Last November Mr. Ma stopped the Dalai Lama from coming, but Mr. Ma […]
The title first of anything typically conjures up something special; an accolade, a unique position in a list of achievements. But for Uri Davis, an Israeli Jew and professor of critical Israel studies at al-Quds University on the outskirts of East Jerusalem, that title has brought him both threats and praise. Dr Davis was recently […]
Wonder how close to home the issues are to you? Just take a look at the National Sex Offender Registry and you will be almost sickened by the numbers in your neighborhood…However let me also cautious warn you about looking at the registry lightly, and to closely look at the offenses before jumping the gun, […]