When the FP Article, A $9 Trillion Question: Did the World Get Muhammad Yunus Wrong?, came across my Twitter feed this morning my first thought was, blasphemy! The praise and attention that Yunus and Soto have received over the past few years – collecting fans and converts of their teachings – make it hard to imagine […]
Many stories of the fate of Iran’s young protestors, journalists, and academics have become front page news as allegations of rape and torture on those arrested this summer comes to the front page of papers worldwide. The infamous Evin Prison is where many of those arrested political prisoners have been detained this summer, but what […]
In my family, there is the story of how, when one of my aunts sold her house, her sisters, helping her empty the place, found 27 boxes of Fab detergent squirreled away in the kitchen cupboard. In case she should ever run out, and besides it was on sale, you see. Something like this may […]
The question is: Was it the right for the United States to announce its withdrawal from Iraq in order to focus on the war in Afghanistan? See this link for a video on the bomb attacks in Iraq. Attacks in Iraq. Source: NYTimes Arguments on both sides of the issue are convincing. Obama got elected […]
There’s a very good read, The Great Paradox of China: Green Energy and Black Skies, that appears at “Yale Environment 360.” (I wrote China – Getting Closer here late last month.) What’s the paradox? “China is on its way to becoming the world’s largest producer of renewable energy, yet it remains one of the most […]
Cheng Li, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, details the growing importance of think tanks in China in the China Leadership Monitor. Think tanks and so-called “super think tanks” are organizing conversations and international exchanges to better understand the global challenges that China will face in the coming years. But he also notes that “in […]
There are administrations that have been undermined as a result of disasters, but others have emerged from crises more powerful than before. The difference lies in how disasters and crises are handled. Taiwan is predisposed to earthquakes and storms and is experienced in handling the typhoon season that hits the island at this time every […]
This report in The New York Times offers details on President Obama’s visit with Hosni Mubarak, President of Egypt, today at the White House: Mr. Obama welcomed the 81-year-old Egyptian president for his first White House visit in five years, continuing a concerted effort to improve bilateral relations that had been damaged not only by […]
On Friday, the New York Times reported that Iraq’s date production, has fallen to half of what it was in the 1980s, when the country was the world’s leading date producer. “Date palms have been left to die for lack of water, and fungi and pests have ruined thousands of tons of fruit because the […]
The “Financial Times” is, for my money, one of the best sources out there, consistently, for news and insight into the ever-burgeoning universe of green technology and the business of green, and all the attendant politics and economics. The good folks at the FT have just launched a new series on green tech. (Caveat: You […]
Asia’s food demand is projected to double in the next forty years. Why? By 2050, Asia’s population is projected to increase by 1.5 billion people. With this larger population, scientists predict that Asia will have to import more than 25% of its food staples in order to keep its people from starving. With new fertile […]
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) must prosecute those officers of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) allegedly responsible for war crimes taking place during the 1994 genocide, says Human Rights Watch (HRW). The advocacy organization argues in a series of letters that the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) has enough evidence to prosecute senior […]
Fitch Ratings, one of the three global rating agencies, published reports this week on the state of play in Russia. The government of Russia’s BBB rating was affirmed, but the Outlook for the rating (i.e., where the rating is likely to go in the next two years) remains negative. Russia has been more negatively affected by […]
Dilma Rousseff, the less-than-glamorous heir-apparent to Brazil’s leftist President Lula, is being accused of exerting pressure on a government official to whitewash an investigation into a political ally. See FT article on the subject. These corruption investigations snarl Brazil’s Congress all the time, and some blow over, while others balloon. What will happen to this one could affect […]
The FT reports today that China is extending a much-needed $1 billion loan to the government of Ecuador, one of the worst-run countries on the planet, as a downpayment on oil deliveries to the Asian juggernaut. Ecuador has oil, as well as other assets, including in tourism (for example, the Galapagos Islands, the Andes, and […]