Yet another major emerging economy is planning to come to the table in Copenhagen ready to contribute. Mexico aims to bring CO2 cut plan to climate talks reports Reuters. Adrian Fernandez, the president of the National Ecology Institute, said “If Mexico can bring a plan for cuts through 2020 to the table with a detailed […]
In July, the Pew Global Attitudes Project published a global survey finding a vast improvement in views of the United States since the election of President Obama. The poll shows that “in most countries where opinions of the US have improved, many say that Obama’s election led them to have a more favorable view of […]
There are few places on Earth where one could believe that people have exhausted their ability for cruelty, but the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo may be one of them. Since the mid-1990s, the country has been embroiled in a series of ethnically-fueled conflict and civil war that has killed over two million people. […]
Suicide bombers are a mainstay in modern warfare, shock or dismay rarely comes as headlines like, “suicide bomber kills 11″, are splattered across our TV screens and newspapers. However while no longer a new tactic of war the use of suicide bombers has dramatically increased since its modern beginnings in the 198o’s which saw an […]
The NYTimes reported today that Russian subs were spotted nearly 200 miles off the East Coast of the United States, echoing the 1960s comedy, The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming, in which a Russian sub accidentally runs ashore off the coast of Massachusetts, causing an international incident and not a few laughs. By the mid-1960s, […]
‘Dozens’ of Guantanamo detainee cases have been referred to federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., New York and Virginia. US Attorney General Eric Holder has reportedly met with federal prosecutors from these jurisdictions, each of which has experience handling international terrorism cases. The debate continues as to what to do with the remaining 229 detainees, with […]
In the winter of 2005 myself and one other volunteer at the Coalition for the Homeless were driving around in a white van in New York City handing out food and whenever available, used clothing. We stopped at approximately 31 designated areas ranging from lower Manhattan all the way up into the Bronx. For anyone […]
U.N. council extends mandate of Darfur peacekeepers The UN Security Council members voted unanimously to extend the mandate of a joint UN-African Union peacekeeping mission in the Darfur region of Sudan. The force, which gradually has been deployed to the region, is expected to reach 90% of its full operating complement by the end of […]
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran formally begins his second term this week after “winning” his disputed election. The June 12th election and the aftermath, which saw thousands of protesters take to the streets of Tehran, has complicated U.S. plans to forge a new engagement with Iran. This report in The New York Times notes the […]
As I wrote a couple of weeks ago, India is a critical part of the equation in solving the climate crisis, but is extremely sensitive to suggestions that it needs to quantify emission reduction targets. The Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, has been keeping to a very hard line. “Treehugger” reports here that India Says Yes […]
This past weekend police violently broke up an opposition rally in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, highlighting once again the lack of certain freedoms in Malaysia. The rally was called to protest a security law that allows the government to preventatively detain certain defendants indefinitely without charges. The Internal Security Act of 1960 has been […]
On her ten day trip through Africa, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make two stops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – capital Kinshasa and Goma in the east. Estimates state that conflict in the DRC (a country the size of the US east of the Mississippi) has resulted in 3.5 […]
I still have faith in President Barack Obama but there are some things that cannot just be ignored. His executive order in January was to close the disgrace that is Guantanamo Bay within one year – the holding pen of America’s hypocrisy. He had inherited two wars, a wrecked economy, a huge national debt and […]
As was noted in my recent post, Is there child labor in your make-up?, being a conscious consumer is more difficult that one often thinks in regards to some products, especially when one wants to ensure that they are purchasing goods that are child labor and slavery free. While it is true that being a […]
An article on a corruption investigation in Namibia related to Chinese investment there appeared in the NYTimes on Friday. China is confronting the growing pains of being an “imperial” power, as this giant nation increases its FDI and access to raw materials and markets in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere. Just like imperialists that came before, since […]