This documentary is unique in its approach because it provides what director Barbet Schroeder calls a self portrait of one of the most interesting leaders in modern times, Uganda’s Idi Amin. It shows how disarmingly charming Amin was. In fact it is hard to reconcile the almost childlike behavior of Amin with the fact that […]
Here’s coverage on the recent blocking of Facebook in Iran. “Iran has blocked its citizens from accessing the social networking site Facebook as the country prepares for next month’s presidential election. Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, a leading reformist candidate, suggested on Sunday that the move was aimed at reducing opposition to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the […]
I’m out of town and so all I’ve got time to offer today is a note on a pretty good bit of political analysis on the cap-and-trade and energy bill from the “NY Times” today. I think that Tim Wirth, who leads the United Nations Foundation, always good for a good quote, has a salient […]
On this Memorial Day, the U.S. Role blog would like to salute the men and women of the U.S. armed forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country. Because this blog is specifically devoted to the U.S. role in the world, I would like to honor those who are buried far […]
Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.cnn.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.cnn.com/video”>CNN Video</a> Nandan Nilekani, Co-Chairman of Infosys and author of Imagining India, spoke with Fareed Zakaria about India’s economic potential on CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS. Nilekani argues that India’s democracy is a strength in economic development, the country’s population is an asset not a liability and its “strategic opportunity is […]
The Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse has disclosed the ugly face of hypocrisy and bigotry of the Roman Catholic Church. For the children who were raped, beaten, and treated like animals, or what the Second Vatican Council refer to as ‘People of God’, the revelations in the report is yet another example of acute […]
“I believe the best service to the child is the service closest to the child, and children who are victims of neglect, abuse, or abandonment must not also be victims of bureaucracy. They deserve our devoted attention, not our divided attention.” – Kenny Guinn (American educator, businessman and two-term Governor of Nevada from 1999-2007) Children […]
Last week, award-winning journalist Amira Hass was arrested after returning from four months of reporting in the Palestinian Authority. Hass, who reports for Ha’aretz newspaper, was not held long after being arrested, but her case highlights a major problem for journalists in the region: access. Or lack of. It’s illegal for Israeli journalists to go […]
Embedded video from <a href=”http://www.cnn.com/video” mce_href=”http://www.cnn.com/video”>CNN Video</a> United States President Barack Obama recently nominated Republican Utah Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. as the next ambassador to China. President Obama reached into the Republican ranks for a key foreign policy position and likely removed one of his strongest potential challengers in the 2012 presidential campaign. During the […]
KISS – the engineer’s way of designing things that work. Solving the climate change crisis with nuclear fission plants to power the separation of oil from the billions of tons of tar in which it’s embedded – and destroying hundreds of thousands of acres of forest to get at the tar – is not a […]
…Drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry.” Those words ring with such prophetic irony now – that is if the levy had been retaining a history of American automobile prowess. Or that’s at least what one might feel after reading Kendra Marr’s 18 May Washington Post article titled, “As […]
It was said during the presidential campaign that closing the Guantanamo detention center was one of the things the new president could do to immediately change the view of the U.S. role in the world for the better. After his election victory, President Obama immediately signed an executive order to do just that (I think […]
Just yesterday, New York City was the target of a failed terrorist plot. It’s a jarring reminder that terrorists are still out there, thinking about how to do Americans harm. For inquiring minds who want information from an authoritative voice on terrorism, take a look at The Shadowland Journal. The blog includes postings and writings […]
Yesterday, the Czech Republic hosted a joint EU-China summit that was originally scheduled for December. The meeting was delayed then because of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s meeting with the Dalai Lama. This time, China made clear to tell the EU to stay out of its internal business. 2 main topics were on the agenda: the […]
In a move that went widely unreported last week, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger unveiled a plan that would allow additional drilling within state waters in an attempt to help ease California’s fiscal troubles. California had banned new exploration activity within state waters (an area that roughly extends nine miles from the coast) since the 1969 […]