As the U.S.-Afghanistan-Pakistan presidential summit concludes it’s worth noting that we have heard a lot of talk about fighting the Taliban, fighting corruption, increasing aid for development, and promoting trade between the two countries, but there is one important issue that has not been discussed at the summit: the security of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. The […]
Check out this article (thanks to Robert Nolan for sending it along) about Goldman Sachs’ latest report on the shift of global economic power towards the East.
This week saw another confrontation between the US and China over Beijing’s growing naval power and what appears to be Washington’s attempts to retain control of the dominance to which it has grown accustomed in the East and South China Seas. On Sunday 2 Chinese fishing vessels reportedly “harassed” an American surveillance ship in the […]
After months of trying to track her down, I spoke with female journalist Farida Nekzad in Kabul, Afghanistan in the wee hours of a March morning by phone from New York. Nekzad shared with me her vision for her work and the future of journalists in Afghanistan.
You can read a feature-length story about Nekzad and other female journalists in Pakistan and Afghanistan in this month’s issue of Quill magazine here.
Terrorism is not a Clash of Civilizations, but a Clash of Time Samuel Huntington forever changed the face of international political discourse when he published The Clash of Civilizations. It redefined the world not along political boundaries or geographic features, but along the delicate fault-lines of civilization and culture. In his 1993 article, he writes: […]
NATO should focus on what really matters to Western interests over the coming half-century: arresting the proliferation of WMD; stopping Iran from acquiring the above; anchoring the Great and Rising Powers (including Russia and China) into Western institutions in order to more effectively resolve regional conflicts and other global problems; and, gently pushing human development in the direction of Fukuyama’s End of History.
Ten of 19 of the nation’s largest banks failed the Fed stress test, and will require more capital or face the possibility of insolvency or receivership (i.e., ‘Nationalization’).
Last year when I walked through the urban centre of Tbilisi I was struck by the vibrancy of its people. It’s a rare feeling, an energy that permeates through all senses. This was a month before the war broke out. It was hard to believe that refugees would soon be flooding this cultural oasis – […]
Today is AfPak Day at the White House as President Obama hosts the leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is hoped that the summit will lead to new resolve to combat the Taliban and a new spirit of cooperation at the regional level. I’d like to refer you to this White House blog post in […]
U.S. President Barack Obama announced the creation of a “Biofuels Interagency Working Group” to be composed of the Departments of Agriculture, Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA). The working group will be tasked with supporting the U.S. biofuels industry through funds to support existing refiners, new loans to increase crop production and the building of […]
Take a look at this video report from MSNBC about a new tactic the U.S. is using to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. The U.S. is attempting to interrupt the flow of money to the Taliban by burning the poppy fields. There’s no doubt that in a traditional war this would make sense: attack the […]
A photojournalism exhibition you do not want to miss if you are in the New York area is Brent Stirton’s “The Last Gorillas of the Congo” on display through August at Fovea. Stirton is an award-winning and otherwise highly-accomplished photojournalist. A senior staff photographer for Getty Images, his work is published in National Geographic, Newsweek, […]
Africa is on the move. Here are a few facts from this terrific website you won’t hear about from the mainstream media or foreign aid workers who peddle Africa as perpetually dependent or in crisis.
It is legitimate in foreign affairs to employ both the carrot and the stick. Both policies can secure a nation’s interests; the trick (and difficulty) is to employ the strategy a given situation warrants. In spite of partisan name-calling, whereby stick-wielders are called warmongers and carrot-salesmen weak, all Great Powers, all statesmen (and women), must […]
The Influenza A H1N1 virus (also known as “swine flu”) outbreak continues to challenge the globe, despite a pronouncement by the CDC’s acting director of “encouraging signs” concerning the severity of the outbreak. Still, various countries and international organizations are dealing with the possible spread of the virus and the effects on the world population. […]