Remember just a few weeks ago when all the critics and mainstream media bloviators, sometimes even before he took office, were decrying the declining stock market performance as the “Obama recession”..?? And recall in their cynical effort to “link” President Obama to stock market performance, whenever he spoke publicly media outlets would place a live stream […]
There’s nothing quite as satisfying as a good patriotic cry. Russians and like-minded Ukrainians are lining up these days to see a movie, “Taras Bulba,” that allows them this public pleasure while undercutting Ukraine’s separate national identity. A real “twofer” for the movie’s sponsors, the Russian government. The NYT report on the film’s opening in […]
They number in the tens of thousands. Toiling away in heat that reaches 50 Centigrade, the slaves of Dubai are the unseen and unheard workforce that has constructed this mecca of extravagant waste of natural resources (water) and consumerism. The Dubai resident consumes 3x more water than the average American. For thirty years, the city in […]
According to a recent study published in the British Medical Journal, there are 32 million more boys than girls under the age of 20 in China. A preference for male offspring meant that there were 120 boys born for every 100 girls in 2005. In China, the restrictive (and at times draconian) family planning policies […]
In yesterday’s post Iraq’s Forgotten Refugee Children, the need to ensure that those displaced by the Iraq war are adequately meet. Humanitarian aid is with out a doubt needed, as are other infrastructures to ensure that some symbolance of normality and daily life is given to refugee families. Adequate, food, shelter and sanitation are still […]
We’ve talked about piracy a few times – it’s certainly been one of the primary unlawful uses of force in global news over the last year. Of course, this week we have some very good news: US Navy Seals rescued the captain and crew of the Maersk Alabama, an American cargo ship seized by pirates. […]
The Foreign Policy Association has posted a Great Decisions 2009 Spring Update on its website. The Update compiles important news items from the past few months and is an excellent way to stay up to date on the each of the eight U.S. foreign policy and global affairs issues covered in Great Decisions 2009. There […]
A Facebook Haggadah is born. Sample: “Joseph and Pharaoh are now friends…. Pharaoh sent The Israelites Bread of Affliction.” Ever wonder what happens to the leavened goods in Israel during Passover? PRI’s The World talks to Hussein Jaber, a Muslim catering manager at a Jerusalem hotel who gets them all! Barack Obama hosts what is […]
One of the untold stories in the headlines during the past few months is that the price of oil has climbed. Recent reports have shown oil at $61 a barrel in the 4th quarter, definitely higher than the $30 reached in 2008. Many financial analysts contribute the rise in price mainly to OPEC cuts. Bloomberg […]
In one of the most candid assessments of the direction of US energy/environmental policy, Anadarko chief James Hackett blasts the current focus on carbon dioxide reduction. (Financial Times – registration required). The histrionic and maniacal focus on carbon dioxide is intellectually repugnant to me. He added that it is “taking the economy into a tailspin.” […]
The war in Iraq has taken its toll on all sides, but those left to suffer disparagingly are the children who are quite literally caught in the cross fire. Children are left wounded, disabled, or even worse dead. Those who escape harm from the violence of the conflict are often left nothing short of hanging […]
The Open Society Institute hosted a forum in March on the rise of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership. Thomas Kellogg, Bobo Lo, Gilbert Rozman and Elizabeth Wishnick analyzed the relationship. Panelists discussed whether the ties between Beijing and Moscow will evolve into an “authoritarian alliance” and counter the West, or if the partnership is limited given […]
A new U.S. policy toward Cuba, announced today, will offer a greater opportunity for Cuban Americans to personally share the benefits and demonstrate the appeal of freedom, democracy, and prosperity to the people of Cuba. As The New York Times summarizes: The White House announced that it is abandoning longstanding restrictions on family travel, remittances […]
For as much as I want help philanthropy become an accessible, mainstream norm and value – I’m still wrestling with the idea of a billionaire playboy turned vigilante philanthropist as our superhero for doing so. NBC’s June premiere of The Philanthropist is making my head spin. From a foreign policy point of view, do we […]
There are a series of UNFCCC meetings this year leading up to the Copenhagen Conference of the Parties – the 15th COP. As you know, Copenhagen is where the post-Kyoto agreement is going to be finalized. The first of the five planned negotiating sessions leading up to the COP wrapped up in Bonn last week. […]