Computers – This is, as you might suspect, an area where lots of energy gets consumed. According to Emerson, at their “Energy Logic” webpage: “Data centers in the United States alone soaked up about 61 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh), or $4.5 billion worth of electricity in 2006. If current energy usage trends continue, a U.S. Environmental […]
President Obama’s trip to Europe has wrapped up and the reviews and starting to come in. I expect I’ll be digesting those over the next few days but let’s start with this piece from The Washington Post in which they ask the following question: In his overseas trip, President Obama was determined to show that […]
Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori was convicted today of creating a military death squad that killed 50 people and kidnapped many more during his rule. Fujimori, who disbanded Peru’s legislature and purged its judiciary during his first term, is widely credited with winning the government’s long military campaign against terrorist groups Shining Path and Tupac […]
With a dismal track record and all the debris that gets washed up and stuck in Washington’s wretched gut, Republicans are now blackmailing Obama into not disclosing Bush’s darkest secrets on his torture policy. Obama wants to nominate Dawn Johnsen as chief of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice and Yale Law School […]
This was the Turkish proverb quoted by President Obama in his speech yesterday before the Turkish Grand National Assembly to say that the U.S. does not aim to fight extremism through force. The President’s speech was remarkably general, but at the same time, he made some important gestures towards the Muslim world. In case you […]
21st Century Capitalism By Robert L. Heilbroner (W.W. Norton & Co., 1994) “It is my hope that some grasp of what the twenty-first century holds in store for capitalism may enable us to avoid at least some of the pain we might otherwise have to endure,” writes the eminent […]
Can the U.S. use Web 2.0 social networks like Facebook to solve crises and promote world peace? That is the obvious question to pose after reading this article in The Washington Post: Alec Ross arrives today at the State Department, armed with a new set of diplomatic tools including Facebook, text messaging and YouTube. Ross […]
Social Return on Investment (SROI) is a big deal for non-profit funders and organizations. How do you determine the most effective approach to solving homelessness, bettering education, or curbing poverty? Is it possible to weave a standard method of evaluation through a variety of themes, lens, and perspectives? Should we even try for one approach, […]
President Obama announced a plan designed, in part, to combat the global food crisis* on the final day of the G-20 summit in London last week. The initiative allots $448 million to address immediate aid concerns in Latin America and Africa, and allocates another $1 billion for the development of a long-term food security strategy. […]
Senior US Representatives Henry Waxman (D-Calif) and Ed Markey (D-Mass) today released draft cap-and-trade legislation that would reshape US energy and climate policy through drastic cuts in emissions in the next 20 years and significant increases in renewables by 2025. The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES), intended to “create jobs, help […]
Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Myers was only 30 years old when he died in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He was thousands of miles from his home in Hopewell, Virginia when an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) wounded and killed him. But as fate would have it, his death and return to his family in the […]
Political scientists study the power of states, looking at the linkages between a society’s economic and political strengths and its capacity to use or threaten military force. The assessment of a country’s power is made relative to other states in the international system. Yet the use of military force itself is tricky, because it can […]
A top Israeli army official denied statements made by members of the Israeli military that soldiers had committed war crimes in the offensive on the Gaza Strip. Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi discounted allegations raised in February that Israeli soldiers had violated the laws of war regarding actions against the civilian population […]
One of the most vocal rising powers – Russia – shone on the world stage this past week. President Dmitry Medvedev made his way to the G20 Summit in London via Berlin. He met with several world leaders, agreeing on economics with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, forging a stronger bilateral relationship with Chinese President Hu […]
The Los Angeles Times captures some of the excitement around the stimulus package and the opportunity for it to create jobs. In the bleak economy, such enthusiasm (in addition to federal funding) can help create opportunities. But the sustainability of the of the government largess is questionable unless it can create a market through incentives […]