As we discuss growing multilateral alliances, and as we report on Russia’s declining economy and rising geopolitical ambitions, we also can continue to note Moscow’s attempts to forge partnerships to ensure its energy dominance whilst staving off more economic attrition. Today, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. The meeting […]
The World Bank released a grim report on Russia’s economy. The Bank predicts a contraction of 4.5 percent this year and warns that the financial crisis could push nearly six million Russians into poverty. Despite worries (arguably small) of civil unrest due to unemployment, the public comments of Russia’s leaders still reflect assertive foreign policies. […]
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that Setton Farms of California, which grows pistachio nuts for Kraft Foods, Inc., has announced a recall of its crop from the previous year after finding salmonella contamination in tested batches. There have been reported cases of illness related to the contamination which are being investigated. However, […]
Following UN Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jacques Diouf’s appeal to G-20 leaders to discuss agricultural initiatives for alleviating the global food crisis while meeting in London this week, the Fairtrade Foundation has repeated that call and said a fresh approach to trade was greatly needed to address the issue. The group called on the […]
Henry Waxman, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Ed Markey, chair of the Energy and Environment subcommittee, have just released a “discussion draft” of a comprehensive clean energy and climate change bill. The legislation is titled “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.” (Security is such a reassuring word, […]
As the world’s leaders – representing over 85 percent of the global economy – gather in London, the international community waits to see if the G20 summit can achieve results and meet high expectations (arguably too high for a one-day event). Two weeks ago, Brazil, Russia, India and China issued a joint communiqué – the […]
The small African island nation of Seychelles has been forced to make a tough choice to improve its food security. The government announced that it will abandon a planned hotel project in order to preserve the land for growing food. Seychelles imports a large amount of its food because it has a dearth of arable […]
The other night I spent the evening screening two documentaries on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which were focused on the extensive use of rape as a weapon of war in the countries long going conflict. The evening was centered around one of the DRC’s woman’s activists, Sylvie Maunga Mbanga, a trained lawyer, who […]
Newspapers in both the United States and Europe are considering seeking public support as their print editions struggle with plummeting revenues, rising costs and declining circulations. Closures and lay-offs have gone much farther in the United States than in Europe. But European journalists, aware that it may be their turn next, are sounding the alarm […]
President Obama announces his Af-Pak Initiative. Source: CNN Portrait of Prince Metternich Source: Wikipedia Keeping nuclear-armed Pakistan out of the hands of radicals should be a central goal of U.S. foreign policy. Like a nuclear-armed Iran, control of the Pakistani government by believers in a radical ideology would be one of the worst scenarios for […]
The New York-based website Eurasianet.org, part of the Open Society Institute, issued 2 reports today on happenings in the Caucasus. First, Stephen Blank, a professor at the US Army War College, writes an article on Friday’s agreement in the form of a memorandum of understanding between Russia’s Gazprom (state controlled energy company) and the State […]
The tribunal for the administrator of the notorious Cambodian S21 prison facility, Kaing Guek Eav, or Duch, began Monday following years of delays. The court outlined its charges before Duch Monday, saying the prison chief supervised the execution of some 15,000 people during a quasi-eugenics campaign led by the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s. […]
This report in The New York Times demonstrates why President Obama’s trip this week to the G20 Summit in London, the NATO Summit in Strasbourg, and the EU Summit in Prague will be fraught with difficulties and not at all like his campaign trip to Europe when he was the center of adulation and praise. […]
Press freedom in war-torn Afghanistan is regressing to a Taliban-era level of restrictions, according to a recent report. Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based press advocacy organization, visited Afghanistan in January to survey the current situation. Their report is entitled, “We have free speech, but we’re not safe and don’t act responsibly.” “Because of the […]
To describe the two-term Presidency of George W. Bush as ‘conventional’ is like calling Hurricane Katrina a ‘light drizzle’. While passions remain high on both faces of the political coin, it is impossible to properly understand his actions and legacy so close to his tenure in office. As time goes on, and the Obama administration […]