I’ve discovered a new book to put on my reading list. If you can imagine a book about power, a book that offers advice for the U.S. on how to use power, and a book that is written in the spirit of Machiavelli’s classic The Prince, then Power Rules by Leslie Gelb may be of […]
Congratulatory emails have been pouring in to the Italian Embassy in Washington after Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta wrote to the Washington Post to protest against a front page report from Rome March 1 headlined ‘As Italy’s Banks Tighten Lending, Desperate Firms Call on the Mafia.’ The emails are from Italian Americans sick and tired of what […]
How long are they? His coattails, that is. He’s at 84% approval, largely due to the perception that Brazil is doing better than most in this global financial crisis, and it is. His pick for his successor is his chief of staff, Dilma Rousseff, a stalwart in the PT (Lula’s leftist Workers Party), who […]
I’ve been lauding the new Presidential administration’s approach. See “Climate of Change” and “The Eagle Has Landed” and other posts going back to November. The new EPA has taken another critically important step: They are going to create a comprehensive, nationwide reporting system for greenhouse gases. This system is a critical component for any federal […]
According to Fareed Zakaria, the answer to the above question is a resounding No. Zakaria’s main argument is that if we try to fully understand the phenomenon of Islamic radicalism, there will be a clearer picture that not all Islamists are potential terrorists. The article in Newsweek, “Learning to Live with Radical Islam,” focuses on […]
Salt, sugar and water avert diarrhoea deaths – WHO A pinch of salt, a handful of sugar and some clean water is all that is needed to save up to two million children who die each year from diarrhoea, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday. Children in poor countries suffer the dehydrating condition […]
Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World By LIAQUAT AHAMED (Penguin Press, 2009) Reviewed by Jose Nocera for the New York Times ‘Book Review’ section, The ‘Lords of Finance’ offers a grand narrative of the events leading up to the Great Depression. Liaquat Ahamed, a former World Bank economist and investment fund manager, […]
My colleague David Kampf in his posting today, draws our attention to the current Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Tehran in which Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad predicts the collapse of capitalism. Scary, right? It is another firebrand speech from an energetic leader of a rising regional power with a productive nuclear program and a lot […]
The five men, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, charged with planning the 9/11 attacks have filed a new document in court accepting – indeed, bragging about – responsibility for the attacks. CNN pulls out this excerpt from the filing: “With regards to these nine accusations that you are putting us on trial for; to us, they […]
On February 28, 2009, China upgraded its 1995 food hygiene law by passing a new law creating a food safety commission which can increase compensation to those harmed by tainted food or impose severe penalties on those involved with producing and promoting tainted food products. The new law is intended to improve China’s food safety […]
An Iraqi tribunal Wednesday sentenced former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and others to 15 years for the deaths of 42 businessmen exploiting U.N. sanctions. Aziz, along with Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as “Chemical Ali,” were handed 15-year prison sentences Wednesday by the Iraqi High Tribunal for their role in the 1992 deaths of […]
American law enforcement expects, and often receives, an extremely high level of cooperation from various Muslim communities throughout the United States. Iranians, Iraqis, Saudis, Egyptians; most are well integrated within their local communities and establishments. As a result, the threat of domestic terrorism is often lower in the US than in other western nations with […]
If the end of the Cold War marked the defeat of communism and the rise of the United States as the world’s dominant power, can the financial crisis and end of US hegemony signal the defeat of liberal democracy and capitalism? No, but Iran’s president seems to think so. In a speech to regional leaders […]
In an effort to silence the press and drown out media criticism, Turkey’s government imposes its controversial Article 301 measure. Any journalist or editor who “insults” or “criticizes” the state could face a year in prison. Prison sentences were initially three years but Turkey agreed to reduce sentences after pressure from the European Commission. Turkey, who […]
When assessing the world’s rising powers, we often focus on the most evident forms of strength – military, economic and diplomatic. But, does a country’s soft power impact the global balance of power? The term soft power was coined by Joseph S. Nye Jr., a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School (and rumored new United […]