Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao spoke optimistically about China’s flagging economy during his annual address to the National People’s Congress. Wen outlined extensive measures to enable continued economic growth. In anticipation of new investments Asian markets moved higher on Wednesday, but the Premier did not specify any spending beyond previous commitments. China’s leaders have long […]
Foreign ministers at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) agreed to resume high-level relations with Russia during a meeting today in Brussels. NATO severed normal ties with Russia following the country’s invasion of Georgia (an aspiring NATO member) last summer. Moscow subsequently recognized the independence of two breakaway regions – Abkhazia and South Ossetia – […]
One man’s slum is another man’s home and recycling business. A photo essay in Foreign Policy takes a look at Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, where up to one million people live. Around 15,000 single-room factories and other entrepreneurial ventures result in an economic output of up to $1 billion in this settlement alone. Journalist Sudip Muzumdar, […]
Dan summarizes some of the reaction to the warrant handed down today by the ICC. (CFR has another good summary here). Essentially, the criticism of the ICC’s decision raises two arguments: (1) that charging Al-Bashir is bad for the “peace process,” and (2) that other people do bad things too, so charging Al-Bashir is tantamount […]
Source: BBC Is the conflict over Kashmir hindering India’s rise? Is an unstable Pakistan, with its religious, regional and political cleavages, likewise a threat to India’s rise? Is American foreign policy exacerbating tensions in South Asia with its concentration on Al Qaeda, the Taliban and Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan? In The New Yorker ’s […]
In a massive PR effort, the Chinese government held an online chat session for the public. China is home to the largest population of Internet users on earth. Premier Wen Jiabao was the representative of the government, and appeared to many analysts as if he were running for election. Indeed perhaps he was taking some […]
This is half a documentary. It focuses on the lives of teen and preteen Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip in 2003. This film captures the rage felt by many youth regarding Israel. Two of the children, Ahmed and Mohammed, are close friends and both say they would rather die together as martyrs than to die […]
Could it be that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown borrowed a speech-writer from his French counterpart President Nicolas Sarkozy for the stirring address he delivered March 4 to the joint houses of Congress in Washington D.C.? Brown’s speech was unusually emotional for the strait-laced Scot. Just like Sarkozy, who spoke from the same podium on […]
War crimes charges filed Wednesday against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir is the first against a sitting head of state, but it may backfire to stoke conflict in the troubled African region. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for Bashir stemming from an ethnic campaign […]
At the World Affairs Councils of America’s (WACA) Annual Meeting in February, Charles MacCormack , president and CEO of Save the Children, spoke about how the 2008 Global Food Crisis has impacted the UN Millennium Development Goal (MGD) for fighting global hunger. Watch the video of his remarks at the conference and hear him address […]
Looking at climate change as much and as often as I do, I have come to have a heightened sense of the danger looming and the urgency of our situation. Therefore, knowing that snow reflects solar radiation back into space, thus diminishing the radiative forcing on the earth, snow is something that has come to […]
The ICC just handed down an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but not genocide. We’ll have more on this later today.
The biggest piece of news this morning, of course, will be the ICC’s announcement as to whether they will finally hand down an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir. You can watch live at 7:45 AM EST at this link, courtesy of the Genocide Intervention Network. There’s plenty of useful background available, and Michelle […]
The United States is continuing to act as a Mideast peace broker, with Secretary of State Clinton making her first visit to the region and setting the stage for what will inevitably be many future visits. This AP report notes that her visit has raised expectations for the “two state solution” while signaling that the […]
Modern day slavery, otherwise known as Human Trafficking, holds some 27 million men, women and children by force (including the threat of force), fraud or coercion…it’s grip is only slightly weaker than that of the arms trade. The ‘human trade’ not only continues to fuel organized crime, and is often tided to it’s power house […]