Following my previous and optimistic post of a new era for community service, I’m now going to flip the argument. While I straddle both U.S. and Canadian philanthropy in this financial downturn and watch as both governments “turn on the taps” and run deficit budgets for this year – I’ve become curious at how long the […]
There is a point where numbers merge with the real and the surreal. Its relevance and impact seem abstract and incomprehensible. One million displaced since August 2008, 5 million killed over the past years. 300,000 women and girls raped and brutalized. 17,000 UN soldiers, the UN’s largest peacekeeping mission. And yet after all this suffering, […]
China parents press demands in wake of milk sentences Chinese parents of children stricken by toxic milk pressed compensation demands Friday, a day after a court sentenced two people to death and jailed 19 over the scandal in which six infants died. China sentences two to death over tainted milk A Chinese court on Thursday […]
On Monday, the ICC will begin proceedings in its first trial ever – Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo will stand trial for using child soldiers during the Congo's civil war. (As TRIAL notes, Lubanga's group, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), is also accused of massacring civilians). The legal documents filed before in the case […]
Earlier this month Human Rights Watch's (HRW) released their 19th annual World Report, the report summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. The 2009 HRW report highlights the extensive and investigative work which the HRW staff, and human rights activists in the field, undertook in 2008. 2008 marked the 60th […]
"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." – Seneca (Roman philosopher, mid-1st century AD) As we embark on a new year and a new administration, I felt this quote was truly fitting for the week. Let us embark on new beginnings domestically and internationally, but let us not forget the past, both good […]
You are probably familiar with the advice given to President Obama from U.S. leaders, critics, pundits and even comics, but are you familiar with the advice he has received from other world leaders? The magazine Foreign Policy recently invited an assortment of international leaders to offer their advice to the new president. Some of the […]
New International Agency – AFP (via Yahoo) had this to say the other day: Germany hails creation of global climate-change agency. More than 100 countries are to be represented in Bonn next week for the founding conference of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Here’s how the new agency describes itself: “Mandated by governments worldwide, […]
I came across this photo expose, The American Teen, which I found tremendously enthralling and wanted to share it with you. In the 22 photos photojournalist Robin Bowman, manages to not only capture the diversity of the American teen, but also the complexity of the generation. From drugs to god, pregnancy to chastity pledges, rural […]
Today has been a very busy day for foreign policy at the Obama White House. President Obama is making plans to shut the Guantanamo and CIA prisons, the new Secretary of State has arrived at the State Department, and a new Mideast envoy has been appointed. Here is a quick roundup of the day's headlines: […]
Remember Drill, Baby, Drill? Well, it’s going to be more about actual good public policy based on sound science in the brave new world of the Obama administration. From “The Economist” comes Blessed are the geeks, for they shall inherit the Earth. I’ve touched on some of these folks at Obama’s Team and Obama’s Team, […]
U.S. President Barack Obama will sign a series of Executive Orders Thursday ordering the closure of the military facility at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba within a year. At issue is the fate of the detainees held there. Obama Wednesday in his first full day in office ordered a 120-day halt to military […]
As the inauguration of President Obama fades into history I thought it would be interesting to parse out references to foreign policy in the inaugural address (text, video). Although the speech was short on specifics, President Obama did set a tone suggesting a willingness to engage the world, to lead collaboratively, and contained the requisite […]
The White House website already has a page on the “New Energy for America” plan. They’re on it! An article in this week’s edition of “EERE Network News” from DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, talks about President Obama’s inaugural address and its reference to renewables: how the US will “harness the sun […]