"The Counterfeiters" has characters who have to answer tough questions. They are Jews who have been set aside in a Nazi concentration camp for their skill in forging currency. The Germans are looking to create enough false pounds and dollars to sink the economies of Britain and the United States. Because of their usefulness to […]
Many people believe that U.S. foreign policy is dictated by Israel. A good counterexample to offer such people is the recent revelation by The New York Times that Israel requested U.S. support in bombing Iran's suspected nuclear sites. According to the report, President Bush vetoed this plan and offered only limited intelligence sharing: President Bush […]
Late last year, I helped a Western-based non-profit organization prepare a grant for an international development project in Ethiopia. At that time, there was mention that the Ethiopian government would soon be passing a law that restricts international agencies from working on certain interventions within the country – including human rights, equality, conflict resolution and the rights […]
Dan has two good posts addressing some of the legal criticism of the Israeli incursion into Gaza. There's been a vigorous debate on the incursion across the wonderful new array of Foreign Policy blogs; David Rothkopf summarizes his dispute with Steven Walt here. Christian Brose has a compelling piece here, too. While the writers don't […]
Vaclav Klaus – The Czech President had an op-ed this past week in the “Financial Times” that grabbed some attention, more so because the Czech Republic has just assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union. I have written recently about the extraordinary leadership of the EU on energy and climate, for instance here and […]
With Hamas and Israel ignoring international calls for a cease-fire, the top human rights official with the United Nations called for an investigation into war crimes in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli military pushed deeper into the Hama-held Gaza Strip Sunday in the 16th day of assaults on the tiny Palestinian enclave. Khaled Meshaal, the […]
Over the past month, there have been countless articles about the astounding fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff. Specifically, there have been several pieces about financial fraud and how schemes may target members of a particular religious community (in this case the Jewish community, and the multi-million dollar losses to American Jewish groups). The first article […]
“Pretty much all the honest truth-telling there is in the world is done by children.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes, American physician, poet, writer, humorist and professor at Harvard, 1809-1894 They say 'the truth will set you free’, yet so often as we grow in to adulthood we forget the simple and all encompassing power of […]
I think my son was disappointed at what he got this year. After opening his gifts, he started throwing shoes at me.” -David Letterman, December 29th By now it should be obvious: President Bush's final visit to Iraq, planned in secrecy for dramatic impact, will be remembered for the startling gesture of disrespect invented by […]
The new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Henry Waxman, has reconfigured the committee. (See Le roi est mort. Vive le roi., among other posts, on the critical importance of Waxman replacing John Dingell as chair of the full committee.) Very significantly, the Subcommittees on Energy and Air Quality and Environment and Hazardous […]
In the latest developments in the latest Mideast conflict, Israel rejected the U.N. cease-fire proposal as unworkable as more Palestinian missiles continued to fall on Israel. The U.S. has adopted its traditional role of supporting close ally Israel, laid the blame for the conflict squarely on Hamas, and worked for an equitable ceasefire that would […]
We’ve all heard of snow days, but snow school? For the children of Leipzig Germany's Wood Kindergarten, everyday is a snow day. The Wood Kindergarten is all outdoors and regardless of the temperature, even if below zero, school carries on. In a day and age where too many children have to be forced outdoors to […]
The David Citadel Hotel stands in Jerusalem's Old City. Inside, a large room is reserved for a trilateral meeting between secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. A breakthrough, promised by Rice to end the six-year Palestinian Israeli deadlock is overshadowed by Israeli bulldozers ploughing away at the al-Aqsa […]
I enviously read about all of the fantastic jewelry Condoleezza Rice received from Arab governments in the past year. The gifts are worth at least $316 million‚ and that's with the U.S. foreign policy being wildly unpopular. According to the Associated Press: In January, Jordan's King Abdullah II gave Rice an emerald and diamond necklace, […]
Palestinian human rights officials suggested the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank may file formal war crimes charges against Israel in international court for activity in the Hamas-held Gaza Strip. Israeli forces launched their twelfth day of assaults on the tiny enclave on the border with Egypt. Hamas, the militant leadership of the Gaza Strip, […]