A recent article in the Wall Street Journal looks at how the American workplace accommodates religious differences. Phred Dvorak specifically addresses events in Colorado and Nebraska last month when meatpacking plants "fired about 200 Muslim Somali workers who walked off the job over prayer disputes." Dvorak writes that the United States is seeing is a […]
Paul Krugman, New York Times columnist and recent Nobel laureate, rightly pointed to the reemergence of Keynesianism in an article praising British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for his response to the current financial crisis (the partial renationalization of banks), contrasting it to the hesitant decision making process in the United States: It's hard to avoid […]
Because guys just can't be bothered. Just kidding! Sort of. U.S. women didn't get the right to vote until 1920 and for a long time trailed male voters in participation rates. Well, ladies, times have changed, and the men need our help. According to Newsweek: Over the last 40 years, some 16 million men‚ a […]
NPR's “All Things Considered” program ran a segment on Indonesian opinion of Barack Obama this week. Obama attended grade school in Jakarta, so one would expect Indonesia to be a bit of a”blue state.” (Obama's third-grade classroom at Public School No. 1. — Michael Sullivan/NPR) Here's what NPR reports: “Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim-majority […]
An Iranian judicial official announced Thursday that Iran will move to ban execution of juveniles. Over 130 juveniles are currently awaiting execution in Iran. Iran's Prosecuting General said their death sentences will be commuted to life behind bars. The announcement came a day after 300 non-governmental organizations from 82 countries urged the UN General Assembly […]
"Poverty is the worst form of violence." – Mahatma Gandhi Poverty is the worst form of violence, and it is the most common form of violence which is committed daily against on quarter of the world's children. Over a billion people across the globe live on less than a dollar a day, placing them in […]
An article published in Foreign Policy magazine this week discusses the Foreign Service's newly reformulated examination process for new hires. First, here's something I didn't know: “In a 2007 survey, American undergraduates rated the State Department the fourth-most desirable employer in the country, just behind the private-sector dream team of Google, Disney, and Apple. (The […]
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty , was established in 1993, by UN resolution 47/196, when the United Nations General Assembly designated October 17th to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries. Particular interest and attention on this day is however focused on developing countries, as the day […]
This has been a dramatic week, we’ve had major financial shocks amid a boisterous presidential campaign, so I thought I’d close the week by returning to one of the traditional themes of the U.S. role in the world, that of welcome new home for immigrants. This video from NBC News highlights the future of legal […]
The rising of fuel and food across the globe has left few unscathed and one can easily find themselves feeling the hit at both the pump and in the checkout line, enough to cause one to curtail their spending. Unemployment rates have spiked all time highs and worldwide everyone is tightening their belts. With many […]
The Sudanese government is set to begin its own Darfur trials, without Colonel Al-Bashir as a defendant. International fugitive Ali Kushayb, however, reportedly will be tried. Meanwhile, Colonel Al-Bashir is holding an international peace conference on Darfur without the participation of Darfuris. It is not clear what al-Bashir hopes the conference will accomplish.
There are approximately 700,000 to 800,000 Christians in Iraq, and in recent weeks, the violence against this religious community has intensified. Some reports say that "it is the work of Al Qaeda." However, a senior Iraqi Interior Ministry official has said, "there are no indications that Al Qaeda is involved in forcing Christians to flee." […]
The final presidential debate is now history and it proved to be remarkably free of foreign policy questions. Initial commentary seems to suggest that the overwhelming winner of the debate was Joe The Plumber. I’d like to repeat my practice of parsing the debate transcript, devoting comment sections for the candidates responses to the foreign […]
“Welcome to Sierra Leone, one of the world's worst places to live.” Not really the slogan you want to read on a travel brochure, but what happens when you have no choice and that place is your home? According to the 2008 Global Hunger Index (GHI), which was released on the 14th, showed Sierra Leone, […]
October 15th is the first annual UN Global Handwashing Day, set in conjunction with 2008 being the UN International Year of Sanitation, the day is set to both echo and reinforce the UN's call for improved hygiene practices across the globe. The goal of the week of activities is to encourage people, especially children, to […]