Democrats appear to be having the time of their lives at the 2008 National Convention. Obama's surprise appearance after Biden's speech brought even more enthusiasm to the crowd and television viewers. In the world of religion and politics, it has been fascinating to see that every speech references God and no politician can close a […]
Some 854 million people around the globe do not have enough to eat, according to the FAO State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006 report. The dilemma on who to save has hit many hard, but as the article, In a time of famine, who should be saved?, illustrates the issue is not just […]
Hezbollah's Al-Intiqad newspaper asserts that there are fears over the group's alleged increased naval capacity. The article cites a report issued by the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies back in April 2007 entitled, “Obsolete Weapons, Unconventional Tactics, and Martyrdom Zeal: How Iran Would Apply its Asymmetric Naval Warfare Doctrine in a Future […]
It seems like each new day brings a new development in the Georgian crisis. Today President Bush reacted to Russia recognizing the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia (The Associated Press – Bush slams Russian recognition of breakaway areas): In an escalating war of words, President Bush on Tuesday urged Russia to reconsider its […]
Britain's homegrown terror crisis has taken on a new dimension in previous days. Five men have been arrested in central England over a terrorist-plot to assassinate Prime Minister Gordon Brown and former PM Tony Blair. The organization, al-Qaeda in Britain, made the threats on a popular jihadist website in January and has been under surveillance […]
The IPCC says “Post-consumer waste is a small contributor to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (<5%) with total emissions of approximately 1,300 Mt carbon dioxide-eq in 2005. The largest source is landfill methane ” Still, that’s a lot of GHG. (See the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Working Group III Report “Mitigation of Climate Change” – Chapter […]
One rarely thinks that Eenie, meenie, minie, mo is a game to be played when looking at the global food crisis, let alone when staring into the eyes of malnourished children. Therefore when you're faced with immense amounts of people in need, but you can only help a few, who do you, choose to help? […]
Michelle Obama's comments last night at the Democratic National Convention focused on “values” – the values with which she was raised and the values she hopes to pass to her daughters. Amidst the comments on Hilary Clinton's 18-million-cracks-in-the-glass-ceiling, mention of the historical significance of the convention's timing (anniversaries of the 19th Amendment and MLK Jr's “I […]
As Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia the White House has decided to send Dick Cheney to Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, and Italy next week. I can't help wonder if it would be more productive to send him to Russia as well? It seems to me that some clear communication with Russia might […]
Human Rights Georgia is reporting Georgian IDPs housed in public schools in Tbilisi are not receiving adequate government attention. Emzar Karkusov, an IDP at one of the schools told Human Rights Georgia: "We applied to every institutions but nobody pays attention to us. We have not had food for three days already. They brought bread […]
On Saturday, Iran's Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Khamenei) met with the President and his cabinet members. Khamenei spoke about Ahmadinejad's administration with great admiration and defended the actions and policies of the current government. In the face of economic uncertainty in Iran , particularly concerning inflation , Ahmadinejad has lost a significant amount of popularity. Regardless, […]
Recommended Reading: I don't know how the New York Times does it, but it always makes the debate on evolution and creationism interesting. In case you missed this Sunday's paper, the article “A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash,” tells the story of a science teacher that faces the challenge of […]
Tuesday's edition of the Jordanian Al-Ghad newspaper alleges that serious differences that have arisen between Hamas and Cairo may threaten to undermine recent Egyptian efforts to bring warring Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, towards an internal compromise. An unnamed official states that Egypt is unhappy with Hamas's alleged attempt to tie talks over the captured […]
Almost immediately after Senator Barack Obama named his running mate veteran news media began delving into newly-named Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden's foreign policy outlook. There is a lot ot cover, thanks to his 36-year career in the Senate and his long-standing seat on the Senate Foreign Relations committee, which he currently chairs. First, an article in yesterday's New York Times: […]
With the aid of hindsight, we can now understand that the Russia-Georgia conflict over South Ossetia wasthe product of miscalculations and misperceptions on the part of both the Georgian and Russian leadership. But to many the conflict reveals much about the current state of international affairs, and provides a base from which the US can calculate its future foreign […]