We were in St. Martin for vacation. The southern part is Dutch and the northern part is French. The whole island uses desalinated water, so I've been thinking about that some more. Here's a succinct piece from "Scientific American" on desalination: Why don't we get our drinking water from the ocean by taking the salt […]
Nine years after the Jordanian government broke off its ties with Hamas, the independent Jordanian AmmonNews agency reported on Sunday that the evolving regional situation, and the kingdom's desire to ease tensions with the Muslim Brotherhood , are pushing the Hashemite regime to normalize relations with the Palestinian group. However, the article states that this […]
As Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announces he will punish Georgia, reports from the war-torn country suggest that Russia may not be fully withdrawing. Both France – the current president of the European Union – and the United States cautioned Russia to abide by the terms of the ceasefire. Meanwhile, the Manchester Guardian notes that Georgia's […]
Future historians may look back on the Georgian Crisis and define the attack on South Ossetia by Georgia as the proximate cause of the conflict while finding that several factors, including oil, ethnicity, nationalism, and alliances were the ultimate causes of the conflict. In Cracks in the Foundation: NATO's New Troubles, Cato Institute Research Fellow […]
Here are some items to begin to pick up some of the slack from the past two weeks. We've been away , and there's some interesting stuff to say about that in a day or two. For now, here are some morsels, I hope, for your delectation. More Renewable Stories , I wrote last week […]
BAGHDAD, Aug. 18 (UPI) — An Iraqi court resumed session Monday in the case against former Iraqi Deputy Premier Tariq Aziz for the execution of several merchants in 1992. Aziz, a Christian, and seven other defendants face war crimes charges in an Iraqi court for ordering the execution of several businessmen who had protested rising […]
Rwanda has cast a long shadow over France. Within that darkness lurks a web of lies and deceit. If justice prevails then French ministers and military officers will stand trial at the International Criminal Court. On Tuesday morning, August 5th, the Mucyo commission publicly released a 337-page report accusing France of complicity and participation in […]
On Sunday, a suicide bombing in Baghdad killed Faruq al-Obaida, Deputy leader of the Awakening Council of Adamiya. In total, at least 15 were killed and almost 30 wounded. Awakening Councils, locally organized and US-financed militias, are largely credited with the reduction of Sunni-affiliated violence around Baghdad. It is not surprising that these organizations are […]
I’m one of the many who can not get enough of the Olympic games this summer – the medals, the upsets, the drama – and am happy to see that philanthropy isn't being forgotten. The joint IOC (International Olympic Committee) and UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) “Giving is Winning” initiative is only 574 donations away […]
On Saturday, Obama and McCain made their first joint appearance as presumptive nominees at a "Civil Forum". The candidates were speaking before the Saddleback Church in California. NPR has reported news of the event and said that the church has a membership of "22,000 evangelical voters." The pastor of the church and interviewer on Saturday […]
The sacrifice that some children make at such young age is hard for most to imagine, but across the world many young people sacrifice their education and future to support that of their families. War, natural disasters and poverty have left many families and children seeing little options for survival and prosperity, causing many to […]
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/Z39tD1wK6wA” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] What James Longley has attempted in "Iraq in Fragments" is to provide a documentary without narration. He tries to let his subjects tell their stories in a way that is both revealing and intimate. However, on the whole, the film fails to illuminate for the audience what is happening […]
After a few months of observing the global phenomenon that is Obamania, I thought I would put forth a few theories on why Senator Barack Obama is so strongly favored as the next US President by people living outside the US. First, a note on why people outside the US care about the US election […]
This post collects sage advice for US policy toward the Middle East: one aspect of US foreign policy that could really use a jump-start. First, a new analysis by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Middle East Scholars Marina Ottoway and Mohammed Herzallah assess the diplomatic efforts of Arab regimes seeking to fill the power vacuum left by the absence […]