The past few days have seen a number of press reports, issued by both Arab and Israeli media outlets, commenting on Hezbollah's military buildup and Israel's corresponding concern. While the replenishment and expansion of Hezbollah's artillery rocket arsenal has repeatedly been cited since the end of the 2006 conflict, perhaps the most important recent development […]
The American Academy of Diplomacy, in partnership with the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) held a panel discussion back in April at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs in Minneapolis to discuss “diplomatic engagement with non-governmental organizations and civil society to promote effective democratic governance.” The event's featured […]
President Bush has departed for Asia on a trip that will allow him to visit American allies en route to the Olympics in China. Although I alway assumed that President Bush would attend the opening ceremonies, I was not surprised that there were early calls for Bush to boycott the event. The U.S. relationship with […]
First, the Times of London is reporting that the United Kingdom cut a deal with radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which resulted in British forces sitting out the critical battle for Basra last year. The Times reports that the attack has caused some friction between the US and the UK and dented Britain's relationship on the […]
Transatlantic media coverage immediately after of the collapse of the World Trade Organization's Doha Round of trade talks in Geneva July 29 provided a wide range of different perspectives on the same story. Commentators blamed the failure variously on the United States, India, or China, or a combination of some or all of them, with […]
Prosecutors Tuesday raised the possibility of declaring a mistrial for the first war crimes trail at Guantanamo Bay for Salim Hamdan, the personal driver for al-Qaida chief, Osama bin Laden, a report said. The disagreement came in distinguishing war crimes from regular crimes. Hamdan faces conspiracy charges for ferrying two surface-to-air missiles in the trunk […]
Lesbians “are a small minority” “who don't adhere to the prevails of nature.” These are the remarks made by a Committee member on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). CEDAW is an independent body of experts tasked to implement the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. […]
This week, 1-7 August 2008, is World Breastfeeding Week In conjunction with the Olympics next August, WBW 2008 calls for greater support for mothers in achieving the gold standard of infant feeding: breastfeeding exclusively for six months, and providing appropriate complementary foods with continued breastfeeding for up to two years or beyond. As every country […]
Prosecutors for the U.S. government Monday tried to paint Yemeni Salim Hamdan, the former driver for Osama bin Laden, as an enabler for the head of al-Qaida, a report said. His defense team, however, – as well as those who knew him, including alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammad, – said Hamdan was a […]
New to the blogroll is one of my favorite internet resources, The Atlantic Community. Here's what they have to say about themselves: Atlantic-community.org is a project conducted by the Atlantische Initiative, a non-profit, non-partisan organization based in Berlin. The Atlantische Initiative was founded in 2004 in order to promote transatlantic cooperation and strengthen Germany's foreign […]
I'm bullish on algae. I've written about it here, here and here since April. According to Valcent, you get 18 gallons of biofuel from one acre of corn per year, 700 to 800 gallons per acre per year from palm, but up to 20,000 gallons from algae , and that's in an open-pond system. It's […]
Last week, the Economist published two articles about religious conversion and the right of people around the world to follow their own religious path. One article, The Moment of Truth, questions whether the liberal understanding of religion, which puts emphasis on the right to change one's belief, is actually widespread or perhaps an exception in […]
In April in the post, Girls In Yemen Forced to Marry Too Young, an introduction to the abuses committed against girls who are forced into marriage too early, including highlighting the hindrance that child marriage is placing on the country's development. According to a recent study by Sana University, researchers found the average age of […]
The Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Information Center (PIC) today featured a report and photos detailing weapons allegedly confiscated by Hamas-allied police in Gaza. The weapons, displayed during a press conference, were allegedly confiscated by police as part of security measures initiated last weekend. According to the PIC report, a police explosives expert stated that some of the […]