When one in the US thinks of sex trafficking and exploitation, they tend to think of girls from lands with mostly unpronounceable names. Images of Russian "Natasha's", young Thai girls, girls on the streets of India, etc., however those images are not the only picture one must see in order to see the harsh reality […]
In something that resembled more of a rock concert than your traditional Hezbollah rally, the party's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah made a rare in-person appearance on stage this evening at a ceremony celebrating the return of Hezbollah's prisoners exchanged for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. Nasrallah has typically appeared live to his audience televised […]
A quick follow-up to my last post to note that the U.S. appears to be inching toward a new engagement with Iran. According to this New York Times report (U.S. Envoy to Join Meeting With Iranian): President Bush has authorized the most significant American diplomatic contact with Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, […]
Whether American or British journalism is “better” is a complex and probably unanswerable question that would require many thousands of words to address exhaustively. Gideon Rachman, chief foreign affairs writer of the Financial Times has a crack at it in a 900-word column July 15 (“American journalism, still a model”), and doesn't much like the […]
Perhaps this is no more than proof of the old adage that journalism is a career for young people, who necessarily have less in their memory banks than their elders. In a dispatch July 16 (“Crises force Bush to embrace intervention“), the Financial Times quoted the following words as told to the Washington newspaper Politico […]
Just released from Agence France Presse: “Defense Secretary Robert Gates called for greater funding for U.S. diplomacy and foreign development aid July 15, acknowledging concerns about a “creeping militarization” of U.S. foreign policy. “Broadly speaking, when it comes to America's engagement with the rest of the world, it is important that the military is – […]
From a July 2008 Foreign Policy Magazine web exclusive interview with Karim Sadjadpour is an associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: FP: What do Iranians think about the U.S. presidential election and John McCain versus Barack Obama? KS: There's far more intrigue about Obama than about McCain. Apart from the fact that he […]
It is rather incomprehensible that the New Yorker actually intended to insult Muslim Americans , despite showing the Obamas as flag-burning militants in the White House. The fact that the cover of the July 21, 2008 issue of the magazine has offended Barack Obama and countless Americans may speak precisely to what the New Yorker's cover […]
Last week, the Polish government raised the ante to allow the US to place its missile defense shield in their country. Why all of a sudden would Poland renege on hosting the shield at the last minute when talks have been going on for years? Were they successfully pressured by Russia? And is the same […]
Should we talk to Iran? The U.S. has not had diplomatic relations with Iran since the Hostage Crisis of 1979 (holding the diplomatic staff hostage is generally not conducive to good relations) and the U.S. has used intermediaries ever since rather than risk sending personnel to a country where citizens still routinely gather to chant […]
As you no doubt know by now, transportation accounts for about 13% of worldwide GHG. Figure SPM.3. (a) Global annual emissions of anthropogenic GHGs from 1970 to 2004.5(b) Share of different anthropogenic GHGs in total emissions in 2004 in terms of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2-eq). (c) Share of different sectors in total anthropogenic GHG emissions […]
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Al-Jazeera.net is conducting an interesting survey. In light of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates’ recent decision to name ambassadors to Iraq, the network's website is asking for feedback from its viewers on the issue. While sending ambassadors to a fellow Arab nation may not seem controversial at first, the questions being asked in the […]
The New York Times reported today that a resurgent Taliban is staging new and daring attacks in Afghanistan (9 Americans Die in Afghan Attack): This year of the Afghanistan war is already proving to be the deadliest since the American-led invasion. Bush administration officials are now considering a redeployment of troops to Afghanistan from […]
Thanks to Steven Corman for his insightful response to my recent post about Undersecretary Glassman's remarks about the “War of Ideas” (WoI). He made some very good points. But I am disheartened by the argument that there is no way to changes people's attitudes about the US unless we change our policies. Changing our policies is no doubt the way […]