The Center for U.S. Global Engagement, a Washington-based group that seeks to strengthen America's commitment to global engagement, has launched a new web-based talk show about global issues called “The Global Wire.” So far the show has hosted Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and former Secretary of State Madeleine […]
From all the media coverage of the current U.S. presidential election, it seems that the "liberal" or "progressive" voice has once again entered U.S. politics. According to a recent Q&A at the Pew Forum, "the religious left" is more active. John Green, the Senior Fellow in Religion and American Politics, provides clear definitions of the religious […]
The independent Kuwaiti Al-Seyassah daily featured a report by the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) covering an address given by Iraq's Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahrastani in parliament this Saturday. According to the report, al-Shahrastani revealed that negotiations are underway between Iraq and its neighbors, Iran and Kuwait, towards reaching an understanding on shared oil […]
This week Save the Children UK released the report, Someone that matters: The Quality of Care in Childcare in Institutions in Indonesia, the report showed that financial pressures in Indonesia are driving more families to give up their children. The report, which was launched in joint effort with the UN children's agency UNICEF and the […]
KSM (who has confessed) and his codefendants had a preliminary hearing Thursday. The Washington Post notes that, far from a secret undertaking in a dark room, it was attended by two dozen members of the international press, some of whom blogged about the proceedings. Aside from rejecting appointed counsel, KSM weighed in on same-sex marriage […]
Next week my nephew Nathaniel graduates from High School. He was born the year I graduated from High School. But more momentous than the fact that I’m getting really old! is that he was the first member of my immediate family who wasn't born in Guyana, our “Caribbean” homeland at the tip of South America. […]
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://jp.youtube.com/v/JDiI0OMlpiE” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Kim Ghattas, the BBC's US correspondent, recently reported on global views of the presidential candidates, though before Obama's recent leap across the primary finish line. But the reporting is still relevant. Ghattas underscores that anticipation for a change in administration on the part of the global public has already caused attitudes toward the […]
In Europe, the performing arts are generally funded by public subsidies and most people believe that support of the arts is a government obligation. It is the opposite in the United States. American cultural institutions are primarily funded by individual donors, foundations, and private enterprise. The New York Times reported this week on differing perceptions […]
The continental European media swelled with excitement as Democratic presidential hopeful, Barack Obama, clinched the nomination. Here are some of the headlines: ‘Elections US – Le message Barack Obama’ – ‘U.S. Elections – the message of Barack Obama’, France-Soir (France) "Barack Obama premier Noir à pouvoir etre élu président' , "Barack Obama first black with […]
-Friedrich Nietzsche, The Twilight of the Idols (1899) Millions of children are forced to grow-up in a conflict ridden nations, children from Afghanistan, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Occupied Palestinian Territory/Israel, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda, to Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Colombia, […]
As expected, the climate change bill died in the Senate because of an inability to invoke cloture. See this from the AP. You didn't have to be a seer to predict this. See my item on this under "Melange" from May 3 below. Don't worry, though. We'll get this done in 2009. Early.
BofA Leader Wants Government to Help , Ken Lewis, the CEO of the Bank of America, ranked 12 in the Fortune 500 and with about $1.3 trillion in assets, had a terrific op-ed in the "FT" today. In it he notes the critical importance of government's role in "working to build a new economic future […]
On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates forced Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley and Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne to resign and appointed a former secretary of defense to devise new ways to better guard nuclear weapons. To justify this extraordinary move, Gates has pointed to a Pentagon report chronicling […]
The conditions of life in the Sahrawi refugee camps is far from easy. Isolated in a desert in south-western Algeria, many of the refugees have spent their entire lives dependent on international aid. But a recent article in the International Herald Tribune quoting former Sahrawi refugees now residing in the Moroccan controlled Western Sahara are […]
AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee is an organization that lobbies to promote and secure greater U.S. support for Israel and a stronger U.S.-Israel relationship. This past week, AIPAC held its Policy Conference 2008. All three of the U.S. presidential candidates spoke at the conference, as well as prominent speakers such as Secretary of State […]