(Photographed by Karin Esposito, 2004, Tehran) The organization Search for Common Ground (SFCG), on April 7, 2008, published the results of a second poll that it took of 710 Iranian adults , both in rural and urban areas. The first extensive survey it took of Iranian citizens was published in January 2007. SFCG has […]
Lyle Denniston has this summary of pending Supreme Court litigation dealing with the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process. In brief, the high Court will issue a decision in the next month – in the Boumediene and Al-Odah cases – which will address the CSRT's. In both, the court will be asked to determine whether Guantanamo […]
This year Saturday, May 10th marks World Fair Trade day, the theme of the year is “Fair Trade for the Planet, for the People”, which follows last years theme of “Kids Need Fair Trade”. For more information see the World Fair Trade Day 2008 Official Website. Fair Trade is everyones issue, it is more than […]
In March 2007, Europol published its first annual report on terrorism in the EU. The "EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report” is also known as TE-SAT. With respect to the subject matter of this blog, what useful information about supposedly "religiously motivated" terrorism can we find in the TE-SAT? "Islamist terrorists aim at mass casualties." […]
Save the Children has released it's 9th Mother's Day Report Card: The Best and Worst Countries to Be a Mother, this year's list leaves Sweden as the best place for motherhood and Niger as the worst. The United States Ranked 27th out of 146 countries. “A mother's well-being is connected to her children's well-being,” said […]
This report from the Center for Health and Gender Equity actually came out in April, but it just appeared in my Google Alerts today. The report argues that the US government – still one of the world's largest providers of condoms through foreign aid – should send more female condoms. They are currently 2% of […]
Many Muslims see Yemen as a sanctuary , a tranquil home of Islam that stays close to tradition. This positive image for the faithful persists despite the conflict that broke out in 2004 between the government and Shi'ite rebels. Young Muslims, who want to study Arabic and religion, in a more authentic environment, often take […]
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning Children are the light of the future, let us care for them today, so that we may see clearer in the future.
Afghanistan has yet to find a strategy to cope with the growing practice of “loan brides,” young girls traded into marriage as a result of the opium trade. While traffickers get rich by loaning money to impoverished poppy farmers, the families are often are unable to pay the debt. Families are thus forced to give […]
The Washington Post's job section ran a story this Sunday on tips for getting a job with the US Foreign Service. The author dispelled a few common myths about the FS. Here is an excerpt: “Myth: The Foreign Service — the nation's diplomatic corps — is made up exclusively of State Department staff. Fact: The biggest branch of […]
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/tnjKmpIlFn8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Senator Obama has inspired yet two other musical cultivations, both coming from the Caribbean. The Mighty Sparrow, a Caribbean-American of of Grenadian/Trinidadian origin known as the “Calypso King of the World,” composed a song praising Obama. In the song, titled “Barack the Magnificent,” Sparrow sings: "Barack! Barack! He is fighting for openness […]
Marjorie Cohn, a legal critic of the Bush administration, testified before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties House Judiciary Committee Tuesday on the justification of the use of harsh interrogation tactics by intelligence officers. Cohn points to the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1991 that makes the use of torture or […]
Perhaps you are from one of the countries that U.S. presidential candidate John McCain criticized yesterday in his Vision for Defending the Freedom and Dignity of the World's Vulnerable. Despite his Straight-Talking Express view of the world, Senator John McCain has this to say about the countless differences in today's world: "There is a tendency […]
General Ricardo Sanchez, the former commander of coalition forces in Iraq, has belittled the service of Bernard Kerik for failing to produce results while Kerik was the interim minister of interior of Iraq in 2003. In that position, Kerik was supposed to oversee the rebuilding of the National Police, the Intelligence Service and the […]
Rightfully there is a lot of attention going to the Burma cyclone tragedy, and the attempts to get aid to those in need. Personally I like this article from the BBC, which gives a good rundown of the specific risks and the political wrangling that surrounds the issue. At times like this it is helpful […]