MEM in Paris , The two-day Major Economies Meetings (MEM), talks among major carbon emitting nations, took place last week. The economies of these 16 countries account for around four-fifths of global output of greenhouse gases. The meetings aim to put these countries into some sort of unified trajectory as the world heads toward coming […]
Earth Day is this coming Tuesday, April 22. There's an awful lot going on all over the world. Dating myself, I can tell you that my buddy, Donald, and I went to the first Earth Day in 1970 when we were teenagers. He claims it was primarily to meet girls. My rejoinder is "That's natural." […]
"Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me… Anything can happen, child. Anything can be." – Shel Silverstein Photo: Danny Wilcox Frazier “Dreaming”, Conesville, Iowa. Dream child dream…dream big, dream loud, dream proud…never, ever stop […]
Prosecutors for the U.S. government amended the charges against Khalid Sheik Mohommed and five other suspects linked to the Sept. 11 attacks. Senior Pentagon officials announced the amended charges “clarified” the activities of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, including KSM, in planning the attacks. They U.S. says KSM and his co-conspirators, including Ramzi bin Alshid “did, […]
We may be witnessing the most unusual overseas public affairs climate for the United States in the modern era. One the one hand, public opinion regarding the United States is as low as at any time since the beginning of modern polling. On the other, there appears to be an unprecedented level of international interest […]
Just as the brand new US Embassy in Iraq has finally been cleared to open for business, bad news from HR. “The State Department is warning U.S. diplomats they may be forced to serve in Iraq next year and says it will soon start identifying prime candidates for jobs at the Baghdad embassy and outlying […]
… plus c’est la meme chose. Well, much to probably nobody's surprise, the present President of the United States has once again distinguished himself by being just about the only top political leader in the industrialized democracies who doesn't subscribe to the belief that climate change is upon us, will overwhelm us if we don't […]
There's a good, if somewhat long, article in the New York Times today about the fall of Australian rice production due to drought, and the effects that has had on world food prices. This is turning into an increasingly scary problem, and every major news outlet has covered examples of the scariness like the Haiti […]
The incoming chief war crimes prosecutor for the United Nations, Serge Brammertz, said Thursday Serbia could do a lot better with its cooperation with the Hague, specifically in bringing war crimes suspects before the court. “I particularly insisted on the search for and arrest of the remaining fugitives,” he said. “It is crucial that they […]
Earlier this month in a recent op-ed for the Washington post, Council on Foreign Affairs writer Michael J. Gerson asked, “What does rule of law can mean for women and children in Africa?” His answer, Justice for the Poorest . is what the International Justice Mission (IJM) hopes and works for. 'the founder of IJM, […]
Last week American Abroad Media the American University, and WAMU (the Washington, DC NPR radio affiliate) arranged a match-up between the three US Presidential campaigns’ foreign policy advisors. Up for debate: The United States’ standing in the world. More specifically, how would each advisor's boss raise the US image out of the doldrums if he […]
For women in northern Uganda, family planning services elusive, even impossible. Getting access to contraceptives and other family planning services can be difficult for most African women, but in war-torn northern Uganda it is nearly impossible, IPS reports. Women face widespread sexual abuse in this region long haunted by brutal rebel forces, and in the […]
Last week the Guardian ran an opinion piece by Julie Bindel on the use of female nudity to raise money for charities and causes. I have to admit that I hadn't noticed this trend, but Bindel provides enough examples to demonstrate that it does indeed exist. It seems to me that she describes two fundamentally […]
Energy Boost is the title of the article from yesterday in the "Washington Post." The Senate has agreed to " extend solar and wind energy tax breaks as part of a housing bill that is likely to win approval in the House." This article keys in on some businesses that are happy about the tax […]
Carla Del Ponte, the former chief prosecutor at the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, says in her new book that ethnic Serbs were taken from their homes and swifted to Albania to harvest and sell their organs. Among the allegations are testimony from the book's co-author, Chuck Sudetic, that evidence found in one […]