Foreign Policy In Focus, a progressive think tank based in Washington DC, published a useful article synthesizing the three US Presidential candidates positions on key foreign policy issues. The author is himself an advocate for a Presidential candidate that is engaged in foreign relations. Howard Salter is the Director of External Relations at Citizens for Global Solutions, a non-partisan think tank based […]
Nasser Ishtayeh Associated Press “The Way to School” A Palestinian schoolgirl walks carefully past an Israeli tank during clashes near her school in the West Bank town of Nablus, April 19, 2003. The right to education is all to often taken for granted, while we often complain about our child's curriculum and the lack […]
The FT reports that a large number of wealthy private philanthropists see the advantage in living like the world's poor for a week – and are willing to pay 8,000 pounds for the privledge (along with a course on how to be a better philanthropist). That's a lot of money, but the organizers say they […]
The war in Iraq has grown increasingly unpopular at home, and it continues to be unpopular abroad. [The BBC World Service broadcast a fantastic documentary about how the US-lead war in Iraq changed the world's mind on the US]. So what do the US Presidential candidates propose to do about it? Spencer Ackerman investigated this […]
Imagine your only a mere child and your parents are nothing more than a foggy memory, a distant voice on the phone! For hundreds of thousands of Romanian children this has become the norm as more and more parents flee the country in search of jobs abroad. The search of economic stability is nothing new, […]
If you’ve ever heard a State Department briefing, or briefing by any other foreign ministry, you probably don't think of foreign policy as an exercise in “straight talk.” Yet there was John McCain in Los Angeles the other day, driving his “Straight Talk Express” right down the middle of the road. The word “Bush” was […]
The political winds have shifted in Pakistan, which leaves the question: How will the dynamics of Pakistan's new political leaders play out with US policy goals in the region? This Economist article provides some good context to recent and coming events in Pakistan. The article points out that that Administration's key ally, Musharraf, faces a […]
Peacekeeping forces from the European Union raided the homes of family members of Radovan Karadzic, wanted for war crimes for his involvement in the 1995 massacre are Srebrenica. The whereabouts of Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic have been the point of much debate since the NATO intervention in Yugoslavia. Many international officials, including Carla del […]
Today's Wall Street Journal carries an interesting summary of how the world's regions seem to feel about Hillary, Obama and McCain. That Barack Obama would be popular in Africa, Indonesia and the Mideast is perhaps no surprise. But he also appears to be quite popular in Europe, where I’m writing from this week. On the […]
“Timoun se riches malere,” say Hatians: “Children are the riches of the poor.” (Skinner, pg.30) Spring has begun to fill the air, the trees have begun to blossom and the city is a buzz with renewed energy. However there is a darker side to everyday life for many, and tonight a light in the […]
I have been remiss, in the extreme, in my blogging. I'm going tomorrow to what should prove to be an exciting conference, State of the Planet 08, at the Earth Institute at Columbia University. I will report on that soon. In the meantime, here are a couple of tidbits to keep you fed, if not […]
The Financial Times published an op-ed by Anatol Lieven, a British academic (who sidelines as an American think-tank-er), titled “Why we should fear a McCain presidency.” In the piece, Lieven schools his British compatriots on the danger that “a natural incendiary” like Republican Presidential candidate John McCain poses to trans-Atlantic relations. Leiven explains: “The problem that Mr McCain poses stems […]
On February 17, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia. Although Kosovo acted without UN approval, it quickly gained the recognition of major Western powers, namely the United States and Europe's major powers, while Serbia, Russia, China and over a dozen other countries claimed the declaration was invalid. While Kosovo is now acting as an independent nation, challenges […]
I’m not British, but can I please work for the British Department for International Development? They’ve just announced that their international staff will be immersed for one week with poorer communities every time they reach a new posting. The idea is to give them a clearer perspective on who they are trying to help – […]
A coalition of local and international NGOs in Afghanistan have issued a negative report on the foreign aid effort so far. The two major complaints were that donors hadn't given as much as they promised ($15 billion has been obligated on $25 billion in promises) and that too much of the money has been spent […]