The man describing himself as the chief of operations for former Liberian President Charles Taylor, Joseph Marzah, or "Zigzag," told the United Nations-backed Special Court for the Sierra Leone that Taylor encouraged his fighters to "play with human blood." Marzah told the court about roving bands of death squads terrorizing the civilian population at checkpoints […]
America is many things, as are Americans, and our culture is as diverse as they come and when one thinks of America and our modern culture one of the things that pops into your mind is inevitably fast food. We are all touched by the reach of the fast food industry. While for some of […]
John Bolton, former Bush-appointed Ambassador to the United Nations, recently authored a book, titled Surrender Is Not An Option. The American Enterprise Institute, the conservative think tank in Washington, DC at which Bolton is a scholar, describes the book: “With no-holds-barred candor, the straight-talking former ambassador to the United Nations takes readers behind the scenes at the U.N. and […]
UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations held a conference yesterday discussing US foreign policy and rogue states. Reviewing the list of accomplished conference speakers, I, and I'm sure my co-blogger would agree, wished the event was held in DC (yes, I see no need to hide my east coast bias). One of the speakers, Dan […]
War crimes trial of former top Croatian generals begins at U.N. tribunal 11 March 2008 , The trial of three former senior Croatian generals accused of murdering, persecuting and displacing ethnic Serbs during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s got under way at a United Nations war crimes tribunal today. Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and […]
Despite international rumors and reports in the last month China's controversial one-child-per-couple law will remain in effect for at least the next decade, government officials said Monday. The Chinese governments statement ended weeks of speculation regarding the abandonment of the program to pave the way for more babies despite the largely aging population. Zhang Weiqing, […]
There's a nice series of comments in today's Guardian from farmers in Costa Rica, Kenya, and Mali praising Fairtrade, and identifying it as a positive force in their lives.
Global philanthropy is about the positive impact that people in one place can have on the lives of others around the world. Unfortunately, it's just as easy – probably easier – to have a negative impact on the rest of the world. This weekend the Guardian published several articles discussing the impact of British cocaine […]
Solar Thermal , One of the pleasures of teaching a class on climate change is that students come up with some interesting, stimulating things. In papers recently submitted on renewables, and in following up with a little web surfing, I've come across some further information worth sharing here. I've also been reading a new book, […]
In this month's Esquire magazine, Thomas Barnett fawns over Admiral Fallon, Commander of Central Command (CENTCOM). He laughably calls Fallon "The Man Between War and Peace." Fallon is not between anything. As commander of CENTCOM he is currently waging two wars and will unhesitatingly start another one if he feels it is necessary. It's ironic […]
Tonight I had the privilege of attending a special screening of the documentary film Traffic, which is part of the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) campaign. MTV EXIT, which is produced by the 2003 established MTV Europe Foundation, was designed to raise awareness and increase prevention of human trafficking among the MTV demographic. […]
War crimes trial of Croat General Gotovina to begin AMSTERDAM, March 9 (Reuters) – Former Croatian General Ante Gotovina goes on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Tuesday charged with responsibility for the murder and mistreatment of Serbs in Croatia's Krajina region in 1995. Gotovina, who is accused with two […]
The current issue of American Interest has a fascinating article lauding China's "smart policy" compared to the United States. The author, Kishore Mahbubani, is dean of the National University of Singapore. Mahbubani's article predominantly deals with China, however I have teased out several indictments on US actions, as interpreted by a foreign observer. Concerning the […]
A new report from the Washington, DC-based think tanks the Center for International Policy, the Latin America Working Group Education Fund, and the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) examines the gradual shift of foreign policy decision-making away from the State Department toward the Defense Department. Cleverly titled “Ready, Aim, Foreign Policy,” it can be […]