Frank Giustra, the mining executive who donated $131 million to the Clinton Foundation under shady circumstances, has issued a press release defending himself from what her sees as false reports. He addresses several factual errors, but doesn't really provide any evidence to support the claims. As I see it, his arguments fit into two broad […]
Last week the Heritage Foundation, the conservative, Washington-based think tank, held a discussion titled “Public Diplomacy: Reinvigorating America's Strategic Communications Policy.” The panel included presentations by Colleen Graffy, the State Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary (DAS) for Public Diplomacy (PD) for Europe and Eurasia, Michael Doran the Department of Defense's Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for […]
Today brought the news that Barack Obama had won the vote among registered overseas Democrats, beating Hillary Clinton 65% to 32%. Some 22,000 overseas Americans in 164 countries took part in the week-long vote. However, following the Democrats’ usual rules that award convention delegates proportionately, Obama was awarded only 2.5 delegates to Clinton's 2.0. Another […]
VIENNA, Austria (AP) ‚ A woman who was being investigated in Austria for allegedly beating an inmate to death while serving as a Nazi concentration camp guard has died, authorities said Thursday. She was 85. Erna Wallisch died in a hospital Saturday of unspecified causes, the Austrian Interior Ministry said. Because of her death, Austrian […]
Breaking news: U.S. Embassy broke into and set afire by Serbian protestors. Here's the brief from International Herald Tribune,”Serb rioters broke into the U.S. Embassy Thursday and set fire to an office after a massive protest against Kosovo's independence that drew an estimated 150,000 people. Masked attackers broke into the building, which has been closed […]
Three months ago, President Bush announced a lofty goal: Peace will be achieved and a two state solution will be at hand by the end of his term. This blog has urged President Bush and Secretary Rice to remain deeply engaged with negotiations. Three months later and it is clear that has not happened. More […]
Andrew Leonard, who blogs for Salon (free day pass required), commented yesterday on a new economics paper, “Does Digital Divide or Provide?: The Impact of Cell Phones on Grain Markets in Niger”. The article explains that increased access to cell phones in certain communities in Niger has had a powerful impact on grain prices. Giving […]
The US military has geographically divided up the world into six regional “commands.” Northern Command, which was created in the wake of the September 11 attacks, is based in NORAD in Colorado. European Command is based in Stuttgart, Germany, so it is right in the middle of its area of responsibility (AOR). Pacific Command has […]
Uganda is Africa's oldest conflict Since 1987, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has wreaked havoc on the people of northern Uganda, those bearing the brunt of this violence are children. Some 30,000 children have been abducted from their families and used as soldiers or sex slaves, while 12,000 civilians have been killed and 2 million […]
This video is funny, and funny foreign aid jokes don't come up very often. Just for that it would be worth posting. At risk of taking the joke too seriously, I would like to point out that the US government does not give foreign aid in the way described here (random amount of money sent […]
Over 300 Academics and policy-makers from all over the world gathered to attend the Brookings Institution-sponsored US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar on Monday. (Karen Hughes at the 2006 US-Islamic World Forum) Agence France Presse reported that many of the Muslim delegates in attendance said they hoped to see Obama win the Democratic nomination and become the next […]
The US Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the British Deptarment for International Development (DFID) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to increase their cooperation in Africa. The MOU specifically pertains to Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. I didn't check, but I’m willing to bet those are the only African countries where both the MCC […]
CSRwire is a site that covers pretty much everything to do with corporate social responsibility. It tends to take a pro-business slant on the issue, but also contains a lot of useful information. Interested in the CSR profile of Coke vs. Pepsi, CSRwire is a good place to start. They’ve just added a multimedia section […]
Tropical Forest Loss , Following on my last post (see below) about the destruction of hugely productive carbon sinks for conversion to cropland for the production of biofuel feedstocks, it is relevant to see the testimony from three very worthy leaders in the fight against rainforest loss. The House of Representatives' Select Committee on Energy […]
From UPI. Uganda and LRA close to cease-fire deal Published: Feb. 19, 2008 at 1:40 PM KAMPALA, Uganda, Feb. 19 (UPI) — Ugandan officials agreed to let domestic courts try alleged war criminals as part of negotiations for a final peace agreement with rebels, a report says. The Ugandan national newspaper, New Vision, said […]