Sometimes you have to do quite a bit of searching to find a good topic for an article. Sometimes the topic finds you. Since my blog is about democracy, I would be remiss if I did not mention the events that transpired on the evening of Sept. 11, 2012 in Libya. As are most, I […]
I’m saddened by the murder of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens, his colleague Sean Smith, and two other colleagues. It’s especially vexing that they should have been killed by Libyans after the role the U.S. played in liberating Libya from the dictator Moammar Gadhafi. Perhaps the Libyans weren’t thinking about that when they […]
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund, half of all African children do not have a birth certificate, which negatively affects the children both mentally and physically in their sense of safety and well-being. “Could you imagine a child not having an identity, not having an existence written down and so you’re born, you live your life, you die and […]
Yesterday, commenting on an op-ed piece by Bill Keller, I generally agreed with the Times‘s former executive editor regarding the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran and expressed satisfaction that the Israeli government seemed to be getting the U.S. message regarding a possible military strike. Barely was the digital ink figuratively drying on those words when […]
It is difficult to find words as the anniversary of 9/11 arrives again. The inclination is strong to sum-up, to summarize in some way the distance covered, as if distance somehow lends better perspective on the attacks of 9/11. Last year I wrote a blog post calling for reflection and renewal and I think that […]
Bill Keller of the New York Times had a column in the Monday paper addressing the question of whether, if we have to choose between attacking Iran militarily or getting used to the idea of Iran’s becoming a nuclear weapons state, we should gulp a few times and then just get used to a nuclear […]
Recently, researchers at the University of Cape Town (UCT) announced that they had developed a single-dose treatment for malaria. As National Geographic reports, the drug developed at UCT kills malaria parasites in animal test subjects “instantly,” including those that are drug-resistant—and with no adverse side effects. Clinical trials will begin in 2013. South Africa-based eNews has a little […]
If you would like to work for the State Department, you can now consider going to cooking school and then joining the American Chef Corps, launched on Friday. According to the Washington Post, …more than 80 chefs are being inducted into the first American Chef Corps. These food experts could help the State Department prepare […]
The world’s worst nuclear proliferator in the modern era is at it again, this time deigning to organize a political party in Pakistan. In an interview with Simon Henderson at Foreign Policy, Khan discusses his ambitions with the recent formation of the Movement for the Protection of Pakistan — or Tehreek Tahaffuze Pakistan (TTP) in […]
As August ended, the Scottish government unveiled plans for the world’s largest wind farm in the Moray Firth, in the country’s far northeast. The government plans to spend £4.5 billion to erect 339 wind turbines off shore which would generate 1,500 MW, about the same as a conventional power plant. This is part of the […]
A scandal roiling India’s multi-billion dollar coal industry has made its way into the country’s parliament. A recent report by the Comptroller and Auditor General accuses the government of giving out coal mining contracts to certain organizations using questionable accounting practices. By the report, India has lost out on $34 billion it should have collected […]
With August coming to a close here’s something short and inspiring to remind us that unconventional approaches make a difference. Skateboards and Afghanistan sound like an unlikely combination but reality is proving otherwise. Skateistan is an international non-profit charity providing skateboarding and educational programming in Afghanistan (as well as Cambodia and Pakistan). It was set […]
Clean Drinking Water: The Cure for Malnutrition? This week is World Water Week — which is timely, given the serious cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone and neighboring countries. The focus of this year’s conference is on food security, water scarcity, and their ties to food (and water) waste. As I’ve written before, up to 40 percent […]
Like many of you, I’m eager to see how the candidates and their supporters will discuss foreign policy at the Democratic Convention (DNC) and the Republican National Convention (RNC). Over the past month, as a result of Mitt Romney’s overseas campaign trip and Paul Ryan’s entry into the race, major news outlets and the blogosphere […]
Summer 2012 will be most likely be remembered for the London Olympics, the Republicans’ awkward, gaffe-prone run-up to the US presidential election and the situation in Syria. What also made Summer 2012 was the number of female-led stories the media picked up on and which got people talking. It feels like the floodgates opened…but for […]