In time for its annual meeting last month, the World Economic Forum released the fifth edition of its Global Risks Report (full report here). Each year, the report outlines some of the current issues dominating the global risks landscape and the appropriate measures required to address these risks. If the 2010 report is distinguished from […]
The U.S. is continuing to work with allies to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis. According to this report, President Obama is close to achieving consensus for a new round of sanctions: US President Barack Obama warned Iran on Tuesday that he would isolate the Islamic republic with a “significant regime of sanctions” if it continued […]
This batch of links is dedicated to my friends in Washington D.C., who are home from work, staring out their windows in awe of mass precipitation. To ease your Snowmaggedon boredom, some light reading: 1. If the climate accord works, will the climate notice? Maybe. But success depends on what countries do after 2020. 2. […]
Sometimes, it can be good to hear from the naysayers. I remember during the presidential campaign many FP bloggers noted the incredible world-wide hope and enthusiasm that greeted the Obama candidacy. It was hoped that Obama would transform the U.S. role in the world. It’s time to revisit that topic. In this opinion piece, Professor […]
Global Engagement as a concept and component of foreign policy can often seem like inside baseball, a potentially wonky set of topics reserved for inside-the-Beltway Washington types whose jobs its is to formulate and implement foreign policy. But is should not be so limited in its scope – and it cannot if it is going […]
After the U.S. made a heroic effort to help the people of Haiti recover from their recent major earthquake, events on the ground have taken an odd turn. Even after millions of dollars in aid money was donated by American citizens, corporations and the federal government, and direct on-the-ground help from private U.S. aid groups […]
The U.S. is working with allies to increase pressure on Iran leading up to a possible imposition of new sanctions over the issue of Iran’s nuclear enrichment program. This news-wire report from Reuters notes that the U.S. is in the preliminary stages of drafting a new sanctions resolution: France and the United States have both […]
Days after saying in his State of the Union speech that he does not quit, President Obama has proposed a budget that will end the U.S. manned space exploration program. The ambitious vision for space exploration proposed by President Bush (commonly called the “Moon, Mars & Beyond” program and officially called the Constellation Program), would […]
One of the more surprising elements of Obama’s first State of the Union address was the way in which he addressed clean energy initiatives: “To create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. […]
A committee of the Kenyan Parliament has agreed to do away with the position of prime minister as part of a reform of its constitution. The position of prime minister was created in 2008 as a way to allow for power sharing in bring an end to the bloody confrontations that followed Kenya’s national elections […]
By now you have probably watched or read President Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress last night and you’ve read the reports and analysis (CNN, Washington Post, New York Times) of the speech. As expected, the speech was heavy on domestic issues and light on foreign policy. President Obama hit all the appropriate […]
The other day The Wall Street Journal ran a good summary of China’s conflict with Google. It looks like we’re in for another international war of words but, this time, it won’t be a classic Cold War confrontation over political-military issues, but rather a war of words over words — censorship, to be precise. China’s […]
President Obama will deliver his first State of the Union address to Congress tonight. As this report in the Washington Post notes, it is expected that domestic issues will dominate the speech. I’m fairly certain that some foreign policy issues will mentioned, but probably not as many as I would like. From a U.S. role […]
This month, I made a donation to an interesting organization that is helping with the disaster in Haiti. We Care Solar is a U.S.-based non-profit that helps hospitals in developing regions by providing health workers with reliable lighting, blood bank refrigeration and mobile communication using solar electricity. The organization was founded by Dr. Laura Stachel, […]
The U.S. is defending freedom on the internet. Amid allegations of cyberattacks on an American company, Secretary of State Clinton gave a speech encouraging China to respect the free flow of information on the net: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy The full text can be found here and […]