I’d like to take a minute to turn from our usual focus on foreign policy and diplomacy to take a look at science and technology. The U.S. has a proud history of being a world leader in technological innovation. This website, for example, provides a list of U.S. Nobel Prize winners, as of 2008, and […]
Patricia Kushlis at WhirledView has an excellent post on the end of the Global War on Terror(John Brennan, Obama’s top White House advisor for Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism, who formally declared America’s Global War on Terror over at a CSIS event) and what global engagement means as a concept and a policy in practice. I couldn’t […]
As you know, the U.S. has refused to recognize the independence of Abkhazia and has made statements officially supporting the territorial integrity of Georgia after last year’s war with Russia. The news that Russia will be building up a military presence there is sure to prompt an American reaction. According to this report in The […]
The UACES: Exchanging ideas on Europe blog has an excellent post by Michael Siebert of the German Embassy in London (this came to my attention through John Brown’s blog on public diplomacy – a must read for anyone interested in PD). John quotes this part of Siebert’s post: “As a member of the Political Department of […]
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy The video above from MSNBC notes the surge of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and gives a quick update on the state of the war there. The U.S. Army is encouraging debate on the war in Afghanistan and in this blog post they note […]
President Obama is in Mexico today attending what’s been called the “Three Amigos” Summit. The mainstream media is billing this summit as a chance for Obama to meet with his Mexican and Canadian counterparts to discuss trade, migration, swine flu, energy, the environment and joint efforts to counter rising drug violence. For a nice overview […]
Last Friday the New York Times ran an editorial offering ideas on how to begin serious reforms in New York State government, particularly the New York State Legislature. Leadership challenges in the state senate paralyzed the operations of government at a difficult time in the state’s economic situation (many of the states in the US are suffering in this downturn […]
Universities can – and often do – play an important role in advancing the cause of international development (and public diplomacy). One program that works very well is USAID’swork with the organization Higher Education for Development (HED). HED uses USAID funds to create partnerships between US and overseas universities. These partnerships are focused on specific development […]
The Washington Post ran an article yesterday about how the continued lack of a USAID Administrator is making it difficult to define the role development in the new administration, especially as Congress looks to reform the agency and Hillary Clinton is beginning her Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review. What is making this post so difficult […]
Patricia Kushlis at WhirledView has an excellent review of William P. Kiehl’s How Colleges Can Create International Communities. I won’t repeat the points made about the book (but make sure to read the review). But I would add that while it is heartening to see that educational and cultural affairs have been mentioned by both President Obama (especially […]
USAID Reviews Role of For-Profit Contractors Earlier this year the US Agency for International Development (USAID) began an internal review of its longstanding practice of using for-profit consulting firms that sub-contract to non-profit organizations working with USAID (thereby skirting the regulation that does not allow for-profit contractors). USAID awards about $4 billion every year in federal […]
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy Former President Bill Clinton’s trip to North Korea has provided a foreign policy spectacle that has everyone talking. Of course, it wasn’t supposed to be about foreign policy, it was billed as a strictly humanitarian mission to gain the release of the two […]
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran formally begins his second term this week after “winning” his disputed election. The June 12th election and the aftermath, which saw thousands of protesters take to the streets of Tehran, has complicated U.S. plans to forge a new engagement with Iran. This report in The New York Times notes the […]
“Uncle” seems almost condesending — I don’t mean it so. Walter Cronkite was more than an avuncular presence in American homes. He was a serious newsman at a time when TV news was being invented and we were all a bit in awe of the new medium and its ability to broadcast images as well […]
This AP wire report notes that Secretary of State Clinton has returned to the national stage with a major foreign policy speech after a long absence recovering from her fractured elbow. I thought the report was interesting because it notes her absence from Obama’s recent trip to Russia, Europe and Africa and speculates about her […]