In May I was invited to be an observer at the Scenarios Initiative of the Center for Global Affairs (CGA) at NYU. The focus of the session I attended was Turkey’s possible futures over the next decade. It is a fascinating and useful process, described on its website in the following way: The NYU Center […]
1. Ethiopia’s Election Results and the Myths of African Politics, by MG Zimeta in the latest edition of The Atlantic 2. 50 Years of African Independence: the Music of West Africa in Robert Nolan’s excellent FPA blog, Music and Global Affairs 3. US food aid policies create 561 jobs in Kansas, risk millions of lives […]
_______________________________________________________________________________ Federal Times.com has a story this week about USAID’s moves to do more of their work in house instead of farming it out to contractors. The U.S. Agency for International Development plans to bring in-house more work related to program design and monitoring and evaluation, Administrator Rajiv Shah said May 5. Shah made the […]
Ben Wildavsky, Senior Fellow in Research and Policy at the Kauffman Foundation and a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution, recently published an interesting book – The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities are Reshaping the World. The book details just how globalization is making for better universities around the world and a competition among […]
Last week I wrote broadly about the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and how it has caused an ugly collision of private companies, politicians, regulators and lobbyists. One week later, as the oil gushes on, little has improved both in the water and in Washington. To date, over 6 million gallons of […]
Last Monday, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon named Costa Rica’s Christiana Figueres to be the organization’s top official on climate change. The appointment comes after the resignation of UN climate chief Yvo de Boer, last February, considered to be a severe blow to the UN and ongoing climate negotiations. Figueres will succeed Yvo de […]
The Center for a New American Security has released a report by Kristin Lord of CNAS and Marc Lynch of George Washington University. “America’s Extended Hand: Assessing the Obama Administration’s Global Engagement Strategy,” is well worth a thorough read. The executive summary includes: The purpose of this report is to assess rather than recommend […]
As someone who follows global climate issues for a living, the past month has been a whirlwind of incremental progress, speculation and literal explosions. Following the daily – make that hourly – ticker has been valuable in understanding the current climate position of the U.S. and the direction things are heading in 2010. The Issues […]
I am interested in how the issue of nuclear non-proliferation is addressed with a variety of audiences and, to what extent, this existential discussion is driven by non-governmental organizations. The following are a few selected links (many more are available) that highlight how this most global of matters is being engaged: 1. The Nuclear Threat […]
The role of U.S. films in cultural diplomacy is not new, nor is the distribution of American films around the globe. But those phenomena bear a reexamination every once in a while. In this case, it is through the movie Shrek,a worldwide blockbuster (with various sequels and spin-offs). That big green ogre has something to […]
While many of us are looking towards the sea, wondering how the oil mess will get cleaned up, I thought I’d direct reader attention up from sad waters. James Fallows at the Atlantic has been adding to a useful series on his blog (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3) regarding the ever-improving air quality in […]
Last week I served on the national selection panel for the Boren Fellowships of the National Security Education Program (NSEP). The fellowships are for graduate students (in rare cases for recent undergrads). NSEP also runs a scholarship program for undergrads (I know less about this). Both are administered by the Institute for International Education. Information […]
Yesterday I participated in a conference on Turkish foreign policy held at the State University of New York’s Levin Institute for International Relations and Commerce in New York City. The event was co-sponsored by SUNY’s Office of International Programs (the office that also operates the innovative and wildly successful dual diploma program between SUNY and […]
The photo above was taken in a U.S. Senate hearing room on April 21, 1970. It shows (left to right), Senator Edmund Muskie (D-ME) and Senator William Proxmire (D-WI) talking with Maryland Governor Marvin Mandel, during a hearing on water pollution. Muskie and Proxmire each became known for their work on pollution regulation. Head over […]
Loosely defined, a climate shock is a deviation from typical regional climate conditions that often results in unfavorable conditions. From floods, droughts and cyclones to hurricanes and tsunamis, these episodes affect livelihoods in many ways. They wipe out crops, reduce opportunities for employment, ratchet up food prices and destroy property. For wealthy households shocks can […]