A paragraph in an otherwise fine post from Chris Blattman, “Africa’s Coming Disaster,” rubbed me the wrong way. In the post, Blattman argues that “the next decade could be remembered as the one derailed by the drug trade.” Ok. Fair enough. Africa’s porous borders, loads of corruption among the various people tasked with policing those […]
To preface today’s post, I’ll be honest…there haven’t been a lot of “glass-is-half-full” stories coming out of Iraq, recently. Between the political impasse, and the precipitous rise in sectarian violence, it seems like forever since there’s been a plain-old feel good story to put the focus back on the good and decent Iraqi people who […]
Middle East leaders held two meetings this week that exemplify recent foreign policy crises and personality clashes between Israel and its allies, along with internal disputes. Israel has been embroiled in, what is turning into, a years-long dispute with Turkey. Since the ascension of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the […]
Brazil farmers get green light to cut more forest. Sort of…
A belated happy birthday to Nelson Mandela. Madiba and all of South Africa celebrated his 92nd birthday on Sunday.
On economic policy, the smart money is on Brazil’s 2011 government to spend and regulate the same — or more — but surely not less.
India and Pakistan held another round of diplomatic exchanges last week when India’s Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna visited Pakistan and held meetings with his Pakistani counterpart, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The bilateral talks were a continuation of the recently resumed dialogue process between the two countries. The meeting was not expected to throw up any […]
Although there are hopeful signs that coalition talks between Iraq’s two major Shi’a blocs, the question of leadership remains squarely focused on Prime Minister’s Nouri al Maliki’s incumbency…
I don’t know what to make of the decision by the World Diamond Council, and the United Nations-backed Kimberley Process to allow Zimbabwe to export limited diamond sales from its Marange fields where the regime has been accused of gross human rights violations. On the one hand, continuation of the diamond market ban would further […]
Next week, 31 prefabricated modules will be delivered to Resolute, Canada as construction begins on the Polar Continental Shelf Project. The federal government announced plans to build the new research facilities in January 2009. A news release stated, “The multi-task building includes a state of the art laboratory, complete kitchen, dining room, living room and […]
Imagine a piece published in the New York Times that tries to tackle the epidemic of tax evasion in Bangladesh. Imagine that in the first few paragraphs, the piece rushes to describe the sights and smells that stand behind and in front of that seemingly intractable epidemic : “Much of Bangladesh’s capital city looks like […]
Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations and former Bush administration national security leader, has come out with a sobering critique of the current war in Afghanistan. Off the bat, he discusses how the war has changed from one of necessity to know one of choice. Here’s Haass: The war being waged by […]
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