Russia’s opposition looks to bring protesting back to its roots
April 25, 2012 4 min. read

  It’s an interesting time to be in Russia. As democracy goes, the country seems to be going backwards and forwards at the same time. The holding of free and fair elections is widely considered one of the hallmarks of a stable democracy. Here Russia seems to be struggling. In March Vladimir Putin won a […]

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The Middle East: Hate and Courage
April 24, 2012 2 min. read

If you have not read Mona Eltahawy’s article, “Why Do They Hate Us?” published in the new edition of Foreign Policy – go do it now. Maybe the Aztec prophecy that the end of the world is nigh is encouraging people to speak up, maybe enough is simply enough; whatever the reason, this week sees […]

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Foreign Policy Reverberations of the Energy Renaissance
April 24, 2012 4 min. read

If the reality comes anywhere close to matching the hype, then the speeding of Russia’s national decline and the revival of America’s ideological authority will be among the transformative effects As an earlier post suggested, the dramatic rise in U.S. natural gas production is one large reason why fears about America’s strategic decline may well […]

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Hypocrisy Addendum: WaPo’s Pincus on Washington’s Damagingly Inconsistent Nonpro Positions
April 24, 2012 2 min. read
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I wrote yesterday about the ridiculous inconsistency of the Administration’s response first, to the DPRK’s failed launch and second, to the non-response to the Indian Agni V launch shortly thereafter. Well, it seems I’m not alone.  Enter Walter Pincus, Columnist for the Washington Post.  Writing yesterday in a piece entitled Washington Double-Talk on Nukes, Pincus […]

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Mali War Crimes to be Examined by the International Criminal Court
April 24, 2012 2 min. read
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  The Office of The Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court issued a statement today announcing that it is following developments in Mali after reports of possible crimes against humanity: Mali ratified the Rome Statute on 16 August 2000. Therefore, in accordance with Rome Statute provisions, the International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over possible war […]

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Pakistan and America – All the Same
April 24, 2012 5 min. read

image lifted from http://cdnnews.onepakistan.com Pakistan and the United States of America may seem like polar opposites, but when you push aside the semantics, you’ll find the same people everywhere: insecure, intolerant, injudicious and irrational. In Pakistan: The Domestic Violence Bill was first proposed in the Senate in 2009 and has since been lying dormant and the […]

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India’s Agni V Test: A Bang or a Whimper?
April 23, 2012 4 min. read
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  While the ruckus over the failed DPRK missile test cum-satellite launch continues to linger, another non-NPT country recently followed suit with its own test.  But this time, the uproar, well, didn’t happen.  Or at least, that’s what the media wish us to believe. Here is what the NYT reported after Thursday’s test: “The United States, […]

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The Signs Were Clear, They Had No Idea: The Future of U.S.-China-DPRK Relations
April 23, 2012 6 min. read

  Postage stamps commemorating the “successful” delivery into orbit of North Korea’s two satellites, Kwangmyongsong-1 (1998) and Kwangmyongsong-2 (2009) Nearly five months have passed since I last evaluated the situation in North Korea, making predictions and recommendations on how the United States should proceed with the nascent “Kim 3.0.” All those months ago, I argued […]

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Getting a Charge out of Driving
April 22, 2012 3 min. read

The inherent gross inefficiency of the internal combustion engine surpasses even that of conventional thermal power plants.  About 5% of the energy in the fuel actually moves a typical automobile.  Battery electric vehicles, fuel-cell electrics, plug-in hybrids and others that eschew ICE technology get much more bang for the buck.  California is proving this, as […]

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Chester A. Arthur, Communism, and Egypt’s Constitutional Court
April 22, 2012 4 min. read

Just as the blogosphere was starting to become familiar with the likely frontrunners in Egypt’s upcoming presidential race, the election commission disqualified three of the most most visible candidates, upholding this decision on Tuesday. The commission deemed candidates ineligible for various reasons: Salafist preacher Hazem Abu Ismail’s mother was an American citizen, Muslim Brotherhood financier Khairat al-Shater […]

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BRICS: The Next Big Global Health Funders?
April 21, 2012 6 min. read

A report released last month discussed the rising profile of BRICS countries–Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa–in health and development assistance and called upon the group to further their cooperation for better global health in the developing world.  “Shifting Paradigm: How the BRICS are Shaping Global Health and Development” (PDF), written by the NGO […]

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Smart Grid Video
April 20, 2012 1 min. read

Here’s just a quick hitter, bringing you a snappy, very well-informed, entertaining smart grid video from Accenture, the global consultancy.  

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