Everyday across the globe 25,000 girls are married according to World Vision’s report, Before She’s Ready. Despite these shocking statistics the topic of child marriage has become somewhat taboo, to many it is nothingness than unimaginable, but this unspeakable practice while outdated is alive and well in many cultures across the globe. Why are childhood […]
There has been much discussion and grandiose speech-making on the Middle East this week. First Obama gave a “big” address on the Arab Spring, and he even touched on the Israel-Palestinian peace process too. Then Bibi Netanyahu arrived in town for meetings with Obama and to give a speech to a joint session of Congress […]
Last week I was in Armenia with the National Democratic Institute, helping women there build a policy platform they can use in both advocacy and election campaigns. Here is a link to a piece I wrote on this great conference: http://stepheniefoster.com/administrator/index.php?option=com_content§ionid=-1&task=edit&cid[]=261
This week the members of the G8 will hold their annual meeting in Deauville France, to discuss issues ranging from non-proliferation and counter-terrorism to the internet and transatlantic cocaine trafficking. Although these are all very important issues, the only agenda topic that matters is the ‘Arab Spring’ and how some of the eight wealthier nations […]
There is, of course, much commentary already on Obama’s Middle East speech. Here are some assorted thoughts from me. First, Obama stated unequivocal support for democracy, asserting that U.S. policy is to “support a set of universal rights” that includes “the right to choose your own leaders—whether you live in Baghdad or Damascus; Sanaa or […]
There’s a great blog on many things tech, including clean tech, called GigaOm, if you don’t know it. I dropped in for a comment the other day on the estimable Katie Fehrenbacher’s piece about the recent LinkedIn IPO and its impact on clean tech finance. She suggested that VC money would be migrating away from […]
What’s the best way to aid the hungry? Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology spend their time trying to answer this question, and they wrote about their findings, as well as the findings of other researchers, in the recent food issue of […]
When I first began in the field we like to call “Nukes and Spooks”, I was one of very few women in a sea of old white guys. (Sorry old white guys. We love ya, but there are just too many of you) I was a loud-mouthed, black clothes-wearing, not-so reformed goth girl from New […]
Nicholas Kristof’s recent op-ed in the New York Times highlighted Richard Holbrooke’s concern for the declining relationship between the US and Pakistan and, essentially, pronounced the need for America not to forsake Pakistan, as tumultuous as relations may be. Pakistan, without question, is grappling with a litany of issues: rampant poverty and natural disasters; protection of minorities […]
Paul Biya has been the President of Cameroon since 1982. He is being challenged this fall by Kah Walla, a dynamic woman who previously served as a city council member in Douala, Cameroon. Ms. Walla has been recognized by the World Bank as one of seven women entrepreneurs in Africa working on business environment reform and […]
Last week, Alberta’s Energy Minister Ron Liepert was in the US to promote his province’s energy sector. During breakfast at the Penn Club in Manhattan organized by the Canadian Consulate-General, he discussed a wide array of energy-related subjects. The message he had for US foreign policy was simply that Alberta (and by extension Canada as […]
How many allies does the U.S. have to turn away from before we have none left? I’m sure you are aware of the dominant narrative about the “Arab Spring” in which popular democracy movements sweep the Mideast free of dictators. It’s a compelling and dramatic narrative that offers hope for the region and finds the […]
Popular from Press
