FPB roundup: Global Food Issues
January 17, 2011 1 min. read

Read recent posts from the Foreign Policy Blog network that also relate to food security issues. Yuppies to the Rescue from the Development Aid blog As Goes the Price of Corn from the Mexico blog Enjoy!

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Positive Feedback
January 17, 2011 3 min. read

As a phenomenon like the continuing production and growing stocks of greenhouse gases by our industrial societies intensifies, it creates a warming effect that thaws the cryosphere – that part of the planet that is frozen.  So, more melting gives more dark surfaces which leads to the earth absorbing more solar radiation which makes it […]

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Detention And Withdrawal
January 17, 2011 3 min. read

I hope all my readers enjoyed the holidays and are enjoying the new year.  Much has happened in my absence.  For one, I came across two discussions/debates that are related in a way that people rarely acknowledge.  The first one, from Lawfare, is about the legality of long-term detention of enemy combatants.  Benjamin Wittes, in […]

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Keeping Neutral
January 16, 2011 3 min. read

We’re in that lull after the holiday season where gyms are crowded, but the days still feel short and cold (up north at least). Most everyone probably had an experience where two relatives were arguing about the best way to stuff a turkey, or who should have to sit next to Aunt Marge at the […]

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Food price frustration in Tunisia
January 15, 2011 2 min. read

FPB blogger Sarah Repucci wrote recently about the frustration over which drove “…a single jobless youth set himself ablaze as a statement…” to protest against corruption and “the regime’s self-enrichment.”  Soon after, protests against the government of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali picked up in intensity until the president ended his 23-year reign and fled […]

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Corruption takes down another leader
January 15, 2011 3 min. read

This week, the president of Tunisia, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, fled the country amid massive demonstrations against his administration’s authoritarianism and corruption. It was a success for those who believe that corruption should not be tolerated and corrupt officials should be driven from power. While the protests began after a single jobless youth set himself […]

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Questions Remain About U.S. Commitment to International Human Rights Standards at Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal
January 15, 2011 3 min. read

Stephen Rapp, the U.S. Ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, declared this week in Bangladesh that “(p)re-charging detention is not automatically a violation of international standards.” This statement could be taken innocuously – as arguably true; or it could be taken as an implicit nod of approval by the U.S. for the illegal detention and torture […]

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The Battle to Fight Childhood Smoking in Indonesia
January 14, 2011 3 min. read

The battle against smoking in Indonesia continues to rage on.  The extreme nature of the problem was first brought to international attention when in May of last year a video of a two-year-old from the western Indonesian island of Sumatra, astonished global viewers as it went viral.  The video of the toddler chain-smoking has been […]

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Obama Visit Cheers Tucson
January 14, 2011 4 min. read

President Obama visited Tucson last night to attend a memorial service for those killed and injured in Saturday’s shooting rampage. I hope you will forgive the departure from our usual “U.S. Role in the World” focus as I note this decidedly domestic event. As a resident and native of Tucson it’s a subject that I […]

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Australian floods could strain food prices
January 13, 2011 2 min. read

Incessant flooding in Australia’s northeastern state of Queensland is battering the area and could take a toll on global food prices.  According to the Associated Press: “Queensland…has been devastated by weeks of pounding rains and overflowing rivers. Eighteen people have died since late November and about 200,000 have been affected by the floods…Queensland officials have […]

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EPA Stops Mountaintop Removal at Spruce Mine
January 13, 2011 2 min. read

Invoking a rarely used feature of the Clean Water Act that allows EPA to bar actions that would cause “unacceptable adverse effects” to the environment, water quality, or water supplies, the agency halted a major mountaintop removal mining project.  The EPA release quotes EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Peter S. Silva:  “The proposed Spruce No. […]

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Overview of the Pentagon's Proposed Budget Cuts
January 13, 2011 3 min. read

Testifying before Congress last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the Department’s intent to reduce defense spending by $78 billion in addition to the forthcoming $100 billion in spending cuts over the next five years through new efficiencies. Tamir Eschel of Defense Update provides an overview of the proposed reductions: Bowing under budget […]

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