Topics

This week, Google closed its internet search service in China. Whether its January pledge to do so was a threat or a promise might depend on whether you are a Chinese internet user or a global lover of internet freedom. Government accountability today is revolving more and more around internet freedom. So-called freedom of the […]

Fifty-nine countries pledged aid for Haiti during a conference held at the UN today to help the country rebuild itself after the devastating January earthquake.  The aid from these nations, as well as other international organizations, adds up to nearly $5.3 billion over the next two years, and totals upwards of $9.9 billion for three […]

The I.C.C. decided this week to allow the Office of the Prosecutor to move ahead in pursuing charges against Kenyan leaders. From the Office of the Prosecutor: The judges decided. There will be justice in Kenya. To contribute to the prevention of crimes during the next election we must proceed promptly. We will. There is […]

For the past three days I participated in USAID’s online dialogue about various international development topics.  Called “Global Pulse 2010, “ USAID has the following to say about it: …a 3-day, online collaboration event, that will bring together individual socially-engaged participants and organizations from around the world. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is […]

Two articles have been sitting on my desk for weeks now and I’ve spent a number of afternoons mulling over what to write about them.  The first Doing God’s Work from the Wall Street Journal takes another look at the success of Islamic finance funds and ask how well they are fairing & whether they […]

Monday, the four executives, three Chinese nationals and one Australian from Australian mining giant Rio Tinto (and so dubbed The Rio Four by Mineweb) , were convicted of bribery and stealing commercial secrets after a closed, two-day trial in Shanghai. Their sentences ranged from seven to fourteen years. One defendant has already said he will […]

The Haitian government will present a $4 billion plan for Haiti’s reconstruction to the delegates from 120 countries meeting at the UN for an international donor conference for Haiti meeting on Wednesday, March 31st. In the “Plan of Action” submitted by the government, some sections are dedicated to the problem of food insecurity, particularly in […]

by Jessica D’Itri Mu Sochua, 55, the most prominent woman in Cambodia’s Sam Rainsey opposition party is on the campaign trail three years in advance of the scheduled parliamentary elections. Sochua, a human rights and women’s rights activist, faces a tough and at times vicious campaign. The Prime Minister, Hun Sen, of the ruling Cambodian […]

As you know if you follow the blog at all, mountaintop removal mining is right up there with tar sands extraction at the top of my list of destructive, hateful businesses.  Al Gore calls it a “despicable practice” in Our Choice.  (This, by the way, is a truly terrific book.) Here is an article from […]

This is a charming film. Set at the beginning of the current war in Iraq, the movie follows the lives of Palestinians Muna and her teenage son, Fadi. The pair relocate to a small town in Illinois where they encounter obstacles to achieving their dreams. One theme that runs throughout the movie is the question […]

The Marines are onboard with this whole Social Networking thing, following along with guidelines from On High. From Wired’s Danger Room It’s a remarkable about-face. A Marine Corps order last summer described such sites as “a proven haven for malicious actors and content.” And it warned that adversaries were using SNS [social network sites] as an “attack […]

Bloomberg (home to belovedly hard-to-use finance info terminals, as well as actual news) notes that the Taliban systematically destroys the mobile phone infrastructure of the (shrinking?) chunks of Afghanistan they control. Why? Afghanistan, with 29 million people, had as many as 12 million cellular-service subscribers in December, according to the Afghan government. Fifty-two percent of the population […]