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  Fitch Ratings published a report this week analyzing the fiscal deterioration taking place in 21 countries in what it calls “Emerging Europe,” which includes three sizable economies — “rising” power Russia’s nearly $1.7 trillion economy, struggling Turkey’s $745 billion economy, and Poland’s nothing-to-sneeze-at $525 billion economy. Like much of the rest of the world, Emerging Europe juiced its […]

1) Iraq’s security forces must be depoliticized, and the Sons of Iraq must be better integrated into the national defense, writes former Mayor of Tel Afar Najim Abed Al-Jabouri. 2) Russia’s abstinence-based strategy on HIV is failing miserably. 3) Cutting down rows of olive trees won’t help the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. 4) If we’re so […]

Why are we trying to secure the ‘large population centers’ in a country that is overwhelmingly rural? Unless we’re now defining population centers as “villages with a few thousand people”, a population centric strategy focused on urban centers, in a rural country is, well, not going to work. Victor Sebestyen, in today’s New York Times, […]

This is “Upgrade Your Electric” week for the Obama Administration.  First, the President announced a $3.4 billion upgrade for the US electric power grid. Then yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the State Department had decided to help Pakistan upgrade its electricity to prevent the frequent outages. These electricity problems, according to the […]

“The race to become the first president of the European Union intensified on Tuesday, when Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg’s veteran prime minister, put himself forward as a potential rival to Tony Blair, the former British premier,” begins an article in the Financial Times. The race to be the first president of Europe is heating up with […]

Steve Yetiv writes in the Christian Science Monitor that “bolstering America makes far more sense for world security in the 21st century than hoping for its decline or undermining it.” From the Middle East to Asia and from terrorism to nuclear proliferation to international economics, the United States helps keep the world safe and prosperous. […]

Is child obesity abuse? That is the question that has been raised by many over the past few years.  As the issue plagues teachers, care providers and doctors as the rates of childhood obesity increase. According to the American Obesity Association, obesity among children and teens is beginning to reach epidemic levels, as some 30% […]

The U.S. often takes on the role of defending basic freedoms in the world at large. One of the better examples of this is our championing of religious liberty abroad and one of the primary tools we have used to do that is the annual publication of the report on International Religious Freedom by the […]

Considering that under his leadership, Fatah, the single most important political group in Palestinian history, has been reduced to a total joke, the peace process non-existent (to be fair, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu deserves a lot of credit on that front, as well), and corruption and cronyism as rife as ever … well, no, […]

The Wall Street Journal reports the Ethiopian appeal for massive amounts of foreign aid, as a severe drought in the country puts the East African nation on the border of a potentially drastic humanitarian crisis concerning low levels of food and water. Paul Lomas, Oxfam International’s regional director for East Africa, states that this is […]

I went to an interesting show a few weeks back at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, a division of the Smithsonian Institution.  Design for a Living World has been mounted with the Nature Conservancy.  It’s an in-depth look at how a number of designers are putting sustainable materials to excellent use in products like wool […]

The United States has done it has topped the list, were number one…but this is one list and ranking we don’t want to go dancing in the streets about. Shockingly to many the US is the cheerless leader of deaths related to child abuse and neglect. Five children die each day in this country as […]