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As we discuss growing multilateral alliances, and as we report on Russia’s declining economy and rising geopolitical ambitions, we also can continue to note Moscow’s attempts to forge partnerships to ensure its energy dominance whilst staving off more economic attrition.   Today, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.  The meeting […]

The State Department’s blog Dipnote is one of my favorite blogs and this week they highlighted U.S. efforts to combat Somali piracy. The U.S. helped organize and now actively participates in an international armada of ships that patrol the pirate infested waters off the coast of Somalia. This effort has been a model of multinational […]

The World Bank released a grim report on Russia’s economy. The Bank predicts a contraction of 4.5 percent this year and warns that the financial crisis could push nearly six million Russians into poverty. Despite worries (arguably small) of civil unrest due to unemployment, the public comments of Russia’s leaders still reflect assertive foreign policies. […]

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that Setton Farms of California, which grows pistachio nuts for Kraft Foods, Inc.,  has announced a recall of its crop from the previous year after finding salmonella contamination in tested batches.  There have been reported cases of illness related to the contamination which are being investigated.  However, […]

Following UN Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General Jacques Diouf’s appeal to G-20 leaders to discuss agricultural initiatives for alleviating the global food crisis while meeting in London this week, the Fairtrade Foundation has repeated that call and said a fresh approach to trade was greatly needed to address the issue. The group called on the […]

As the world’s leaders – representing over 85 percent of the global economy – gather in London, the international community waits to see if the G20 summit can achieve results and meet high expectations (arguably too high for a one-day event). Two weeks ago, Brazil, Russia, India and China issued a joint communiqué – the […]

The small African island nation of Seychelles  has been forced to make a tough choice to improve its food security.  The government announced that it will abandon a planned hotel project in order to preserve the land for growing food.  Seychelles imports a large amount of its food because it has a dearth of arable […]

Henry Waxman, the chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and Ed Markey, chair of the Energy and Environment subcommittee, have just released a “discussion draft” of a comprehensive clean energy and climate change bill.  The legislation is titled “The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.”  (Security is such a reassuring word, […]

The other night I spent the evening screening two documentaries on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which were focused on the extensive use of rape as a weapon of war in the countries long going conflict. The evening was centered around one of the DRC’s woman’s activists, Sylvie Maunga Mbanga, a trained lawyer, who […]

Newspapers in both the United States and Europe are considering seeking public support as their print editions struggle with plummeting revenues, rising costs and declining circulations. Closures and lay-offs have gone much farther in the United States than in Europe. But European journalists, aware that it may be their turn next, are sounding the alarm […]

President Obama announces his Af-Pak Initiative. Source: CNN Portrait of Prince Metternich Source: Wikipedia Keeping nuclear-armed Pakistan out of the hands of radicals should be a central goal of U.S. foreign policy.  Like a nuclear-armed Iran, control of the Pakistani government by believers in a radical ideology would be one of the worst scenarios for […]

The New York-based website Eurasianet.org, part of the Open Society Institute, issued 2 reports today on happenings in the Caucasus. First, Stephen Blank, a professor at the US Army War College, writes an article on Friday’s agreement in the form of a memorandum of understanding between Russia’s Gazprom (state controlled energy company) and the State […]