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This documentary shows the lives of three young Colombians living in a hillside suburb of Medellin called La Sierra. This film follows Edison, Cielo and Jesus. Edison is a lothario who leads a paramilitary gang who has six children from six different women. Cielo is a teenaged widow whose boyfriend is a jailed paramilitary member […]

According to a new report by the Fairtrade Foundation, farmers in the developing world have come under intense strain amid skyrocketing prices for food, fuel and fertiliser.  The report, which includes interviews with farmers’ groups in Uganda, Malawi, Nicaragua, India, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean, claims that houshold budgets for many farmers in these areas […]

You’ve been hearing me whoop and holler here about the activities of the new Administration and the new Congress.  (Fear not:  You’ll continue to have more of this from me.)  But there’s going to be some other visible and important action on The Hill next week – on Monday, March 2, in fact. Capitol Climate […]

Five weeks since taking office, President Barack Obama’s policies towards rising powers remain somewhat unclear. The new face of the United States can be seen in Obama’s campaign promises, his rhetoric and initial actions, the makeup of his foreign policy and national security teams, his Cabinet members’ confirmation hearings, Vice President Biden’s speech in Munich […]

The only surviving attacker from the Mumbai attack last November was charged in Indian court today. Ajmal Kasab faces more than 11,000 pages of criminal charges. 35 other Pakistani nationals were charged with conspiring to support the attacks; according to the Hindustan Times, they include two officers in the Pakistani army and three top-level leaders […]

President Obama, in his first address before a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress outlined the vision and policy priorities for his Administration. Prominently outlined as part of that vision for a 21st century America was a finely calibrated connection between the economic prosperity of the nation, and maintaining the U.S. position as the dominant […]

The Great Decisions 2009 article on the “Global Food Crisis” identifies U.S. agricultural subsidies as an example of a divisive issue between developed countries and developing countries, particularly as they try to negotiate a fair, free trade system. The U.S. government provides subsidies, or payments, to farmers or agribusinesses (often large-scale, corporate farms) for their […]

Ravaged by war, displaced, and thrown into “refugee camps” in Northern Uganda, women and girls are having to struggle for basic rights. Eighty percent of women in Uganda engage in agriculture and yet only 8 percent own land. Land disputes have threatened the resettlement of thousands of former IDPs. Many IDPs are leaving the camps […]

http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/18/depression-financial-crisis-capitalism-opinions-columnists_recession_stimulus.html Nouriel Roubini writing recently in Forbes magazine argues that the the current global financial crisis lays bare the failure and weaknesses of western-style capitalism, or the ‘Laissez-Faire’ paradigm. Traditionally, only emerging markets suffered severe economic shocks from such crises — and still suffer — from such problems. However, as current conditions are indicating, such […]

Are you a young person looking to give your voice to speak out against sexual exploitation? What would you say? Would you say something if you were given one minute to speak out about the sexual exploitation of children? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then please see the theoneminutesJr., a UNICEF […]

In a presidential address (text, video) to both houses of Congress, President Obama tonight sought to reassure the American public and the world at large that the financial crisis was being dealt with efficiently and comprehensively. I was not surprised that the address barely touched on foreign policy, after all, the focus was meant to […]

As we wait for the last verdicts from the domestic court in Sierra Leone, Reuters reports that the Charles Taylor trial is in financial jeopardy. Money quote: The U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, which is pursuing those held most responsible for atrocities during the country’s 1991-2002 civil war, faces a budget shortfall of more […]