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  I’d like to recommend the Strategic Security blog of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) to you as a resource for keeping up with national security issues, particularly arms control of proliferation issues. The successful signing of the missile defense deal with Poland this week means that this issue has now returned to the […]

“There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our young people , one of these is roots, the other is wings.” –Hodding Carter We seek to give our children everything we can, wanting them to have infinite possibilities and striving to see our children have all that we did not. However often […]

For anyone who has ever been to Abkhazia, the pot holed road from the Inguri Bride through the Gali region and up into Sukhum/i will be struck by the devastation of the 1992-1993/4 war*.  Buildings, houses, villas, remain in ruins. The Gali region, mostly inhabited by some 45,000 Georgian retournees will have to endure yet […]

Today's meeting between Syrian and Russian presidents Bashar al-Asad and Dmitri Medvedev in the Black Sea port of Sochi have some fearing that the old battle-lines of the cold war era are once again reemerging in the Middle East. Al-Jazeera's coverage touched upon the most potentially sensitive aspect of any reinvigorated partnership; the prospect of […]

While on vacation, we spent, not surprisingly, a ton of time in the water.  There were some perfectly lovely rock reefs right off the beach from where we were staying and that was a great way to get my daughter (7½) going on snorkeling. Here's the thing:  When John Muir started the Sierra Club in […]

Water is something we rarely think about; we get up in the morning and turn on our taps to brush our teeth, hop in a nice hot shower and pour ourselves a glass of ice water on a hot summers day, all without a thought about how clean it is or where it came from. […]

At least 60 people were killed north of Islamabad when two suicide bombers detonated explosives at Pakistan's largest weapons manufacturing facility. The attackers were on foot and struck during the work shift change to inflict maximum casualties. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack. “Our bombers carried out today's attack. It is in […]

The United States is now officially in the business of protecting Poland from missile attack (The Wall Street Journal – U.S.-Poland Deal on Missile Base Riles Russia): The U.S. signed a pledge to protect Poland as part of a missile-shield deal, cementing the former East bloc country's ties with Washington but thrusting it into the […]

Luis Moreno Ocampo, the chief prosecutor for the international court at The Hague, said Wednesday his office is assessing allegations of war crimes in Georgia. Ocampo met with Russian and Georgia officials to go over claims of attacks on non-combatants in the conflict over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. “My office considers carefully all […]

  The president of Pakistan has resigned and his departure threatens to throw Pakistan into political chaos (The New York Times – Pakistani Parties Clash Over Reinstating Judge): Political order in Pakistan frayed further on Tuesday, the day after President Pervez Musharraf resigned, raising questions about who in the deeply divided civilian government would be […]

Pregnancy and birth should be happy times for women and their families, however in many countries they are cause for grave concern as high levels of mortality follow both. While both maternal and infant mortality are easily preventable, there numbers remain at shocking highs in many countries around the world. In recent news some countries […]

Catching up on some reading, this Chronicle of Philanthropy article sparked my interest – and goes back to my musings on counterterrorism laws and the sector. “Donors who want to provide aid in areas of the world threatened by terrorism should consider forming partnerships with the U.S. government to distribute their money, a top federal […]