Marjorie Cohn, a legal critic of the Bush administration, testified before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties House Judiciary Committee Tuesday on the justification of the use of harsh interrogation tactics by intelligence officers. Cohn points to the U.S. War Crimes Act of 1991 that makes the use of torture or […]
Perhaps you are from one of the countries that U.S. presidential candidate John McCain criticized yesterday in his Vision for Defending the Freedom and Dignity of the World's Vulnerable. Despite his Straight-Talking Express view of the world, Senator John McCain has this to say about the countless differences in today's world: "There is a tendency […]
General Ricardo Sanchez, the former commander of coalition forces in Iraq, has belittled the service of Bernard Kerik for failing to produce results while Kerik was the interim minister of interior of Iraq in 2003. In that position, Kerik was supposed to oversee the rebuilding of the National Police, the Intelligence Service and the […]
Rightfully there is a lot of attention going to the Burma cyclone tragedy, and the attempts to get aid to those in need. Personally I like this article from the BBC, which gives a good rundown of the specific risks and the political wrangling that surrounds the issue. At times like this it is helpful […]
The Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria is considering starting a loan program for countries that can afford it, but still need help buying HIV meds. I guess it makes sense in a way, but it is a pretty stark change from the traditional wisdom on foreign aid loans, isn't it? I thought […]
Over the past several days as we've seen the death and damage from the storm in Burma/Myanmar metastasize, there has been a greater-than-usual sense of impotency on the part of the international community in its inability to rise to the challenge. There is the extraordinary scale of the disaster, and the fact that so much […]
The AIDS pandemic effects not only those who sub-come to the deadly disease, but to both their families and communities. Villages have been stripped of generations, families have fallen apart, and children have been orphaned in extraordinary numbers. The long reaching effects of HIV/AIDS cannot be ignored, and nor can the children for which it […]
Charles Le Gai Eaton wrote in the introduction to his book, Islam and the Destiny of Man (1985), "Religion is a different matter." This blog's working premise is that the forces of religion influence to a great degree world politics and international debates on critical issues like terrorism and human rights. Even if a country […]
Lisa Mullins of Public Radio International's “The World” program spoke with Mohamad Manzarpour of the BBC's Persian Service on Iran's move to suspend talks about Iraq's regional security. Toward the end of the conversation Mullins asks Manzarpour about the Iranian public's reaction to Senator Clinton's recent remarks about what she would do as President if Iran […]
This October, Georgetown University Press will publish a new “manual” on the Foreign Service titled Career Diplomacy. Authored by former Foreign Service Officer Harry Kopp and the recently-passed Charles “Tony” Gillespie, a former Ambassador to Colombia and Chile, the book serves as an A to Z guide on the Foreign Service and US diplomacy. Here's some […]
Do the mass media form or reflect public opinion? Specialists in these matters always answer "both," but in this election year it's critical to know which predominates. Take the Rev. Wright "issue." In the seven weeks since March 18th, when ABC-TV unveiled footage of Wright's most notorious quotes, the media have incessantly declaimed on behalf […]
Here's an eye-catching quote: "I believe the age of fossil fuels is coming to end – and that the age of clean energy will follow." That's what Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce last week. See this from the AP. Massachusetts is home, as you probably know, to the […]
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