Topics

Michael Gerson, George W. Bush's former speechwriter, spent his twice-weekly Washington Post column this Friday offering advice to the next US President on the virtues of unilateralism. Gerson begins by tuning his argument to the conservative ear: “In their total war for the right to be dubbed the peace candidate Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack […]

Nice article in World Mag (Today's News, Christian Views) about work being done by Engineers Without Borders. As a case study it works well, but EWB also makes a very good argument for building local ownership of projects. Towards the end the article gets a little bit weird, as the author takes issue with EWB's […]

KPMG is a global network of auditors and business consultants operating in 145 countries.  According to the new Climate Changes Your Business report from them, six industries in particular have to watch out because they are not sufficiently aware of and ready to manage the risks of global warming.  The winners (or potential losers) are:  […]

Reading this AP article about a Credit Suisse banker who was arrested in Brazil for helping rich Brazilians escape their own taxes reminded me of a panel discussion I heard last year. The link has audio for all the speakers, and I particularly recommend Raymond Baker's presentation. Basically there are a hundreds of billions of […]

Talk of HIV/AIDS in South Africa is nothing new, nor is the scale at which it affects children in the country, where the epidemic is one of the worst in the world. According to the, 'the Demographic Impact of HIV/AIDS in South Africa – National and Provincial Indicators for 2006′ report,estimates that almost half of […]

Read this wire article on recent congressional testimony by Oxfam and try to determine what Oxfam is actually recommending that Congress do. It's tough. My guess is the author didn't understand what the testimony was saying. But the testimony is well worth a read. They got it right, but probably mixed terms in a confusing […]

The Washington, DC-based Brookings Institute and the University of Bern's Project on on Internal Displacement has released an interesting report focusing on how to fuse human rights with US foreign policy. The author is Roberta Cohen, who, among her impressive credentials in the field of human rights, was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Rights at […]

General Petraeus has been tapped to be the new commander of Central Command and his current deputy, Lt-Gen Ray Odierno will succeed him as Commanding General, Multi-National Force – Iraq. It's interesting to note that like most generals in the army, both men do not have combat experience as infantrymen.  When I was a soldier […]

Iran's Press TV reports “Chemical Ali” suffered a heart attack and was presumably returned to U.S. custody? Or am I reading into this.  Says he was returned to a U.S. detention facility, but reading between the lines would lead you to believe he was NOT in a U.S. detention facility when he had the heart […]

The Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF) concluded its 7th annual conference in Redwood City, California earlier this month, featuring the Archbishop Desmond Tutu and other leaders, activists, and social investors engaged in global causes. Participants examined how their philanthropic efforts can strategically address issues including trafficking, child soldiers, hunger, education, and violent conflict. Looking to the […]

I just finished watching a truly terrific Nova special, Car of the Future, with the thoroughly irrepressible Tom and Ray Magliozzi, known to their adoring public as Click and Clack from Car Talk, the NPR supershow.   Along with the laughs, you get a look at lightweight materials to revolutionize car manufacturing , the same materials […]

This blog previously discussed Iranian President Ahmedinejad's preferred US Presidential candidate. Now, while presidential elections are underway in Iran and in the US (albeit with an election day much further down the road), and while these countries’ governments clash on the international political stage, who do the Iranian public want to see in the Oval office come January? […]