The Christian Science Monitor ran on op/ed by Ian Wilhelm last Friday. He contends that US-backed policies to control charitable giving in the Muslim world are making it more difficult for wealthy Muslims to donate money. Since 9/11 the US has been understandably concerned with Muslim charitable foundations – some of which are suspected to […]
This paper written for the UN Research Institute for Social Development reviews empirical studies on the effects of remittances in developing countries. The conclusion is that they have the potential to spark overall development, but that social policies and economic reforms are required to allow this potential to be realized. It sounds like common sense […]
Super Tuesday brought a wave a foreign commentary, most of it positive, on the U.S. campaign and candidates. One of the most interesting was Timothy Garton Ash's piece in The Guardian. For Garton Ash, the remarkable degree of world-wide attention to the U.S. electoral showdown pointed out a lack of such attention to U.N. and […]
During the run-up to a U.S. Presidential election, millions of Americans become deeply involved in the political process, and millions more follow the campaign in the U.S. mass media. So complete is the U.S. focus on its election that it is easy to overlook the impact that this major event has on world opinion. In […]
This week, Defense Secretary Gates and Secretary of State Rice combined efforts on improving the dampening European support for NATO troops in Afghanistan. Gates warned the Senate Armed Services Committee, "I worry a great deal about the alliance evolving into a two-tiered alliance, in which you have some allies willing to fight and die […]
A lead prosecutor for the war crimes tribunal at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay said the U.S. military lost a year's worth of records pertaining to the detention of Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Hamdan's legal counsel requested access to the records to support their claim that his detention left him […]
Let us then forget not to seek and search for truth and see the beauty in all that surrounds us. The truth is the key to the future, beauty is the knowing and seeing a peaceful future for all the worlds children.
Economic Stimulus – In the U.S. Senate yesterday, they tried to get a vote on the economic stimulus package. See this from the A.P. The measure couldn’t get the votes necessary for cloture – the magic 60 necessary for a bill to be fully considered on the Senate floor. What’s this got to do with […]
When the Rafah border was broken open by Hamas, food and goods were certainly not the only items brought back into the Gaza Strip. It's more than likely that weapons, normally snuck into the territory through underground tunnels, were also brought over. This is particularly troubling after Hamas claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing in […]
No one needs to tell us that children who have proper diets of nutritious food from an early age will have opportunities at a more prosperous life than their malnourished counter parts. Nutrition directly relates to a child's health, but what about a child's future wealth? According to a recent study in The Lancet, a […]
For the most part I don't notice when the dollar is weak or strong. Unless I’m travelling it just doesn't register with the prices of things I buy. Economics isn't my best subject, so I can't really say why. Maybe it is the pegged Yuan, or the fact that oil is priced in dollars? Maybe […]
This nice overview of CSR begins with an illustrative short anecdote that shows how “creative capitalism” has been around for a while. “Like many people in Guatemala, Dona Blanca grows crops which are exported to companies in North America and Europe. But unlike most of them, she is paid fairly for her work. That's because […]
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