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When I used to report on the United Nations I would saunter down to the department of public information every few days and accumulate unnecessarily thick stacks of documents — there was, in fact, already the internet. Among my reams of paper would be tucked a monthly calendar of “observances,” days the U.N. dedicates to […]

Last week hundreds of world leaders converged in New York City for the annual opening of the United Nations General Assembly; on the agenda were hot topics such as Syria, Israel and Iran. However, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the rights of women and children have also been on the agenda.  Governments and aid organizations alike made […]

  This is a quick follow up to my last post and it continues the theme of foreign policy as a topic in the U.S. presidential election. We have previously noted that there is a perception that this election will focus primarily on economic issues (jobs!) and domestic policy (health care) with foreign policy a […]

Iraq’s oil minister Abdul Kareem Luaiby anticipates his country’s exports for September to exceed 2.6 million barrels a day, a figure not reached in the last 20 or so years. Part of this increase stems from a deal cut between the central government and the Kurdish autonomous region. The Kurds had stopped exporting oil back […]

In a time of political, social, and economic turmoil, the focus on global health has blurred slightly. We’ve made great gains against polio, malaria, HIV, and a number of other diseases in the past decade, but there is, as always, much to be done. With tensions high across the Middle East and Europe, an election […]

  In what is truly an abdication of responsibility, the staff of the U.S. Regulatory Commission on Tuesday approved issuance of an operating license to GE-Hitachi (GEH) for construction of the first ever laser enrichment facility.  And in an uncharacteristic bureaucratic sleight-of-hand, the NRC will not make a decision on a pending petition requesting that it […]

When we last left Myanmar in May, former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League of Democracy supporters joined the country’s parliament, the government of President Thein Sein instituted some democratic forms, and there were high hopes that freedom was on its way. Yet the government waged a bitter guerilla war against […]

This week marks the official opening of the UN General Assembly in New York. As a result, several other events are taking place in New York to take advantage of the heads of state in town for the General Assembly and to focus on the many different facets of international affairs. This morning at the […]

Four Americans traveled to 14 countries to find out what ordinary people think of the United States. The responses were predictable: most professed admiration for Americans but vehemently disliked the United States government. There were few surprises in this documentary, which was filmed in “pre-Obama” time. The more touching scenes involve an Afghan woman who lost […]

Since coming into office as Secretary of State in 2009, Hillary Clinton has pushed an agenda of “21st Century Statecraft” to adapt foreign policy to the 21st century world. A major part of this agenda involves increasing and encouraging the use of connection technologies in foreign policy. The State Department is not alone in this […]

    Foreign policy has come roaring back into a presidential campaign that pundits said would be devoted almost exclusively to economic issues. Since the Foreign Policy Association is a non-partisan group I will shy away from partisan spin, but there’s no denying the appeal of the renewed focus on foreign policy, and I’m certain […]

According to the United Nations for the first time the number of annual child deaths have fallen below seven million.  “The new child mortality estimates show that concerted efforts to get proven lifesaving care to children work and that, in the 21stcentury, children no longer need to die from preventable causes,” said Carolyn Miles, President and […]