One of the more surprising elements of Obama’s first State of the Union address was the way in which he addressed clean energy initiatives: “To create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. […]
A committee of the Kenyan Parliament has agreed to do away with the position of prime minister as part of a reform of its constitution. The position of prime minister was created in 2008 as a way to allow for power sharing in bring an end to the bloody confrontations that followed Kenya’s national elections […]
By now you have probably watched or read President Obama’s State of the Union address to Congress last night and you’ve read the reports and analysis (CNN, Washington Post, New York Times) of the speech. As expected, the speech was heavy on domestic issues and light on foreign policy. President Obama hit all the appropriate […]
The other day The Wall Street Journal ran a good summary of China’s conflict with Google. It looks like we’re in for another international war of words but, this time, it won’t be a classic Cold War confrontation over political-military issues, but rather a war of words over words — censorship, to be precise. China’s […]
President Obama will deliver his first State of the Union address to Congress tonight. As this report in the Washington Post notes, it is expected that domestic issues will dominate the speech. I’m fairly certain that some foreign policy issues will mentioned, but probably not as many as I would like. From a U.S. role […]
This month, I made a donation to an interesting organization that is helping with the disaster in Haiti. We Care Solar is a U.S.-based non-profit that helps hospitals in developing regions by providing health workers with reliable lighting, blood bank refrigeration and mobile communication using solar electricity. The organization was founded by Dr. Laura Stachel, […]
The U.S. is defending freedom on the internet. Amid allegations of cyberattacks on an American company, Secretary of State Clinton gave a speech encouraging China to respect the free flow of information on the net: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy The full text can be found here and […]
The Obama Administration is back to practicing public diplomacy — with the American public. Stung by the loss in last week’s election in Massachusetts, the White House is bringing back public outreach specialist David Plouffe, the mild-mannered star of the Obama election campaign. Plouffe had stepped back from politics after the election to write a […]
At the anniversary of Obama’s first year as president, the press is predictably constructing narratives of a president who is blazing trails and one who is barely hanging on. Chatting on GPS with Fareed Zakaria this Sunday, Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan says Obama’s first year went all wrong. Here’s part of it: “One of […]
The news media is awash with reports on the first year anniversary of the Obama presidency. Take a look at this assortment on Google News and you will find that the assessment is grim. The Economist, for example, offers this rather dismal analysis of President Obama’s foreign policy: Mr Obama has been on a goodwill […]
This report in the World Politics Review suggests that the U.S. and our allies have lost a contest you may not have realized we were engaged in. The contest was over energy resources in Central Asia and those of you who believe that much of what happens in world affairs is linked to the competition […]
Today is a national holiday here in the U.S., celebrating the life and achievements of Martin Luther King, Jr. There is nothing I could add to the many paeans to King (but I recommend that anyone needing a refresher look up his writings and speeches). But in thinking about the times King lived in and […]
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