Military Buildup: Is There a Strategic Direction?
December 15, 2010 6 min. read

India has launched an ambitious military expansion, but some question whether the sum of its parts adds up to a strategic whole.

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How task shifting could help mitigate Haiti's cholera crisis
December 5, 2010 1 min. read

Low-resource countries often carry the heaviest disease burden and maintain the smallest health workforce. The deadly cholera epidemic in Haiti is only the most recent example of how the time for ‘task shifting’ has arrived. By Allyn Gaestel for ISN Insights http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/ISN-Insights/Detail?lng=en&ots627=fce62fe0-528d-4884-9cdf-283c282cf0b2&id=124470&contextid734=124470&contextid735=124469&tabid=124469

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New Global Engagement Initiative at the Wilson Center
November 27, 2010 4 min. read

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars has announced a new project focused on strengthening U.S. global engagement and strategic communications (called “Strengthening America’s Global Engagement – SAGE).  Here is what they say about the project: In July 2010, the MacArthur Foundation joined with the Wilson Center to host a dinner that included key Obama […]

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Tuberculosis under tents
November 18, 2010 1 min. read

I recently published a piece for PlusNews about the Tuberculosis epidemic that has long been endemic in Haiti and could worsen with the living situations of over a million Haitians still living in tents ten months after the January 12 earthquake.  As with most issues in post-quake Haiti, the earthquake merely brought to light and […]

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Sex work in the US: a global human rights issue
November 4, 2010 6 min. read

Sex workers internationally face incredible stigma, dehumanization and criminalization from politicians, health workers, police officers, the media and the general population. In fact most people seem uncomfortable with the idea of sex work, and struggle to understand how anyone could “do such a thing”. The language regularly used to describe sex work manifests this disregard […]

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Lebanese Arms
August 28, 2010 6 min. read

The topic of Lebanese arms is in the news once again. Externally, the United States has put on hold $100 million in military aid for fear that the weapons may fall into the hands of Hizballah. Internally, Prime Minister Hariri is talking up elevated arms control in the wake of a sectarian altercation in Beirut […]

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IMF, Like World Bank, Redirects Funding to Flood Aid
August 22, 2010 2 min. read

The IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Director, Mr. Masood Ahmed, offered this public statement yesterday: “The floods which have hit Pakistan in recent weeks and brought suffering to millions of people will also pose a massive economic challenge to the people and government of Pakistan. The scale of the tragedy means that the country’s […]

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Oil spill off Mumbai coast as two cargo ships collide
August 9, 2010 4 min. read

Looks like it is oil spill season. Even as the news and uproar about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is still fresh, there has been a fresh spill, albeit smaller, off the coast of Mumbai. This one was caused when two Panamanian flagged cargo ships – MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia-111 – […]

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…and Prop 8 bites it!!!
August 4, 2010 2 min. read

    There is one piece of breaking news this afternoon that sent both my Twitter and Facebook feeds into a frenzy: Federal Judge Vaughn Walker has ruled that Proposition 8, the bill that amended the Californian Constitution to prohibit granting marriage licenses to same sex couples, is unconstitutional. From the ruling: “Proposition 8 fails […]

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President Obama on McChrystal's Removal, Petraeus' Arrival, & the Steady Roll of American Afghan Policy
June 24, 2010 2 min. read

President Obama did as good a job as was possible in his short speech to the country on Gen. McChrystal’s dismissal and the placement of Gen. Petraeus as the leader of all foreign military forces in Afghanistan. In his talk, President Obama emphasized that this was a change in military leadership and not one of […]

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The always contentious Cuba issue
March 14, 2010 2 min. read

Mari Carmen Aponte (shown above right) has been down this road before. This time it does not look like she is backing down—yet. Senate Republicans (including Senator Jim DeMint, above left) are blocking approval of the Obama administration’s nomination of Aponte to the post of Ambassador to El Salvador, claiming concern over her past ties […]

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Best of the Web: The Thanksgiving Edition
November 26, 2009 2 min. read

*At the White House, President Barack Obama pardoned a turkey named Courage. Yes, even the pardoned turkeys must be inspiring. “Thanks to the interventions of Malia and Sasha—because I was planning to eat this sucker—Courage will also be spared this terrible and delicious fate,” Obama said, regaining his coolness points. *The day after Thanksgiving marks […]

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