#development

I write often about communicable diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, which get a lot of international attention and popular support, spurred on by celebrities, government leaders, and the media.  What is ignored, however, is the growing epidemic of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic or “lifestyle” diseases.  With the upcoming United Nations High Level Meeting […]

U.S. experts and politicians are starting to hone into the ‘dangers’ of R&D and technology transfers to China, as the most serious long-term threat to the U.S. economy and national security.  U.S. comparative advantage (innovation and new technologies) is being undermined by outsourcing of manufacturing to China, the relocation of R&D facilities to Chinese tech-parks, […]

How can we best ensure that development assistance reaches those who need it most? Here are six building blocks.

by Stephenie Foster In the next two years, the world’s population will reach seven billion people. Today, approximately 925 million people, or 16 per cent of the developing world’s population, are chronically hungry due to extreme poverty. Despite some progress in alleviating hunger in 2010, world food prices rose 15 per cent between October 2010 […]

If the status quo continues, as is likely, and the Pakistani government remains mired in its own incompetence and impotence, the militants in Pakistan will have become more popular and will have built up their ranks in a way, so far, unforeseen. Today’s New York Times lays out the strategic issue in very stark terms: […]

Following on yesterday’s piece on the Newshour with Jim Lehrer, please find the second piece associated with the flood in Pakistan. This piece that air two days ago deals exclusively with the aid effort to get clean water, food and shelter to the devastated victims of this catastrophe. Now it is becoming increasingly clear that […]

The flood in Pakistan promises to soon make a dire situation intractably tragic. Aid money promised by international donors is trickling into the ground, and more often than not, isn’t reaching the neediest of the millions of victims of this two-week long catastrophe, People are fighting and looting over food and the cramped conditions in […]

Given the latest news of the strategic suicide bombing in Lahore, it’s important that we think hard about what we are fighting for in Pakistan. We need to ask: What is the U.S. fighting for in Pakistan?  What is Pakistan fighting for? An answer to either question is not readily available.  Perhaps neither question is […]

In a move that will likely need to be repeated in coming years, the Supreme Court of India ordered a controversial resort in the Andaman Islands to close down pending further deliberations of the Court on the possible effect the resort will have on the endangered Jarawa tribe. The decision came just weeks after the […]

Perhaps one of the most ignored countries in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti found itself back in the spotlight for yet another disaster. While this disaster – a 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit Haiti in over 200 years – was brought on by nature and not the political drama that normally brings Haiti into […]