60 Minutes ran an excellent expose on conflict minerals in the Congo last night. You can see some of it here:Watch CBS News Videos OnlineGood coverage of an under-reported area of the world. It left me with two thoughts: First, via Facebook, my colleague Virginia...
This week, the government of Dubai decided to delay payment on the tens of billions of dollars that it's Dubai World holding owes to various creditors (UBS speculates as much as $80B). Dubai World...
As a once-a-year-antidote to my usual posts on human (in)security, today let me briefly note a few positive news stories about which we should all be thankful this season:1) Despite the recession,...
According to CNN, administration officials just announced that after a "review" of US landmine policy, they will maintain the policy of previous administrations in refusing to sign the Ottawa...
Jon recently blogged about humanitarian law and violence in video games. Last month two Swiss NGOs published a 46-page report on the topic, examining a number of popular game for their laws-of-war content, finding them lacking and proposing industry-wide norm change: The aim of the study is to raise public awareness among developers and publishers of the games, as well as among authorities, educators and the media about virtually committed crimes in computer and videogames, and to engage in a dialogue with game producers and distributors on the idea of incorporating the essential rules of...
I know the EU is often dysfunctional, but this really shocked me. Last week, the EU selected Herman van Rompuy, the Belgian prime minister, as the European Union’s first president, and Catherine Ashton of Britain, currently the group’s trade commissioner, as its high representative for foreign policy. (She's also the Baroness Ashton of Upholland).Rompuy has been on the job in Belgium for less than a year and Ashton has no foreign policy experience. So much for the arguments that we might get some form of balancing -- hard or soft -- from Brussels. Looks like France and Germany were so...
I was just complaining to a friend how I'm not such a fan of the Iphone I recently bought, but here's a reason to rethink: the new Iphone Death Star app. Of course, it's no Star Wars: Pod Racer. But as someone who recently bummed around on an old Atari machine while on a vacation to business trip in Portland, (and who has a seven-year old son), I'm pretty pleased.
I know most of you must have thought I disappeared from the blog world. Apparently, I've found something I am unreliable about. I'd tell you it has been a crazy semester, but that would be a bad excuse. I'd promise to do better, but its a promise I'm not sure I can keep. So, instead, I'll just post (for the second time in one night) about something I've been doing some work on ... helping to start the LGBTQA Caucus of the ISA. The purposes of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, and Allies Caucus of the International Studies Association (hereafter the LGBTQA Caucus of ISA)...
David Kirkpatrick yesterday wrote in the New York Times about how the health care debate is reviving the abortion debate in US politics. I read this article right after I saw a film that several of my feminist colleagues and friends recommended, called "Not Yet Rain." Among other things at issue in this film is the Helms Amendment to the U.S. 1973 Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits the use of U.S. aid funds to "motivate or coerce" or "perform" abortion as a method of family planning, but has been interpreted to deny assistance to clinics that mention abortion as an option or perform it...
President Obama has been receiving a fair amount of heat lately for "dithering" about U.S. policy towards Afghanistan. After all, the administration has been thinking through its Afghan policy since late summer. Critics in the opposition party say the President's decision is "long overdue" and that the "strategy review" needs to move from the "evaluation phase" to the "execution phase" ASAP.Administration officials have long said that the problem is made complicated by the signal America will send to Afghanistan if it too readily approves a troop increase. Ten days ago, Defense Secretary...
Annually, the University of Louisville awards significant cash prizes in five fields: Music Composition, Religion, Education, Psychology, and World Order.For about 15 years, I have directed the administration of the Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. Basically, I chair the initial review committee that is housed within the Department of Political Science.The Award's basic purpose is described on our webpage:Submissions will be judged according to originality, feasibility and potential impact, not by the cumulative record of the nominee. They may address a wide range of global...
I won't be blogging much until I get back from the west coast, where I've gone this week to assist my colleague Alex Montgomery with his nuclear diplomacy simulation at Reed College. As luck would have it, this issue of International Studies Perspectives has a useful article on simulations as a pedagogical tool in IR classes. This article reflects some experiences in teaching International Relations (IR) by using films to supplement the use of simulations and role play scenarios. The authors have used simulations and role play scenarios in order to teach complex issues and theories, and to...