- Michelle Goldberg
- Kavita Ramdas
- Frances Kissling
- Vanessa Valenti
- Deepali Gaur Singh
- Masimba Biriwashi
"Years ago the U.S. Secretary of Defense came before the Foreign Affairs Committee regularly. Reinstating this custom will help Congress and the Administration work more closely together to restore some balance between what has come to be known as 'hard power' and 'soft power.' And Mr. Gates' own statements of late bear that out."In the speeches that Representative Berman refers to, Secretary Gates has nodded to the importance of "civilian involvement and expertise" and "non-military instruments of national power." This is a strong step for a Secretary of Defense to take, and we will need to make sure that next year's budget builds on this commitment to leveling the vast funding disparity between State -- which currently takes up only about 1% of the total budget -- and Defense -- which eats up over 10 times that.
An 8-year-old Brazilian who passed a law school entrance exam has been blocked from enrolling becasuse they think he should finish elementary school first.
>>Weapons - Russian arms dealer Viktor "Merchant of Death" Bout, said to be the inspiration for the protagonist in Lord of War was arrested in a Bangkok hotel room on Thursday by D.E.A. agents posing as FARC rebels attempting by buy millions in arms. He was promptly charged with conspiracy in the U.S.
>>United Nations - Two top jobs at the UN just opened up as Jean-Marie Guehenno, the Undersecretary General for Peackeeping, and Louis Arbour, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, have decided to leave their posts. Guehenno oversaw UN peacekeeping over an 8-year period, during which time the number of peacekeeping missions and peacekeepers skyrocketed at the request of the UN Security Council.
- Scorched Earth in Darfur - by John Boonstra
- NHCR Releases Guide Addressing Women's Protection and Empowerment - by Mark Leon Goldberg
- Why A Billion People Need a Stronger U.S.-UN Partnership - by John Boonstra
- Mediators on Call - by Mark Leon Goldberg
Russia is proposing to supply some of the helicopters the United Nations has been urgently seeking to back up the U.N./African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, Moscow's U.N. ambassador said on Wednesday. "The most likely scenario of the use of Russian helicopters would be Russia supplying the helicopters with crews from other countries," said envoy Vitaly Churkin. The United Nations has for months been seeking six attack and 18 transport helicopters to support the planned 26,000-member UNAMID force, which is starting to deploy in the violence-torn Darfur region of western Sudan.Churkin was murky on the details, not specifying the number or type of helicopters that Russia will provide, and the solution of outfitting Russian choppers with foreign crews is far from an ideal option. Nonetheless, combined with the four attack helicopters offered by Ethiopia last month, this is a start. Unfortunately, even as Darfur peacekeepers seek to receive some much-needed aerial support, they still face crippling shortages on the ground. U.S. special envoy Rich Williamson was right to caution that "we're wrong to obsess about the helicopters," but only because there is so much else to obsess about as well. There are still only 9,000 troops that have been deployed, and the state of these largely African units -- underfunded, undersupplied, and insufficiently trained -- is even worse than many had assumed. In addition, the 105 Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs) that arrived from Canada over two years ago are apparently outdated and in need of repair. So, to the international community, if helicopters aren't your thing -- how about some new APCs?
Demand for mediation assistance has grown steadily in recent years, [UN Political Affairs Chief] Lynn Pascoe said, noting the long list of recent talks, in particular those that set up power-sharing arrangements to end the post-election violence in Kenya and attempts to end the armed activity of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. And the situations are becoming increasing complex. "These are not places where you can go out and begin a negotiation by the seat of your pants," the Under-Secretary-General noted. Even the most seasoned UN envoys usually need specialized advice.Norway footed the $1 million bill to keep fund this new initiative through its first year. Takk!
Turkmenistan is rewarding women who have over eight children with $25, as well as free utilities, transportation, and dental care.
>>Columbia, Venezuela, Ecuador - The Organization of American States declared the Columbian raid against FARC rebels in Ecuador to be a violation of sovereignty, a measure intended to ease relations between Columbia, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
>>Gazprom - Gazprom has agreed resume gas shipments to the Ukraine, after it agreed to settle a $600 million debt that occured after Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko refused to sign contracts negotiated by the President Viktor Yushchenko. Tymoshenko is both attempting to reduce Gazprom's control of the Ukraine's domestic gas market and exert political primacy over Yushchenko.
>>Vatican - The Vatican will create an interfaith forum with Muslim leaders and scholars, intended to ease relations between the religions. The first of which, "Love of God, Love of Neighbor," will be held in Rome in November and will likely be attended by the Pope. Relations between leadership of the two religions have been hindered since the Pope quoted a Bizantine emperor in a 2006 speech as saying that Islam was "evil and inhuman." He later expressed regret that his remarks had been taken out of context but never apologized.
- Foreign Policy Still Most Important to Voters - by John Boonstra
- UN in Limbo in Kosovo - by John Boonstra
- Reese Witherspoon and Avon Team with the UN to Fight Violence Against Women - by Mark Leon Goldberg