American Politics and the World… Post #145: Trump’s America—and Ours 21 Jan 201727 Feb 2017 Abraham Lincoln once said: “My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth.” Donald J. Trump’s…
BLOG… Post #128: The Dark Side of United Nations Peacekeeping 15 Sep 201627 Feb 2017 United Nations peacekeeping operations (PKOs) involve over 125,000 soldiers deployed in sixteen countries, with a total budget of nearly $8 billion. Their missions range from interposing themselves between combatants…
BLOG… Post #114: The Panama Papers and the 1% 15 Apr 201627 Feb 2017 One of the many tools at the disposal of multinational corporations (MNCs) for maximizing profits and undermining state sovereignty is moving operations to low-tax countries. Global companies do not simply…
BLOG… Post #108: Dark Spots, Light Spots, and Apple’s Protest 23 Feb 201627 Feb 2017 How’s this for bad choices? A recent study by a Harvard group contended with the position of US intelligence agencies that tracking possible terrorists was becoming more difficult because…
BLOG… Post #75 – India’s Shame, and the World’s 23 Apr 201527 Feb 2017 A democracy is supposed to have the advantage of affording people of any social class, gender, or religious or ethnic group the opportunity to advance. In contrast with authoritarian political…
BLOG… Post #69 – Crime and Punishment in China: The Underside of Reforms 8 Mar 201527 Feb 2017 China’s supreme leader, Xi Jinping, is vigorously carrying out a campaign against corruption. The targets have been high-ranking party and military officials, past and present; province and other local officials;…
BLOG… Post #64 – Welcome Back, George Orwell 27 Jan 201527 Feb 2017 I think most of us knew, or feared, that the wonders of the Internet might also become a weapon in the wrong hands, whether of our own government, criminals, dictators,…
BLOG… Post #62 – Human Rights: The Rising Record of Abuses 12 Jan 201527 Feb 2017 The terrorist attacks in Paris and the ongoing abductions of Boko Haram in Nigeria bring to mind this fact of life: systematic, large-scale abuses of human rights are on the…