URL: Latest posts
Great expectations
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I decided to wait to blog my personal thoughts regarding Obama being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 until it became apparent the nature of the reaction. I had an idea and it seems that my own perception seemed to be correct. Much of the rheto...
A major boost to international cooperation and diplomacy
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It has just been announced that Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. This will without a doubt reenforce his international standing and position in promoting international cooperation and the United Nations in resolving disputes. I als...
Podcasts I’m listening to
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There are a lot of ways to acquire information about world affairs. A fun way I’ve found is through podcasts. When they first came out I didn’t “get” them. Then they started to become more sophisticated and some of your big pu...
Fighting two wars
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I’m sitting in a coffee shop in Hong Kong (no it’s not Starbucks) and reading the September 22, 2009 edition of the International Herald Tribune. Two articles caught my interest: The first, titled E.U. is increasingly skeptical of U.S. on...
Enough Project and a great Fareed Zakaria interview
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I actually have a lot to discuss today regarding access to good material. The main theme of this web-site is to promote interest in world affairs. One essential tool for achieving this is to expose relevant web-sites and good sources of information t...
Just bad timing
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The big news of the day is that that United States abandoned its plans for establishing a missile defense shield in Europe. The change was expected but the timing was not. Obama is facing a lot of criticism at home for moving to the left, especially...
Beating a bad rap
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Realists have a bad rap. They are portrayed as those who are always beating the war drum out of the false belief that war is the best and only way to improve a state’s security. Many point to the advocacy of mutual assured destruction (MAD) by...
Lessons learned from the past
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A friend of mine passed along a link to The Iron Curtain Diaries, a project undertaken by journalists, photographers, and a cartoonist who travelled along the former “iron curtain,” interviewing people about their feelings of the past and...
Dancing with the dragon
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stated that China and the U.S. are starting a dialogue on issues of counter-terrorism. This reveals the nature of the Chinese / American relationship regarding foreign issues. Indeed, each country’s respec...
And the wheel goes round and round
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Despite pressure from the Obama administration Israel is still planning to build 455 new housing units in the West Bank, according to this report. This move by defense minister Ehud Barak is seen as a slap in the face to Obama’s new hardline ap...
Et tu Brute?
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Accountability, transparency and change. Such were the promises of Obama during his campaign and during the first few months of his presidency. Change would be transparent, and those who committed past transgressions would be held accountable. The bi...
Russia’s most dangerous threat
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The BBC titled article, Africans ‘under siege’ in Moscow, reflects a grave problem that Russia is experiencing at the moment, such a degree of gravity in fact that this issue has surprisingly garnered very little international attention.
German elections – 2009
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For those of you who missed it, elections are well underway in Germany. Alex Harrowell over at Fistful of Euros, has a good description of what the heck is going on, as well as a good overview of how the election process works in the country, in term...
A multilateral nightmare
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Reading Zbigniew Brzezinski’s new essay from the September/October publication of Foreign Affairs on the future of NATO, inspired me to write my own thoughts regarding this multilateral security organization. Brzezinski essentially outlines, mo...
Nepotism at its ugliest
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Ask any recent graduate and they will tell you that the job market is not what you would call alive and well, especially employment in the international relations sector. Governments are forced to cut back aid and focus tax-payer money on domestic st...
A remark on the relaunch of EI
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For those of you who have checked this site periodically, and continued to do so despite there not being a new post in almost a year, I welcome you back and am extremely grateful for your interest. For those who have somehow stumbled upon this blog f...
Zbigniew Brzezinski on the state of the world
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I had the extreme pleasure of being able to attend a lecture at the Chatham House given by Dr Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977-1981. The lecture mainly focused on the current challenges tha...
The Future of U.S. Foreign Policy and the Middle East
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During my pursuit of this Masters degree I am continually becoming more enthralled by the U.S. involvement in the Middle East and particularly when it comes to the Arab-Israeli conflict. Without a doubt the U.S. is in a unique position in...
History will be made
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Being an “expat” for about a year and half has finally been brought to my full attention. Never have I ever felt more of a longing for home, than watching how exciting people seem to be in wanting to “get out the vote.” There...
I know it’s like kicking a dead horse….but
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I just found a fantastic article by the Economist, doing a little commentary regarding the Lisbon Treaty in their Charlemagne section. Here’s the link. It’s very well written, and sums up in less than 2,000 words the challenges the EU is...
