AFP

Obama's Trip to Israel

Mon, 18 Feb 2013 23:30:28 -0500

With much hurrah from the American and Israeli press, the White House announced earlier this month that President Obama will be traveling to Israel in March for the first time in his presidency. Administration officials are touting the trip as a resetting of the often tenuous relationship that has existed between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. With Obama recently inaugurated for his second term and Netanyahu in the process of putting together a new coalition after his country’s parliamentary elections, it seems like the perfect opportunity for Obama to reach out to his Israeli counterpart. Although Netanyahu’s party emerged weakened from the January 22^nd elections, it still won enough seats to ensure another term for Netanyahu, meaning that the two leaders will need to deal with each other for years to come.

Israelis seem quite excited that Obama is visiting, hoping to reengage with the US presidential post that has often been at odds with Netanyahu’s right-wing agenda. Speaking on MSNBC this past week, the Israeli ambassador to the US, Michael Oren, said “Look, we’re delighted that he is coming… He’ll be received enthusiastically by the government of Israel, by the prime minister of Israel, by the people of Israel.” Although Obama traveled the Middle East during the 2008 campaign, he skipped over the country during his 2009 trip, choosing only to visit Egypt and Saudi Arabia. During the 2012 campaign, Mitt Romney often trotted out Obama’s omission of Israel from the itinerary as a proof of the Democrat’s lack of support for the Jewish State.

Due to the trip’s emphasis on a strengthening the American-Israeli relationship, Obama’s Press Secretary Jay Carney has made a point of publicly minimizing the potential of discussions about the Israel-Palestinian conflict on the trip. “I’m sure that any time the president and prime minister have a discussion and certainly any time the president has a discussion with leaders of the Palestinian Authority, that those issues are raised,” Carney said recently. “But that is not the purpose of this visit.” Even if that is not the intention of the trip, Obama will be seeing Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman after visiting Israel. Depending on how the trip goes, it will help determine the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem for the next four years.

-Oren Fliegelman

huffingtonpost: In addition to the ban, the Sunderbari village...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:33:01 -0500

huffingtonpost:

In addition to the ban, the Sunderbari village council in a Muslim-dominated area some 385 kilometers (239 miles) east of Patna, the capital of Bihar, has also imposed a fine of 10,000 rupees ($180) if a girl is caught using a mobile phone on the streets.

Married women would have to pay 2,000 rupees ($36.60).

India’s Women Cell Phone Ban: Sunderbari Village Bars Mobile Use For Females

pritheworld: The Land of Tobacco Smoking is the leading cause...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:32:50 -0500

pritheworld:

The Land of Tobacco

Smoking is the leading cause of death in China, and by 2050, the number of deaths from tobacco-related causes is expected to triple.

A Contrast in Constitution-Making: Egypt and Tunisia

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 13:31:00 -0500

Just as Egypt was grabbing international headlines for negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last week, the most populous Arab country suddenly saw its own domestic scandal. Egypt’s new president, Muslim Brotherhood-backed Mohammed Morsi, issued a power-grabbing constitutional declaration that excluded his decisions from judicial oversight. In response, thousands of protesters took to the streets in Cairo, accusing Morsi of returning the presidency to a dictatorship.

To help calm the protests, the Constituent Assembly, the appointed body tasked with drafting the new constitution, hurriedly preparing its latest draft for a nation-wide referendum now scheduled for December 15. This rushed and confused process has only exacerbated the anger among citizens. The drama is only the latest back-and-forth in a constitutional drafting process gone wrong, as the country has been trying to find its way after the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

In the months immediately after the “January 25 Revolution,” hopes were high for a constitutional-drafting process that would be democratic, deliberative, and transparent. Quickly, however, things began to fall apart. Islamist candidates (of varying strains) won over two-thirds of the seats in the extended parliamentary elections of December 2011 and January 2012, leading to protests and fears of theocracy from secular groups and Coptic Christians. Morsi then won the June presidential elections, a contest for which the Muslim Brotherhood had originally promised it would not nominate a candidate. Meanwhile, the newly-elected parliament was dissolved by the Supreme Constitutional Court and the Muslim Brotherhood was accused of packing the Constituent Assembly with Islamist loyalists.

Egypt needs a confident, trustworthy, and respected leader to guide it through the coming years. Unfortunately, since Morsi took office in June, he has been acting as a player in the political game, rather than remaining above the fray to become the leader that his country needs. As Khaled Fahmy, a leading academic at the American University in Cairo, wrote in Al-Ahram on Tuesday, “I must admit that events over the past ten days have dissipated much of my optimism since the revolution.”

Across North Africa, on the other hand, Tunisia has been efficiently and quietly drafting its new national charter. The birthplace of the Arab Spring in December 2010, Tunisia held elections to its Constituent Assembly, a temporary joint legislature/constitutional convention, a little less than a year later. Although Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party, won 40 percent of the seats in the Constituent Assembly, the party put a great deal of effort into assuaging fears of unilateral decision-making and overzealous religious radicalism. Ennahda put together an alliance with two centrist parties, Congress for the Republic and Ettakatol, creating a coalition that has been dubbed the “Troika.”

While the country has not been without its growing pains, the Tunisian Constituent Assembly has been dutifully performing its task without creating headline stimulating drama like its Egyptian counterpart. Subcommittees have been assigned specific sections of the new constitution to debate, draft, and ultimately submit to the larger assembly for discussion. Some of the sections that have already been debated have had to do with election laws and the national character of the country. Although the process has taken longer than original planned (it was supposed to be finished by October), it is expected to be concluded within in the next six months.

While Egypt is ten times the size of Tunisia and occupies a much more prominent role on the world stage, it seems that Morsi and the Egyptians could learn a few lessons from their neighbors to the west.

-Oren Fliegelman

globalpost: Typhoon Bopha has also destroyed homes and...

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:09:57 -0500

globalpost:

Typhoon Bopha has also destroyed homes and brought down powerlines.

At least 270 are dead following Typhoon Bopha’s landfall in the Phillipines Tuesday.According to the Telegraph, the storm has also destroyed homes and brought down power lines.

Mindanao island was especially affected, with flash floods and landslides slamming a mining base and sweeping water and soil through an army post, according to Reuters. A television reporter said she saw numerous dead bodies lined up near the base.

The Associated Press also reported that a Philippines governor said at least 43 villagers and soldiers had drowned when the typhoon dumped a torrent of water that rushed down a mountainside.

See more photos at GlobalPost

nationalpost: Merging Canada’s provinces: From Pacific Columbia...

Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:09:24 -0500

nationalpost:

Merging Canada’s provinces: From Pacific Columbia to East Saskitoba
Last week a group of Senators asked Atlantic Canadians to “think big” and consider a Maritime Union. Well, the Post’s Steve Murray thought even bigger.

Tunisia's Economic Woes: Memories of the Arab Spring

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 23:30:00 -0500

“Remember, we made revolution for work, dignity, and freedom. Now we can talk freely – but as for dignity, there are still no jobs.” For men such as Abderrahman El Heni, Tunisia’s post-Arab spring has not fulfilled his expectations for a brighter future. As a result, El-Hani joined thousands of Tunisians in a march demanding a brighter economic future.

The economic figures for Tunisia are frightening, to say the least. Unemployment is currently at seventeen percent, GDP declined 1.8 percent this year, and the country has just accepted one billion dollars in loans from the World Bank and the African Development bank. The money will be used for facilitating investment, improving government transparency, create financial regulation, and helping to educate youth as the country moves forward.

The combination of unemployment, inflation, and the believed neglectfulness of a governor, Ahmed Mahoubi, to the woes of the population led Tunisians to take to the street last week in Siliana. The showdown between the protestors and the national guard led to over 100 protestors being admitted to the hospital, some in critical condition. The level of force used by the National Guard to quell the protests has been called excessive by the UN’s top human rights official, Navi Pillay. The violent response to the protests is reminiscent of the brutal force of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. Many Tunisians are now asking themselves whether much has changed since the removal of Ben Ali.

Much like the Arab Spring, which led to a series of revolutions all over the Middle East, the protests in Siliana have created a movement in Tunisia by citizens who are fed up with a less than ideal economic situation. Over 10,000 citizens have taken up the cause.

On Saturday, compromise was made in Siliana to appease the rioting citizens of Siliana. Ahmed Mahoubi was asked to step down from his position; his deputy will be instated in his place. In light of the protests, Tunisia’s prime minister will be appointing a new cabinet of members who he thinks can most effectively and efficiently address the economic woes that are restraining the North African nation.

Despite these concessions, Tunisia’s Prime Minister is openly berating “leftist opposition parties and unions” for causing the riots. He is also refusing repeated calls for his removal from power. Instead, he is urging Tunisians to keep calm and remain patient as his team works towards Tunisia’s economic recovery. From the contention between those in power and the general populace, the road to Tunisia’s economic and political recovery will be long and divisive.

-Kayla Lawrence

5 European Nations Summon Envoys of Israel

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:21:00 -0500

5 European Nations Summon Envoys of Israel:

The unusually sharp diplomatic step by Britain, France, Spain, Sweden and Denmark reflected the growing frustration abroad with Israel’s plans for settlement construction.

Syrian Leader Hit by Setbacks in Fighting and Diplomacy

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:21:00 -0500

Syrian Leader Hit by Setbacks in Fighting and Diplomacy:

A Turkish official said Russia had agreed to a new approach that would seek ways to persuade President Bashar al-Assad to give up power, as fighting raged around Damascus.

"The author of the original Vogue Assad piece, Joan Juliet Buck, admitted, “she regretted the “Rose..."

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:20:02 -0500

“The author of the original Vogue Assad piece, Joan Juliet Buck, admitted, “she regretted the “Rose in the Desert” headline that Vogue put on the article,” but that “Mrs. Assad was ‘extremely thin and very well-dressed, and therefore qualified to be in Vogue.””

- (Washington Times)

wnyc: The Red Cross has been providing relief since the Civil...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:17:53 -0500

wnyc:

The Red Cross has been providing relief since the Civil War, but recently it’s run into an image problem.

The group was criticized for not being on the ground in New York City immediately following Hurricane Sandy when residents from Staten Island to Breezy Point were asking themselves: where is the familiar red-and-white logo of the Red Cross?

pritheworld: Cancer’s New Battleground Part 2: Pink Ribbons to...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 11:17:42 -0500

Doctors and nurses prepare for the day's rounds of chemotherapy on cancer patients at a health clinic in Cange, Haiti. (Photo: Ansel Herz)

The clinic is run by Zanmi Lasante, a sister organization of the American charity Partners In Health. (Photo: Ansel Herz)

Dr. Sara Stulac of Partners In Health is in charge of the organization's cancer treatment efforts and has come to Haiti to assist Zanmi Lasante's oncology work. (Photo: Joanne Silberner)

Tinwa Cassement, 18, developed leukemia in 2003 and is now back at school and doing well. She inspired the staff at Zanmi Lasante in Cange to believe that they can indeed treat cancer. (Ansel Herz)

The clinic is almost full of patients, and the line stretches out the door. For residents of many nearby towns, this facility is the only place they can come to receive good medical care. (Ansel Herz)

On International Women's Day, rural Haitian women gathered to learn about breast and cervical cancer. In Haiti, as in many other developing countries, women rarely seek medical help for cancer.

Dr. Ruth Damuse heads the oncology efforts at Zanmi Lasante. On International Women's Day, she spoke to Haitian women at the new Mirebalais Hospital about breast and cervical cancer. (Ansel Herz)

Jean Emmanuel, 62, is a community health worker who has raised awareness and helped treat the sick for over 20 years. (Photo: Ansel Herz)

Every week, staffers at Zanmi Lasante consult by telephone with doctors at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. (Photo: Joanne Silberner)

Dr. Ruth Damuse, who heads the oncology efforts at Zanmi Lasante, talks to other staffers about cancer patients. (Photo: Joanne Silberner)

pritheworld:

Cancer’s New Battleground Part 2: Pink Ribbons to Haiti

Haitian women know little about breast cancer, and those who contract it rarely receive treatment. An American charity and its local partners are trying to change that, but it’s not easy providing cancer care in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.

kateoplis: 35-mile tribute to victims of Sandy, Global Rainbow,...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:13:14 -0500

kateoplis:

35-mile tribute to victims of Sandy, Global Rainbow, After the Storm by Yvette Mattern [photos]

motherjones: According to an exhaustive review by Prof. James...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:12:13 -0500

motherjones:

According to an exhaustive review by Prof. James Lawrence Powell, only 0.17 percent of thousands of peer-reviewed papers question global warming or whether rising emissions are the cause. Yup.

urbanrelationsinfo: Syrian internet restored, rebels say...

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:11:43 -0500

urbanrelationsinfo:

Syrian internet restored, rebels say satellites kept them connected

Following a 48-hour internet blackout in Syria, rebels have released pictures of equipment that, they claim, kept them online throughout the cut.

Internet and phone services were restored in most areas of the country on Saturday after a two-day blackout and some of the worst fighting in Damascus for months.

According to online experts, the cut was likely caused by government forces and many saw the regime agression in the capital, combined with the internet blackout, as no coincidence.

In the past, the Syrian government has cut phone lines in areas where they are planning military operations. However, the latest blackout was the first to cover the whole country since March last year.

Rebels released images on Sunday of satellite equipment in an unnamed office that apparently kept them online during the shutdown. The pictures were apparently taken months ago but only released today.

Meanwhile, AP reported that 20 Lebanese volunteers, fighting alongside Syrian rebels, were killed by regime security forces. The news gave rise to fears that the Syrian conflict is spilling into the rest of the Levant region.

Phases of the Moon: Considering the Possibility of China's Rise

Sun, 02 Dec 2012 14:10:00 -0500

At a book signing at Princeton University on November 19, 2012, noted economist and former IMF research chief Arvind Subramanian [no relation] discussed some of the ideas presented in his new book Eclipse: Living In The Shadow of China’s Economic Dominance, in which Subramanian lays out his prediction that China will become the world’s preeminent superpower within the next twenty to thirty years. This prediction hinges on the sheer size of China’s economy and financial reserves as well as the author’s calculations that China will not reach its “ceiling of growth” for some time to come. Subramanian’s model takes into account the possibility that China’s growth will slow considerably as well as the assumption that American economic growth may rebound to pre-recession levels.

Furthermore, Subramanian argues that China’s currency, the renminbi, will eventually become the premier international reserve currency in lieu of the dollar as China allows the currency’s value to float on the international market. Such an shift would likely mark a symbolic transition of power much as the transition from the British pound to the U.S. dollar over the first half of the 20^th century. While a detailed analysis of Subramanian’s arguments remains beyond the scope of this post, Subramanian does present a compelling case for the possibility of a dominant China.

Subramanian’s analysis comes at a opportune moment in international affairs, as the Chinese Communist Party completes its once-in-a decade transition of power from one generation to the next. In his forecasting of Chinese economic growth and power projection, Subramanian assumes that the Chinese government will be able to eventually resolve some of the key issues that stand in the way of China’s path to prosperity, namely a lack of transparency, the need for political reform, and the specter of climate change.

The economic system established by the United States following World War II emphasizing free trade and economic liberalism helped fuel China’s rise over the past thirty years. Subramanian notes that China’s prosperity in coming years will hinge on its ability to uphold this system. This will necessitate promoting transparency, accountability, and rule of law within China by reforming large state-run corporations, insulating the judicial system from undue political influence, and tackling corruption. Likewise, the prospect of climate change poses a significant challenge for China’s future. While developed countries have often been asked to take the lead in efforts to mitigate climate change, Subramanian points out that emerging economies such as China and India actually stand to loose more from a failure to combat climate change, since they lack the means to easily adapt to rapid changes in climate. China’s leadership has expressed a desire to combat the spread of climate change and protect the environment.

However, as with its efforts to combat corruption, China’s government has counterproductively restrained the very civil society elements such as activists, NGOs, and journalists who could play a key role in grasping the scale and nature of the problem. China’s system of petitions, which punishes districts whose residents bring petitions to the attention of the central government, provides a strong incentive for local party bosses to harass these individuals and prevent dissent from reaching the ears of the central government, leading to a breakdown of law and order. The Communist Party’s ability to navigate the delicate transition from a Maoist to a capitalist state has hinged on its ability to accurately gauge the public mood and respond accordingly. Cracking down on dissent indirectly mitigates the government’s ability to gauge public sentiment.

In order to resolve these challenges, China’s incoming leadership must be willing to take risks and possibly displace deeply rooted interests within the government. Much analysis of the new incoming government as focused on the division of China’s governing elites into two separate camps, “princelings” such as likely future President Xi Jinping who are children of former Communist party officials, and leaders who rose from more humble backgrounds such as the likely future Premier Li Keqiang and his mentor, President Hu Jintao.

The new Politburo Standing Committee contains a balance of both groups, which makes it difficult to predict what course of action the new government may take. On one hand, the presence of both factions within the government could prevent decisive action, and result in a continuation of the status quo. On the other hand, the balanced nature of the government could provide it with the necessary stability to undertake critical reforms. In the long run, it would be in the interest of both factions to undertake these reforms, since enhancing the rule of law is critical both both attracting investment and promoting economic growth, a key priority of the “princelings”, as well to reducing economic inequality, a major concern of the opposing faction.

While China’s government faces key decisions in the yeas to come, the United States must also decide how to interact with a rising China. Subramanian argues that multilateral negotiations present the best possibility for the United States to cope with a dominant China by joining forces with other nations. In fact, the effectiveness of this method is independent of the validity of Subramanian’s conclusions. Let us assume , for instance, that instead of China as the dominant hegemon, we witness a period of multi-polarity in which the United States, China, the European Union, Russia, and other major nations share power. Fareed Zakaria makes a strong case for such a scenario in his book A Post-American World, and such a scenario could even be the long-term consequence of Subramanian’s predictions when countries such as India and Brazil finally fully industrialize.

In a multi-polar world, multi-lateral interactions will be crucial. Likewise, even in a situation in which the United States remains the preeminent hegemon, interacting with China on a multi-lateral basis would strengthen the United States’ already considerable leverage with China. Thus, even as it adjusts to the rise of China and its potential consequences, the U.S. should embrace multi-lateral negotiations as a means of extending its leverage and furthering the pursuit of American power.

-Rahul Subramanian

"This administration — like previous administrations — has been very clear with Israel that these..."

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:28:41 -0500

“This administration — like previous administrations — has been very clear with Israel that these activities set back the cause of a negotiated peace.”

- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton • Discussing Israel’s plan to build new settlements on the West Bank in violation of international law, a decision announced hours after the United Nations voted in favor of giving Palestine de facto statehood. While critical of the newly-announced settlements, Clinton said that the United States would continue to favor Israel in peace talks. “If and when the parties are ready to enter into direct negotiations to solve the conflict, President (Barack) Obama will be a full partner to them,” she said. (via shortformblog)

U.S. Department of State: Observing World AIDS Day All Year Round

Sat, 01 Dec 2012 13:27:40 -0500

U.S. Department of State: Observing World AIDS Day All Year Round:

statedept:

About the Author: David Shear serves as U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam.

Just like many other places around the world, here in Vietnam, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) team is commemorating World AIDS Day on December 1. As a tradition over the past…

In South Africa, Apartheid-Era Education Persists

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 23:30:00 -0500

It has been twenty-two years since former Prime Minister F.W. de Klerk and soon-to-be-elected President Nelson Mandela jubilantly held their intertwined hands above their heads, marking the end of apartheid and the beginning of a new South Africa: a rainbow nation that would count each of its citizens as equals. But has this dream actually been realized? Driving through the slums of Soweto earlier this year, my mother quizzed my tour guide on race relations since the end of apartheid in 1994. “Things are getting better,” he said, “but some things aren’t much different.”

Last Thursday, Jonathan Jansen, prominent South African academic and vice-chancellor of the University of the Free State, spoke out against the current status of education, especially for blacks in his country. He likened many present-day schools to those that existed under the Bantu Education Act , the law that created racially segregated schools for South Africans that would teach them how to succeed in the world in which they lived—for blacks, a world in which they were second class citizens.

Though South African schools no longer teach according to this mentality, the school’s resources say otherwise Harkening back to facilities that persisted in the United States during its own era of discriminatory segregation, many schools in rural South Africa that predominantly teach black students lack the necessary supplies to adequately educate. For most of last year, for example, students in the provinces of Limpopo and Eastern Cape did not have textbooks.

The direct result of these dysfunctional schools has been the inability of blacks to advance into higher education. While 98% of white South Africans passed their math exams in 2009, only 39% of black South Africans did. On a similar note, only 1 out of 10 black South Africans is prepared for university.

In his speech, “The Mathematics of Democracy”, Jansen argues that the reason behind this educational failure is an attitude towards the education of blacks that lingers from the apartheid era. “Neither Hendrick Verwoerd (the architect of apartheid) nor the current minister of education believe that a black child can excel in mathematics,” he argues. Instead, he believes, the government’s education policymakers have chosen to push black students towards “maths literacy,” an easier version of traditional mathematics, and a track that disqualifies students from pursuing fields such as engineering or accounting.

Is this really different from apartheid education? When we look at the status of black South Africans since the end of apartheid do we see advancement or stagnation? Are these children going to be able to compete with their white counterparts or achieve equal levels of success? Are children born in the post-apartheid era really doing better academically than their parents or grandparents?

-Kayla Lawrence

UN pushes for stronger efforts to end practice of female genital...

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 21:20:17 -0500

UN pushes for stronger efforts to end practice of female genital mutilation (by UNECOSOC)