Yesterday was a day of high political action here in Islamabad. Nawaz Sharif is now under virtual house arrest in Saudi Arabia, but at least he has a lavish...
David Steven
David Steven is a senior fellow at the UN Foundation and at New York University, where he founded the Global Partnership to End Violence against Children and the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies, a multi-stakeholder partnership to deliver the SDG targets for preventing all forms of violence, strengthening governance, and promoting justice and inclusion. He was lead author for the ministerial Task Force on Justice for All and senior external adviser for the UN-World Bank flagship study on prevention, Pathways for Peace. He is a former senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of The Risk Pivot: Great Powers, International Security, and the Energy Revolution (Brookings Institution Press, 2014). In 2001, he helped develop and launch the UK’s network of climate diplomats. David lives in and works from Pisa, Italy.
Security to partnering to overwatch (ugh)
Watching General Petraeus’s powerhouse testimony today (wasn't Crocker a crock in contrast?), I could think of two reasons for doubting the rosy message he...
Five hours in Pakistan
The Pakistan Spectator - a local blog - comments on Nawaz Sharif's brief trip home: The rationale of today's drama was that Nawaz Sharif hadnt got the...
Going, going, gone (maybe)
So Nawaz Sharif is being deported... He was taken from the airport by helicopter and, for a time, it looked like he would be arrested and kept in Pakistan....
Standoff.
As passengers begin to disembark flight PK-786, Nawaz Sharif, his entourage and a few journalists are said to remain on board. Security officials have joined...
Interesting times…
Here in Islamabad, the airport has been sealed off, mobile phones jammed, and demonstrators kept far far away as former-Pakistan premier, Nawaz Sharif,...
Piss Power.
While we're talking about resilience, what could be more useful - when the worst happens - than a battery that can be recharged by peeing into it... Dubbed...
Four tales of community resilience.
First, the Economist on the role 'amateur' health care workers can play in building public health systems: The idea is to harness people's existing culture of...
re: US Policy on Iran
Alex has written twice now about Barney Rubin's speculation that a determined campaign to soften up American opinion for war on Iran is now underway. Count me...
Rape in the Corner.
Over at National Review's The Corner, John Podhoretz links approvingly to a review of Brian De Palma's new anti-war film: Redacted. Redacted is, putting it...
How Bush thinks.
A conversation with George Bush, as reported in Robert Draper's new book: "The job of the president," he continued, through an ample wad of bread and sausage,...
A new paradigm.
When a member of the Bush administration tried to persuade me that her boss was a 'thought leader' on climate change, my first thought was that I was being...
Who would the world elect?
Meaningless, but fun...
A coup in Iraq?
Despite the feverish speculation, Nibras Kazimi isn't buying it. His take: These are the usual amateurish stunts that US diplomats and spooks resort to when...
Who leaks?
Not the grass roots, seemingly... For years, the military has been warning that soldiers' blogs could pose a security threat by leaking sensitive wartime...
Believe everything you read in the papers.
Or not. According to research into news reports in ten US papers: About 69 percent of the 3,600 news sources [eg people named in an article] completed the...
Passport disaster.
In case you've ever wondered why only 20% of Americans have passports, Bruce Reed has at least part of the answer...
Christian China, takes on Islam, Oh Good.
Here's a purported future trend that has some on the right salivating - a rapidly Christianizing China acting as a natural counterweight to Islam. According...
Climate decider
Some few months ago, I had dinner with a State official who tried to convince me that George Bush was a 'thought leader' on climate change - yes really. Time...
How to be a terrorist.
Freakanomics author Steven Levitt has been... "...thinking about what I would do to maximize terror if I were a terrorist with limited resources. I’d start by...
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What do we need to do to win the fight against inequality? An activist-researcher seeks your advice.
As activists we sometimes talk as if we know the answers. As researchers we get to admit that we don't (until publication, of course :-)). As both an activist, and a researcher, I'm asking for your advice. I'm really delighted to be starting a new role this month as...