In The News

The Decline of Agriculture?

Dahr Jamail July 18, 2011
Farmers who depend on reliable seasonal patterns are troubled by climate change, whether gradual or volatile disruption. Farmers and climate researchers increasingly question agriculture’s ability to feed fast-growing populations. Early sprouting, dry spells, torrential rains, virulent pests and need for replanting are no longer rare occurrences. The weather extremes of 2011 are unprecedented,...

The Ticking Food Bomb

Nayan Chanda July 8, 2011
The globe confronts a perfect storm of challenges this century: climate change, rising inequality, limited fossil fuels and a growing population that put pressure food and water supplies. If population expands to 9 billion as expected, food demand will double by 2050 even as the rate of growth in the agriculture sector declines. Nations, fully aware, recognize that food shortages and price hikes...

Obama Tries to Stop Execution in Texas of Mexican Killer

Chris McGreal July 6, 2011
Article VI, Paragraph II, of the US Constitution designates international treaties signed by the federal government as “the supreme Law of the Land,” which individual US states cannot override. The 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations provides that foreign nationals charged with crimes are entitled to meet with their consular officers and arrange for legal representation. That detail was...

Dutch State “Responsible for Three Srebrenica Deaths”

July 5, 2011
Since 1948, the UN has assigned peacekeeping forces, contributed by member states, to maintain peace in countries torn by conflict. The mandate to protect civilians is “often the yardstick by which we are judged,” notes the UN. A Netherlands court has ruled the Dutch state is responsible for the 1995 deaths of three Bosnian Muslims who had worked for the Dutch peacekeepers, reports BBC News. The...

Why Israel Should Welcome Palestine

David Avital May 19, 2011
More than 140 nations are ready to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly meeting in September. UN approval could put Israel and the US on the defensive. With the Israeli-Palestinian peace process at a stalemate, the US could break that deadlock by pursuing agreement on borders, suggests David Avital of the Israeli Policy Forum in an opinion essay for Politico. Establishing the...

Global Split Over Next IMF Chief

Peggy Hollinger, Barney Jopson, Alan Beattie, Robin Harding May 18, 2011
With 187 member nations and a staff of 2400, the International Monetary Fund promotes cooperation, exchange-rate stability and balanced growth of international trade, particularly during times of economic crisis. The agency of the United Nations has its own charter and finances, according to the IMF website, with members “represented through a quota system broadly based on their relative size in...

Libyan Fallout: Does NATO Divide the Atlantic Partners? Part I

Alistair Burnett May 10, 2011
With differing levels of enthusiasm among members, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization mounts military operations to end the Libyan government’s attacks on civilians. This two-part series analyzes the NATO mission and members’ commitment to the alliance’s future. In the first article, Alistair Burnett, of BBC News, describes the alliance’s intervention in Libya as half-hearted. Of 28 NATO...