In any middle school civics class you’ll learn that the system of checks and balances is a central tenet of the U.S. Constitution. Over the last 100 years, however, it appears the government has been operating under different assumptions, particularly where trade policy is concerned.
President Barack Obama will meet Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on July 30, his first meeting with a Southeast Asian head of state. Although it’s too early to see where the Obama administration will take policy in Southeast Asia, Obama’s personal connection to the region will likely increase Southeast Asia’s profile in Washington.
(New $50M Rehab Center Opens on Fort Sam Houston, CBS News, Jan 2007) Wheeled onto the jet leaving my town, another soldier whose pruned body echoes earth liberating itself from gravity. Inside the cave of his grey -hooded shirt he sweats as might a ghost or cello. As in another war when a baptism and […]
Amnesty International has confirmed that since 1992 the number of murdered women and girls from and around Ciudad Juárez is 475, and it believes over 5,000 women and girls have disappeared. – Barbara Martinez Jittner, independent film-maker i. On this eve of the dead, I cry out loud,“por favor Virgen de Guadalupe, don’t forsake me,” […]
To Y. Thao Look how you’ve carried these small bodies across the ocean, looking for the next one to hear the story. Look how gently you laid these children down at the fire where stories are told. I hear it again: how the choppers lifted out of Saigon, cut away the desperate arms and fled, […]
In Memory of Saeed One day my father called us and said: I have three gifts for you — A red heart, an hourglass, and… O God, I don’t remember the other one. Mehdy took the heart Opened its two halves And strummed the strings of its chambers. I took the hourglass And along its […]
A chaikhana is a Central Asian teahouse where poets and performers — men and (unveiled) women — sing verses and recite prose in a conversational atmosphere with fellow patrons. In New York, last month’s Muslim Voices festival recreated a chaikhana to showcase Urdu writers from Pakistan, performances of Lebanese zajal (dueling poetry with audience response and affirmation), and West African jaliya, an hereditary bardic tradition from Mali that has produced many world music stars.
Starting my first year in office, I will convene annual meetings with Mr. Calderón and the prime minister of Canada. Unlike similar summits under President Bush, these will be conducted with a level of transparency that represents the close ties among our three countries. We will seek the active and open involvement of citizens, labor, the private sector and non-governmental organizations in setting the agenda and making progress.
The streets of Eastleigh, a neighborhood of Nairobi known as "Little Mogadishu," are full of deep potholes, dust, and exhaust fumes. Somali women, many covered from head to toe, are braving the traffic. The smell of traditional Somali spices competes with the smoke from badly maintained engines. The traffic eases and the hubbub dies down only after the calls for prayer from countless neighborhood mosques.