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Kenya Dig A Cellphone Revolution
There is a revolution in Kenya that parallels the banking system and the broadband revolution but is something entirely its own: the cellular revolution.
Political Minutes: Eric Holder speaks at WLF
Thursday evening, as part of the World Leaders Forum, United States Attorney General Eric Holder came home to Columbia to speak under Low's rotunda.
Political Minutes: GlobeMed Health Care Debate
Should states allow individuals to opt out of the of the Affordable HealthCare Act? Is health a universal human right? Is healthcare? Whose responsibility is it to provide healthcare?
Political Minutes: Ruby Bridges Comes to Campus
Wednesday night, The Veritas Forum chapter at Columbia University hosted an interview and discussion with Ruby Bridges who famously integrated William Frantz Elementary School in 1960, when she was just six years old.
Tampa, We Have a Problem
While President Obama still has a long way to go on the road to reelection, it is quickly becoming clear that the current set of Republican presidential candidates don’t have what we, in this country, used to call “the right stuff.”
I Love India (And You Should Too!)
As President Barack Obama put it in a November 2010 speech, the Constitution of India and the United States Constitution “begin with the same revolutionary words.” Those words, of course, are “We the People.”
A Sisyphean Effort
This past week the now hydra-like Greek debt crisis reared yet another one of its re-growing heads. Anti-austerity protests returned to Athens as Greek ministers attempted to acquiesce to the demands of European Union leaders who thought that the problem had already been dealt with. The continuation of the Greek recession, now entering historic periods of length and severity at five years and a 16 percent decrease from pre-recession GDP, should not be seen as a surprise.
2012 Latin American Political Playbook
2012, by all accounts, will be a year for the history books.
Political Minutes: Turath Forum on Obama's Foreign Policy
Turath, the Arab Students Group, hosted a debate last night on President Obama’s Middle East Foreign Policy that brought together the College Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Socialists, and The Current (Jewish-affairs magazine).
What Makes A Regime Legitimate?
Last column, I wrote about the events in the Middle East as a sort of “grand game” between Israel and the United States against Iran. Recently, some commentators and writers have gone as far as to insinuate that what we are seeing is an attempt to destabilize and overthrow a regime that is, in some fashion, legitimate.
Political Minutes: Columbia Political Union Debate Series
Mingming Feng covers CPU's debate between the College Democrats and the College Republicans on affirmative action.
When Barry Became...George?
A great deal has been written on President Obama’s continuation of many of the Bush administration’s policies in regards to terrorism. Growth in the size and operational tempo of special warfare units, the extensive use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) against terrorist targets worldwide, and the National Security Agency's (NSA) ongoing warrantless surveillance programs – all of these began with President Bush.
But Seriously, Let’s Go
It’s official. The war that has topped headlines for half of my life is officially being drawn down, and within a few more years, it will probably be over. I am talking, of course, about the war in Afghanistan.
Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina (I’m With The Brits)
You have to admit: The current crop of Latin American socialist leaders is the gift that just keeps on giving.
Russian Defrost?
This month, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev sent a bill to the Duma calling for the reinstatement of direct gubernatorial elections by the people of Russia’s provinces.
The Rocky Fate of the Euro
The past year has been a most tumultuous one for the nations of the eurozone, from the sunny shores of debt-ridden Greece to her disgruntled northern neighbors. The seventeen-member union has approached the brink of disaster and backed down seemingly several times a day for months, exhausting lenders and spectators, while inciting political unrest throughout the region.
Grand Strategy, Iran, and the Arab Spring
This week, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran asserted that Iran was ready for negotiations on its nuclear (weapons) program. Indeed, he insisted that it always had been, and that European and American declarations to the contrary were, in fact, “excuses.”
Waiting, Sitting, Wishing
On December 6 this past year, I was anxious to get to Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to witness the nation’s presidential election.
