Currency and History; Acknowledging the Other Side of the Coin

Should Jackson Stay on the $20 Bill?
An inspired take on presenting both sides of the historical 'coin,' NPR's Steve Inskeep proposes a more thoughtful and balanced approach to selecting the historical figures whose images appear on our currency...

Back to the Future in West Asia

From Iran to Cuba....the USS Columbia is turning?

In today's New York Times President Obama's trip to Latin America and his opening to Cuba is analyzed. In a matter of a week, President Obama's team has changed course on two long-standing foreign policy areas with grand implications.  Iran and Cuba have been closely tied to the rise of the US as a global power since 1898, yet both states violently expelled American patronage in the second half of the 20th century.  Iran and Cuba have defined the rise and hubris of the American century, as well as the limits to American power. The sobering outcomes of US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan brought forth the Obama presidency with its transformative promise. Since Cairo in 2009, Libya in 2011, Syria 2013 and to this latest series of agreements the Obama Administration has been attempting to change the course of the American foreign policy. The effects of this course change will certainly be significant, but a final assessment will not be rendered for a while. Nonetheless, as Columbia is opening up its arms to its former "allies" the immediate test will be whether she is willing to accept them as they are, rather than try to change them, which is the test that every parent faces.

Even though we are at end of the Fall semester, the world still goes on!

As the Fall academic semester is coming to an end and as finals are being sweated over, I often remind students that political events don't follow an academic calendar not even a weekly calendar of a five-day work work-week. In fact as 2014 is coming to an end we are certainly at a period of increased uncertainty, as the US Congress is about to have a drastic make-over, Europe is bracing for another Greek political crisis, Russia is reliving the 1980s as a collapsing oil market and rising dollar is testing the mettle of the state. The ethno-religious confrontations of western Asia are matched by the tensions centered around China, Japan and India in the Indian-Pacific region. Meanwhile upcoming elections in Africa and South America will test political stability and continue to test legitimacy gap between the citizenry and the government in many of those societies. Persistent inequality, poverty and hunger, climate change, terrorism, immigration, pandemics and political violence continue to strain government institutions as contagion of failed states is spreading beyond the global south using the same paths of globalization.
The 2015 checkpoint of the Millennium Developmental Goals is fast approaching and from all indications none of the eight goals would have been met, even though progress has been made across the board none of the goals have been met. Nonetheless the realization that gender, education, health, hunger and interconnectedness are essential to global development and consequently less violence is essential. It is essential thus to constantly be engaged beyond the limitations of the calendar as we should become global citizens with all the responsibilities and rights that identification entails. The first step in being engaged is to understand the language of the world affairs and to break down the noise, which inhibits global citizenship and promotes defection. Reading and being informed is the only way to gain the comfort and the confidence necessary to participate.
Mark Bittman's opinion article in The New York Times, "Is it Bad Enough Yet?" encapsulates many of the points and the climate of unease, tension, and pressure that many in the peripheries of state and global economic structure are feeling, a sense of asphyxiation.

"We Can End Poverty" Through Creative Math?

As we are approaching the first target date for The United Nations Millennium Developmental Goals of 2015, the United Nations has utilized some creative means to meet the first goal relating to global poverty. The criteria of the first goal, which is the eradication of poverty and extreme hunger,  have been redefined so as to meet the goal in time.

"Target 1.A:  

Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.25 a day"

In a number of recent articles, the United Nations and other organizations have undertaken a process so as to refime the threshold for who is considered poor based on horrifically low levels of consumption. For instance in a recent article in the Guardian newspaper of London, Ravi S Jha, questions in Redefining Poverty, the wisdom of reducing the threshold of poverty to $1.25 per person, since the number of poor is increasing and the inequality is getting greater, especially in India and China.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO): FIFA and the World Cup

Think Again: The Eurocrisis - By David Gordon and Douglas Rediker | Foreign Policy

Think Again: The Eurocrisis - By David Gordon and Douglas Rediker | Foreign Policy. Being in Greece the last two months, it is quite evident that an exit from the Eurozone is practically not possible. Although there is a great deal of discussion and anger, when push comes shove there is a great deal of acceptance that this country and this society is undergoing a great transformation. The troubling variable for me is the fact that society seems to be in a condition of lethargy and apprehension.