Pastor Cancels Koran Burning and Plans to Meet Imam
The pastor planning a burning of the Koran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks said Thursday he would not go forward with the event, adding he would meet with the imam planning to build an Islamic center near ground zero.
But a deal that the pastor, Terry Jones, said that he had reached to move the Islamic center far from ground zero seems to be more vision than reality. The imam planning the center, Feisal Abdul Rauf, said in a statement that he had not spoken to Mr. Jones or Muhammad Musri, the Orlando Imam who has been acting as a mediator between New York and Gainesville.
Gail Collins: The 5 Percent Doctrine
The Koran-burning has been equated, in some circles, with the fabled ground zero mosque. This is under the theory that both are constitutionally protected bad ideas. In fact, they’re very different. Muslims building a community center in their neighborhood on one hand. Deliberate attempt to insult a religion that is dear to about 1.5 billion souls around the globe on the other. When this sort of thing happens, it is important to remember that about 5 percent of our population is and always will be totally crazy.
7 September
US: Religious Leaders Condemn Growing Islamophobia
(IPS) Leaders of some three dozen mainstream U.S. religious denominations Tuesday condemned what many commentators have called a rising tide of Islamophobia touched off by the recent controversy over the construction of a Muslim community centre in Lower Manhattan. The group, which included national leaders of the Muslim and Jewish communities, as well as from the Roman Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches, singled out the threat by one Florida church to publicly burn copies of the Qu’ran to mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
5 September
From the Other Side of Ground Zero, Anti-Muslim Venom
(NYT) Bill Keller, the Internet evangelist promoted his center, which he called the 9/11 Christian Center at Ground Zero, as a religious counterweight to the mosque, which he repeatedly called a “victory mosque” or a monument to “a great Muslim military accomplishment”. His career arc makes him a somewhat unusual standard-bearer: Mr. Keller became a preacher after serving a sentence in federal prison for insider trading, as he says in a biography posted on his Web site. UGH!
3 September
New York Poll Finds Wariness About Muslim Center
Two-thirds of New York City residents want a planned Muslim community center and mosque to be relocated to a less controversial site farther away from ground zero in Lower Manhattan, including many who describe themselves as supporters of the project, according to a New York Times poll.
1 September
Islamic Center Imam: Fight Could Shape Future Of Muslims In America
(HuffPost) Rauf suggested that the fierce challenges to the planned mosque and community center in lower Manhattan could leave many Muslim questioning their place in American political and civic life.
But he avoided questions over whether an alternative site is possible. Instead, he repeatedly stressed the need to embrace the religious and political freedoms in the United States.
28 August
Let Reformation Begin at Ground Zero
(Newsweek) The debate over the Islamic center in lower Manhattan—the mosque with a pool and a prayer room—is not a matter of being for religious liberty and thus for the center, nor is it one of being against the center and therefore a bigot. Sometimes life offers such stark moral crises. This is not one of them.
To indict a faith for the sins of a few, though, is a tricky business. Christians have massacred innocents before, too, and they have interpreted Scripture in ways to justify slavery, and the subjugation of women, among other things.
Still, Islam needs reform. There are virulent elements of anti-Semitism and sexism abroad in the faith. There are, as we have noted, big strains of extreme anti-Western, specifically anti-American, hatred.
27 August
Ross Douthat: More on Rauf and Moderate Islam
… Certainly I don’t see the imam as a deeply sinister figure, or a brilliant machiavel with vast and dark designs. But he does seem like the kind of person who makes excuses for sinister figures, and curries favor with them, and bobs and weaves where their crimes are concerned, all in the name of dialogue and evenhandedness. And that seems like sufficient grounds for criticism and mistrust.
26 August
Saudi Royal Backs Imam and Fox News
In an awkward moment on Fox News this week, a pundit suggested that a member of the Saudi royal family who has supported the bridge-building work of the imam behind a planned Muslim community center and mosque in Lower Manhattan “funds radical madrasas all over the world.” The awkwardness came from the fact — unmentioned by anyone on the Fox set — that the same Saudi, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, also happens to be the second-largest shareholder in News Corp., the parent company of the Fox News Channel.
22 August
Frank Rich: How Fox Betrayed Petraeus
(NYT) THE “ground zero mosque,” as you may well know by now, is not at ground zero. It’s not a mosque but an Islamic cultural center containing a prayer room. It’s not going to determine President Obama’s political future or the elections of 2010 or 2012. Still, the battle that has broken out over this project in Lower Manhattan — on the “hallowed ground” of a shuttered Burlington Coat Factory store one block from the New York Dolls Gentlemen’s Club — will prove eventful all the same. And the consequences will be far more profound than any midterm election results or any of the grand debates now raging 24/7 over the parameters of tolerance, religious freedom, and the real estate gospel of location, location, location.
Here’s what’s been lost in all the screaming. The prime movers in the campaign against the “ground zero mosque” just happen to be among the last cheerleaders for America’s nine-year war in Afghanistan. The wrecking ball they’re wielding is not merely pounding Park51, as the project is known, but is demolishing America’s already frail support for that war, which is dedicated to nation-building in a nation whose most conspicuous asset besides opium is actual mosques.
19 August
Jon Stewart on the 9/11 Mosque
Raymond Ibrahim: Top Muslims Condemn Ground Zero Mosque as a ‘Zionist Conspiracy’
… should the mosque be built, it will be an Islamist triumph. However, at the rate things are going — this issue is set to be a hot topic for upcoming elections — time may well reveal that the victory of erecting a mega-mosque near Ground Zero was as much symbolic as it was pyrrhic, not just for Islamists, but their political supporters as well.
Cordoba House: What the Arab papers say
(The Economist) HAVING largely ignored the story in recent weeks, the Arab press has begun to take note of the controversy over plans for Cordoba House, an Islamic centre near ground zero in New York, after Barack Obama spoke out on the issue. The commentary thus far has mixed consternation that the project is meeting so much opposition with caution about how those behind it should proceed.
Many commentators noted with concern rising Islamophobia in America. Hossam Eitani, writing in Dar al-Hayat, a pan-Arab daily, places the current bout of anti-Islamic feeling in a wider context of intolerance of minorities being championed by the tea-party movement.
18 August
Robert Scheer on the anti-Muslim Demagogues
“Ground Zero for Tolerance” — The irrational attack on Muslims everywhere by the GOP’s leadership is not only deeply subversive with regard to the American ideal of religious tolerance but also poses a profound threat to our national security.
17 August
As the Debate Over “Ground Zero Mosque” Grows More Shrill, I Wonder: Isn’t This What the Terrorists Wanted?
A mosque within sight of the former World Trade Center site, especially if it is dedicated to peace, would be a pointed punch in the face to those who bet on Americans’ worst instincts.
Sure, job one was to kill Americans, and job two was to make us fear homeland violence the way an Israeli might worry about a rocket launched from the West Bank. But one of the goals Islamic extremists have always had is to turn moderate Muslims against the West; to show them that we cannot be trusted to treat them fairly or consider their freedoms.
And they have had no better partner in that awful dance than our own religious fundamentalists.
16 August
Obama attacked over NY mosque
Republicans have assailed Barack Obama over his response to plans for an Islamic centre close to the site of the September 11 2001 attacks in New York, after a weekend in which the White House sought to clarify the president’s stance on the issue
How the “ground zero mosque” fear mongering began
A viciously anti-Muslim blogger, the New York Post and the right-wing media machine: How it all went down
(Salon.com) A group of progressive Muslim-Americans plans to build an Islamic community center two and a half blocks from ground zero in lower Manhattan. They have had a mosque in the same neighborhood for many years. There’s another mosque two blocks away from the site. City officials support the project. Muslims have been praying at the Pentagon, the other building hit on Sept. 11, for many years.
In short, there is no good reason that the Cordoba House project should have been a major national news story, let alone controversy. And yet it has become just that, dominating the political conversation for weeks and prompting such a backlash that, according to a new poll, nearly 7 in 10 Americans now say they oppose the project. How did the Cordoba House become so toxic, so fast?
13 August
Obama Strongly Backs Islam Center Near 9/11 Site
President Obama delivered a strong defense on Friday night of a proposed Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, using a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan to proclaim that “as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”
Aides to Mr. Obama say privately that he has always felt strongly about the proposed community center and mosque, but the White House did not want to weigh in until local authorities made a decision on the proposal, planned for two blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center.
Last week, New York City removed the final construction hurdle for the project, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spoke forcefully in favor of it.
4 August
Raymond Ibrahim: Why the Ground Zero Mosque is Counterproductive to the Islamist Cause
While vexing to many, the mega mosque set to be built two blocks from Ground Zero has produced one interesting but unintended consequence: like the 9/11 strikes a decade before it, the “9/11 mosque” is also creating a stir, is making people think and talk — about Islam. Raymond Ibrahim is associate director of the Middle East Forum, author of The Al Qaeda Reader, and guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College.

19 December 2007
Al Qaeda in 2008: The Struggle for Relevance
(www.stradtfor.com) There are two battlegrounds in the war against jihadism: the physical and the ideological. Because of its operational security considerations, the al Qaeda core has been marginalized in the physical battle, causing it to take up the mantle of leadership in the ideological battle. As we head into 2008, however, there are signs that the ideological war is not going so well for the jihadists. [more]

[UK] Plan for graduate high-fliers to pay premium levy
(FT) Government officials are considering a plan to make graduates who become big earners pay a premium for their education as the coalition seeks ways to find extra money for universities
5 September
The End of Tenure?
At a time when nearly one in 10 American workers is unemployed, [tenured professors] (the complaint goes) are guaranteed jobs for life, teach only a few hours a week, routinely get entire years off, dump grading duties onto graduate students and produce “research” on subjects like “Rednecks, Queers and Country Music” or “The Whatness of Books.” Or maybe they stop doing research altogether (who’s going to stop them?), dropping their workweek to a manageable dozen hours or so, all while making $100,000 or more a year. …
That sketch — relayed on numerous blogs and op-ed pages — is exaggerated, but no one who has observed the academic world could call it entirely false. And it’s a vision that has caught on with an American public worried about how to foot the bill for it all.
27 August
A costly lesson
If “executive” MBA programmes are not much different from their full-time counterparts, how do business schools justify charging twice the price?
(The Economist) Perhaps the best answer to the question about price differential lies not in the quality of teaching or faculty or even in the standard of accommodation, food and wine. Instead, the premium comes down to the doors that an EMBA opens. More honest graduates admit that the most valuable thing they got from their business school was not any classroom lesson or insight, but membership of an exclusive club. And while a full-time MBA might give you access to the junior branch an EMBA gives you a lifetime pass to the senior common room itself.
25 August
The language crisis in British schools
For the first time ever, French has slipped out of the top 10 of the most popular subjects at GCSE – the most obvious sign of the seemingly inexorable slide in languages take-up in schools, which employers say will damage British students on the international jobs market.
20 August
Minister’s ’segregation’ warning as independent schools shine
Privately educated children three times more likely to be given new A* grade
15 August
Academic Bankruptcy
With unemployment soaring, higher education has never been more important to society or more widely desired. But the collapse of our public education system and the skyrocketing cost of private education threaten to make college unaffordable for millions of young people. If recent trends continue, four years at a top-tier school will cost $330,000 in 2020, $525,000 in 2028 and $785,000 in 2035.
Yet most faculty and administrators refuse to acknowledge this crisis. Consider what is taking place here in New York City. Rather than learning to live within their means, Columbia University, where I teach, and New York University are engaged in a fierce competition to expand as widely and quickly as possible. Last spring, N.Y.U. announced plans to increase its physical plant by 40 percent over the next 20 years; this summer Columbia secured approval for its $6.3 billion expansion in Upper Manhattan. N.Y.U. is also opening a new campus in Abu Dhabi this fall.
6 August
Six Years to Earn a College Degree in the United States?
The average student now takes six years or more to earn a bachelor’s degree…
Despite a rise in the total number of people seeking higher education, the graduation rate continues to fall, with rising tuition rates being cited as the main reason most people don’t finish their studies.
Just a generation ago, the United States had more college graduates between the ages of 25 and 44 than any other country in the world. Canada claims that distinction today with 56% of its adult population holding degrees, compared to 40.4% of Americans.
4 August
Diversity Debate Convulses Elite High School
[Hunter College High School] is in turmoil, with much of the faculty in an uproar over the resignation of a popular principal, the third in five years. In her departure speech to teachers in late June, the principal cited several reasons for her decision, including tensions over a lack of diversity at the school, which had been the subject of a controversial graduation address the day before by one of the school’s few African-American students.
1 August
Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age
(NYT) Professors used to deal with plagiarism by admonishing students to give credit to others and to follow the style guide for citations, and pretty much left it at that.
Digital technology makes copying and pasting easy, of course. But that is the least of it. The Internet may also be redefining how students — who came of age with music file-sharing, Wikipedia and Web-linking — understand the concept of authorship and the singularity of any text or image.
30 July
Quebec shuts French Laval private school with English curriculum
A decision by Quebec education-department officials to revoke, effective immediately, the provincial operating permit of a private, 300-student elementary school in Laval - one that consistently turns out high-performing, fluently bilingual youngsters - triggered a promise of fiery, unyielding refusal Friday.
As one factor, the ministry cited l’Académie Lavalloise’s core policy of providing 30 per cent English curriculum, from kindergarten through to the end of Grade 6.
4 July
More money, more space at English CEGEPs
Quebec’s $1-million funding hike provides welcome relief for students left out in cold
With more than $1 million in new money being injected by the Quebec government to help resolve the space problem at Montreal Island CEGEPs, the three English colleges have been sending out offers of admission to qualified students they initially had to turn away.
3 July
We applaud this good news for U.S. education. For too long Americans have been accused - often accurately - of being insular and ignorant of other cultures.
International Program Catches On in U.S. Schools
The alphabet soup of college admissions is getting more complicated as the International Baccalaureate, or I.B., grows in popularity as an alternative to the better-known Advanced Placement program.
The lesser-known I.B., a two-year curriculum developed in the 1960s at an international school in Switzerland, first took hold in the United States in private schools. But it is now offered in more than 700 American high schools — more than 90 percent of them public schools — and almost 200 more have begun the long certification process.
Many parents, schools and students see the program as a rigorous and more internationally focused curriculum, and a way to impress college admissions officers.
18 June
Q&A: Academies and free schools
(BBC) The new coalition government is inviting all schools in England to become academies and encouraging parents to set up their own schools. The BBC News website explains what academies and free schools are.
16 June
Equality of opportunity should not be compromised at CEGEPS
(Suburban editorial) Whatever one may think of the provincial government’s responsibility to aid higher education, it is the very policies of that government that have made CEGEPS very much an extension of the public education system over the past decades. As such, the government has a responsibility to assure that all citizens have a right to equal opportunity of access. Regardless of language. It does not mean dollar for dollar funding. But it does mean funding that – pro rated – affords the means for English CEGEPS to serve the community.as fully as the French CEGEPS do. English students should not be the victims of discrimination by language. The metaphor is civil rights. The message is that benign neglect cannot be allowed to stand.
MEI:

Raising university tuition fees does not reduce access

The issue of university financing has returned to the centre of discussion on the future of Quebec’s higher education system. A growing number people in the academic world, the business community and the political sphere (including former premier Lucien Bouchard last February) are suggesting that tuition fees be raised. In September, McGill University will be receiving the first MBA students who will have to pay $29, 500 a year for their program, despite opposition from the Quebec Department of Education.
To help in examining this issue, the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) is publishing today an update of a previous Economic Note as a reminder that the available data for Canadian provinces show no relationship between tuition fee levels and access to university studies.
8 June
Pauline Marois will choose for everyone
“It is not acceptable to send this message, that it is possible to have free choice.”
(Gazette editorial) Marois was speaking about free choice in language of education at a news conference where the usual “friends of sovereignty” were announcing a “new coalition” - remarkably like all their other coalitions - this one against the Liberal government’s Bill 103.
… this might awaken more francophones to what is being denied to them. Some of lawyer Brent Tyler’s clients in the case that got Bill 104 over-ruled in the Supreme Court were francophones. Many francophones resent the fact that “status” anglophones - those whose children are eligible for English school - have more choice than francophones do. [something we have been preaching for many years]
Le PQ assujettirait les cégeps à la loi 101
Porté au pouvoir, un gouvernement du Parti québécois assujettira les cégeps à la loi 101. Ainsi, les allophones et les francophones ne pourraient plus choisir de fréquenter un cégep anglais.
Longtemps évoquée dans les instances du Parti québécois, cette disposition se trouve dans la proposition de programme électoral que la direction du Parti québécois rendra publique le 19 juin, et dont les militants débattront jusqu’au congrès, début 2011.
15 May
Squeezed out of English CEGEPs
Sharp increase in applicants. Rejection devastating for many students who are ‘good kids’ with average grades
The overall rise in applications for this fall at Montreal Island CEGEPs was 8.7 per cent, and 17. 2 per cent at English colleges, reports the Service Régional d’Admission du Montréal métropolitain (SRAM), a centralized service that manages applications for 32 colleges in Quebec including Vanier and John Abbott.Education Department enrollment forecasts call for rising student numbers to peak next year and start to drop off in about 2013.
6 May
Prominent Quebecers call for McGill MBA fee hike
A number of influential private citizens in Quebec have signed an open letter backing McGill university’s plan to raise tuition fees for its MBA programme.
The forty signatories say the program is one of the best in the world, and it deserves to be able to raise more money by raising its tuition to $30,000 per year.
21 April 2010
Quebec threatens to fine McGill University
Quebec Education Minister Michelle Courchesne is threatening to slash public funding for McGill University if the school goes ahead with a plan to raise tuition fees for its graduate business program.
2 February 2010
How do grads fare in matching diplomas with jobs?
Jake Murdoch spends much of his time examining how deftly graduates can match their degrees to eventual jobs. In the process, this professor at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Education has uncovered startling cultural and job market differences around the world.

11 June 2009
One of Canada’s leading economists says universities should prepare for declining enrolment, not growth
David Foote: “We know that there’s a smaller cohort of 17 year olds and 18 years olds [coming], and so we know that university and post secondary enrolments will gradually decline in the first decade of the new millennium.” University participation rates have increased sharply over the past generation, and many assume the trend will continue. Foot says it’s unlikely. “Past trends embody the incredible increase in the participation of women in post secondary education, and as we know there are now more women than men in those age groups in our post secondary system.” Those looking for participation rates to increase can point to the opportunity to fully engage populations currently underrepresented in higher education, such as the disabled or native Canadians. However, says Foot, “the important point here is that women are half the population. So if you get a rise in participation rates in half the population, you’re going to see an impact on enrollments. But if you’re looking at the disabled or native peoples as the next group to raise the participation rates, disabled peoples are less than 1 per cent, the native population is less than 4 per cent. You’re not going to get the same sort of impact of the increase in participation from much smaller groups.”

Just don’t call it stimulus
The new proposals are designed more for political than economic impact
These proposals represent more complicating of a tax system already crying out for comprehensive overhaul. And they are unlikely to be approved anyway, given the limited time Congress has before the mid-term elections and the Republicans’ reluctance to hand Mr Obama a victory, especially one that raises taxes, even on multinationals. But politically they have served Mr Obama’s purpose, giving him some tax-cutting credentials at a time when Republicans are accusing him of proposing to wreck the economy by letting George Bush’s tax cuts for the rich expire in December.
Analysis: Crisis Past, Obama May Have Missed an Opportunity
In proposing an economic package this week that includes spending $50 billion on roads, rail lines and other projects, President Obama opened the fall election season by doing what he has done from the first days of his administration: arguing that, in effect, stimulating the economy today and reordering it for decades to come are basically the same thing.
In this way, Mr. Obama risked confusing the voters — and not for the first time. By consistently conflating short-term and long-term economic goals, the president and his party may have missed an opportunity to explain the crucial difference between the two, and they have all but ensured that voters this fall will give them credit for neither.
7 September
Obama Plans Business Tax Relief, Spending to Spur Growth
(Bloomberg) President Barack Obama is proposing to expand tax cuts for businesses and boost federal spending on the nation’s transportation system to help bolster an economy that’s losing jobs heading into the November congressional elections. (The Economist) This would encourage them to bring forward their investment plans to 2011. The impact, however, will be muted by low interest rates (which diminish the value of an early tax refund) and the fact that businesses are much more worried about weak demand than their cost of capital. Still, Kevin Hassett, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, thinks this could boost investment by 5% to 10%.
4 September
Thomas Friedman: Superbroke, Superfrugal, Superpower?
Ever since the onset of the Great Recession of 2008, it has been clear that the nature of being a leader — political or corporate — was changing in America. During most of the post-World War II era, being a leader meant, on balance, giving things away to people. Today, and for the next decade at least, being a leader in America will mean, on balance, taking things away from people.
And there is simply no way that America’s leaders, as they have to take more things away from their own voters, are not going to look to save money on foreign policy and foreign wars. Foreign and defense policy is a lagging indicator.
2 September
The odd decouple — Theories about why some rich-world economies are doing better than America’s don’t stand up
(The Economist) AMERICA is used to making the economic weather. It has the world’s largest economy, its most influential central bank and it issues the main global reserve currency. In recent months, however, some rich-world economies (notably Germany’s) have basked in the sunshine even as the clouds gathered over America.
On August 27th America’s second-quarter GDP growth was revised down to an annualised 1.6%. That looked moribund compared with the 9% rate confirmed in Germany a few days earlier. America’s jobless rate was 9.5% in July. But in Germany the unemployment rate is lower even than before the downturn. Other rich countries, including Britain and Australia, have enjoyed sprightlier recent GDP growth and lower unemployment than America.
This unusual divergence within the rich world has fostered many competing theories to explain it, including differences in fiscal policies, exchange rates and debt levels. Most of these do not quite fit the facts. On one account Germany and, to a lesser extent, Britain have been rewarded for taking a firm grip on their public finances. In this view, the promise to tackle budget deficits has had a liberating effect on private spending by reducing uncertainty. In America, by contrast, anxiety about public debt is making businesses and consumers tighten their purse strings.
28 August
Policy Options Dwindle as Economic Fears Grow
Despite an aggressive regimen of treatments from the conventional to the exotic — more than $800 billion in federal spending, and trillions of dollars worth of credit from the Federal Reserve — fears of a second recession are growing, along with worries that the country may face several more years of lean prospects.
25 August
Obama Raises 2010 Deficit Estimate to $1.5 Trillion
(Bloomberg) — U.S. unemployment will surge to 10 percent this year and the budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion next year, both higher than previous Obama administration forecasts because of a recession that was deeper and longer than expected, White House budget chief Peter Orszag said.
20 August
At Treasury, Geithner Struggles to Escape a Past He Never Had
Timothy F. Geithner has been misidentified as a former Wall Street insider from Goldman Sachs so many times since he became the Treasury secretary that he and his advisers had taken to joking about it. Then the joke backfired.
10 August
Reagan insider: ‘GOP destroyed U.S. economy’
(MarketWatch) — “How my G.O.P. destroyed the U.S. economy.” Yes, that is exactly what David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, “Four Deformations of the Apocalypse.”
31 July
Four Deformations of the Apocalypse
By DAVID STOCKMAN
IF there were such a thing as Chapter 11 for politicians, the Republican push to extend the unaffordable Bush tax cuts would amount to a bankruptcy filing. The nation’s public debt — if honestly reckoned to include municipal bonds and the $7 trillion of new deficits baked into the cake through 2015 — will soon reach $18 trillion. That’s a Greece-scale 120 percent of gross domestic product, and fairly screams out for austerity and sacrifice. It is therefore unseemly for the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, to insist that the nation’s wealthiest taxpayers be spared even a three-percentage-point rate increase.
22 July
Frank sees boost for US from EU stress tests
(FT) Europe’s stress test results could boost the US economic recovery while a “race to the top” between the two economies on financial regulation will lead to stricter rules, according to Barney Frank, chairman of the House financial services committee.
Mr Frank, an architect of the financial reforms made law this week, told the Financial Times in an interview that he was paying “an enormous amount” of attention to the stress tests, due to be published today, as fears about European banks had been the “biggest single glitch” in the US recovery.
21 July
The Total US Debt To GDP Ratio Is Now Worse Than In The Great Depression
… when it comes to the things that really matter, most Americans are completely clueless. For example, while most Americans would agree that we are experiencing difficult economic times right now, most of them would also argue that our economic system is in fundamentally good shape and that things will get back to “normal” at some point. Those of us who are trying to warn America of the impending economic nightmare are dismissed as “doom and gloomers” and “conspiracy theorists”. But of course, as with so many things, the passage of time will tell who was right and who was wrong. Below there is a chart that I want all of you to burn into your memory. It is a chart of total U.S. debt as a percentage of GDP from 1870 until 2009. This chart clearly and succinctly communicates the horror of the debt bubble that we are currently dealing with. When this debt bubble pops, it is going to make the Great Depression look like a Sunday picnic.
2 July
Bob Herbert: A jobs program that works
Is it possible that there is a federal stimulus program that is putting many thousands of struggling individuals to work and is getting rave reviews not only from Democrats but from officials in conservative states like South Carolina and Mississippi. The program, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, allows states to use federal dollars to temporarily subsidize the salaries of individuals placed in private- and public-sector jobs. More than 30 states are participating.
5 April
“The US economy will not recover for at least another decade” – Engdahl
American bankers see themselves as the gods of money, a class above mere mortals, and they can do what they wish, said renowned economic researcher and historian William Engdahl in an interview with RT.
“The center of gravity of the global crisis is New York, the United States, the US financial system, the dollar system and to a secondary extent the pound and the City of London. That is where all the toxic waste was created to be sold on the world market,” explained Engdahl, saying that the economic crisis in Greece and the Eurozone was “politically activated by the same gods of money.”

Somalia has experienced almost constant conflict since the collapse of its central government in 1991.
It was hoped the election of moderate Islamist Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmad as president of a transitional government in January and the departure of Ethiopian troops would stop the violence, but Islamist insurgents are keeping up their almost daily attacks.

U.S. Marines Rescue Ship From Pirates
U.S. Marines early Thursday boarded and seized control of a German-owned commercial vessel that had been commandeered by pirates, in what appeared to be the first American-led military boarding of its kind amid a recent surge of attacks in the Gulf of Aden and along the east coast of Africa.
Insurgents go after Somali pirates
In a move that pits two of the fiercest fighting groups in East Africa against one another, the Somali militant group Hizbul Islam seized the pirate cove of Xarardheere, potentially placing a claim on the lucrative piracy trade before other military groups, such as al-Shabaab. Though neither Hizbul Islam nor al-Shabaab has displayed any piratical tendencies, maritime experts believe that Somali pirates have earned more than $100 million in ransoms — an irresistible income in a country with virtually no economy. AlertNet.org/Reuters (5/2) , The Independent (London) (5/3) , The New York Times (5/2) 
1 May
Bombs Hit Mosque in Somalia’s Capital, Killing Dozens
Dozens of people were killed in a rare mosque bombing in Mogadishu, in what may be a sign of increased bloodletting between Islamist insurgent groups.
5 April
South Korea destroyer reaches tanker seized by pirates
(Reuters) - A South Korean navy destroyer has caught up with a supertanker hijacked by pirates that is cruising toward the Somali coast with a cargo of crude oil worth as much as $170 million, an official said on Tuesday.
The South Korean-operated, Singapore-owned Samho Dream, which can carry more than 2 million barrels of crude, was seized on Sunday en route from Iraq to the United States, in the latest sign the sea gangs are targeting bigger quarry.
24 March
Somali Backlash May Be Militants’ Worst Foe
As Somalia’s government gears up for an offensive, the population is turning against the Islamist militants.
22 October 2009
Busy days for pirates
(CNN) Somali pirates attacked two ships within minutes of each other off the coast of East Africa today. A group of pirates took control of a Panamanian-flagged vessel near the Seychelles. Shortly after that pirates began firing on an Italian ship off the Kenyan coast, though that attack was thwarted by a nearby Belgian warship.
A foreign ministry spokesman said that China would make “all-out efforts” to rescue the crew of a Chinese ship captured by pirates on Monday, though experts said the government would likely negotiate for the ship’s release. The attack — over 700 miles off the Somali coast — may show that pirates are traveling farther afield to avoid the growing international naval fleet in the Gulf of Aden, their traditional hunting ground. A report released Wednesday by the International Maritime Bureau shows more pirate attacks in the first nine months of this year than all of last year. However, thanks to the increased military presence in the area, the number of successful attacks has gone down.

Postcard from Somali pirate capital
President Abdirahman confirmed that the entire annual government budget for Puntland was “about $20m (£12m)”. But although piracy is clearly a major headache for the local authorities, and for coastal communities in Puntland, Mr Abdirahman sought to put it in context. At a cabinet meeting, the focus was on the wider conflict gripping Somalia, and the widespread fear that Islamic militants in the south could seize control in the capital Mogadishu and then threaten Puntland. “From the international point of view, piracy may be considered the number one issue,” said Mr Abdirahman. “But from our point of view it is a tiny part of the whole Somali problem - a phenomenon prompted by the collapse of the Somali state.”
25 May
Chasing the Somali piracy money trail
Piracy off the coast of Somalia has made many people very rich. A new economy has developed both within Somalia and further afield, as security companies, lawyers and negotiators reap huge profits from their involvement. But finding out what happens to the money delivered as ransom payments is doubly difficult, first because piracy is a transnational crime, and second because Somalia is a country without rules, regulations or a functioning government. Somali gunmen ‘renounce piracy’
24 May
Today in Piracy: HMCS Winnipeg on ‘hot streak’ off Somalia
… the weapons seizures marked a very successful day for the Canadian frigate, which has been a constant thorn in the side of the Somali pirates that hunt merchant vessels in this, one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors.
Deadly bombing hits Mogadishu base
(Al Jazeera) Thousands flee Somali capital amid fighting between government forces and opposition.
23 May
For Somalia, Chaos Breeds Religious War
In the past few months, a new axis of conflict has opened up in Somalia, an essentially governmentless nation ripped apart by rival clans since 1991. Now, in a definitive shift, fighters from different clans are forming alliances and battling one another along religious lines, with deeply devout men on both sides charging into firefights with checkered head scarves, assault rifles and dusty Korans.
It is an Islamist versus Islamist war, and the Sufi scholars are part of a broader moderate Islamist movement that Western nations are counting on to repel Somalia’s increasingly powerful extremists. Whether Somalia becomes a terrorist incubator and a genuine regional threat — which is already beginning to happen, with hundreds of heavily armed foreign jihadists flocking here to fight for the Shabab — or whether this country finally steadies itself and ends the years of hunger, misery and bloodshed may hinge on who wins these battles in the next few months.
8 May
For Somali Pirates, Worst Enemy May Be on Shore
For the first time in this pirate-infested region of northern Somalia, some of the very communities that had been flourishing with pirate dollars — supplying these well-known criminals with sanctuary, support, brides, respect and even government help — are now trying to push them out.
Grass-roots, antipirate militias are forming. Sheiks and government leaders are embarking on a campaign to excommunicate the pirates, telling them to get out of town and preaching at mosques for women not to marry these un-Islamic, thieving “burcad badeed,” which in Somali translates as sea bandit.
22 April
Terrorists, Pirates and Anarchy, Somalia Style
Somalia has become the poster child for transnational threats emanating from Africa. By sea, pirates much more dangerous than their predecessors from centuries past prowl the Indian Ocean and Red Sea waterways and extort tens of millions of dollars in ransom. By land, extremist militias connected to al-Qaeda units ensure that Somalia remains anarchic and the only country in the world without a functioning central government.
15 April
Piracy symptom of bigger problem
By Roger Middleton, [coordinator of] a new project at the think-tank Chatham House investigating the economic dimensions of conflict in the Horn of Africa.
(BBC) Somalia is one of the poorest, most violent, least stable countries anywhere on Earth. It suffers from severe drought and its people face hunger and violence on a daily basis. This is not a new situation, Somalia, especially the south, has been in this state for many years. The risks associated with piracy can be seen as little worse than those faced every day. What is new is that the world is now once again concerned with the goings on of this collapsed state. Somalis have learnt to live in circumstances under which many might be expected to give up. In the face of overwhelming adversity they have created thriving businesses, operating entirely in the informal sector, and hospitals built and maintained with money sent home by the diaspora. However, people who have been forgotten by the world and who hear of toxic waste being dumped on their beaches and foreigners stealing their fish have difficulty being concerned when representatives of that world are held to ransom.
11 April
Somali Pirates Hand Obama Foreign Policy Emergency With No Easy Solution
(Fox News) Other foreign threats may pose greater concern for national security, but the problem of Somali pirates is proving just as difficult to address There are no easy solutions — as has been made clear in numerous cases over the past year with the threat of piracy off the coast of Somalia escalating. The difficulty was proven again Friday when the French navy stormed a hijacked yacht, taking back the boat but costing the life of one hostage.
April 2009
The Pirate Latitudes
(Vanity Fair) When the French luxury cruise ship Le Ponant was captured by a raggedy, hopped-up band of Somali pirates last spring, in the Gulf of Aden, it looked as if the bandits had bitten off more than they could chew. But after a week-long standoff, they got what they had come for—a $2.15 million ransom. Describing the terrifying attack, the ordeal of the ship’s epicurean crew, and the tense negotiations, the author examines the ruthless calculus behind a new age of piracy.
14 January 2009
Ethiopians Withdraw From Key Bases
It appeared to be the end of two years of bloody Ethiopian intervention in this chaotic nation. Hundreds of cheering Somalis lined the streets to watch the dozens of Ethiopian military trucks rumbling out of Mogadishu, Somalia’s bullet-pocked capital.
12 November 2008
Islamist Insurgents Take Somali Port City Without a Fight
The Islamists are now in control of a large and rapidly growing swath of south-central Somalia, and the weak transitional government seems too paralyzed by infighting to do much about it.
The government, which is recognized internationally and backed by Ethiopian troops, has repeatedly urged the United Nations to send in peacekeepers to quell the insurgency and stabilize the country. But with the continuing conflicts in eastern Congo and the Darfur region of Sudan, another major international peacekeeping effort in the region seems unlikely at the moment.

Despite the arrival of our favorite time of the year which, in our calendar comes right after Labo(u)r Day and is the start of the new year, we are feeling very disgruntled and out-of-sorts.

Every time we view the news, the world seems to have grown a little madder, lending a new and sinister interpretation to “”The gods must be crazy”. Perhaps they are not crazy, perhaps they have abandoned mankind which appears to be severely crazed.

Reasonable Accommodation - NOT

The news about the abhorrent “Burn the Koran” Day promoted by Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center (what a misnomer), has flashed around the world, eliciting a strong rebuke from General Petraeus, as it should, and understandable reactions among Moslem communities. The best comment we have seen is from the Washington Post:  ”A Facebook friend instant messaged me last night with an idea to counter Jones. ‘People should, leading up to and on the day of, go out and BUY a copy of the Koran to counter the bigot’s act. People of ALL faiths’ he wrote. That’s a superb idea. There’s gotta be an iPad app for that.

Meanwhile, in France, ‘Muslim’ gargoyle adorns French cathedral — A Muslim stonemason in France has been immortalised by having his face carved on a gargoyle (a tradition that dates from the 12^th century) on the side of the cathedral in Lyon - and, of course “a local far-right group has said the carving is an affront to the Catholic Church.” For once, the Church is taking a far more benevolent view.

Iran is adamant that the stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani will not be stopped by foreign powers’ interference.

In Pakistan, while floods and consequent devastation  continue to assail the population, the Taliban not only continue with terror attacks, but have issued death threats to aid workers.

Continuing the long-gun registry debate, we are pleased to include John Curtin’s message “I said last Wednesday that I’d read (but couldn’t quite believe) that Canada had more guns per capita than the US. According to an interesting list, I was dead wrong, so to speak. The US still has a healthy lead in firearms with Yemen and Switzerland taking distant second and third places. Canada is in ninth, well out of the medals.” NDP MP Glenn Thibeault has announced he will switch his vote, joining colleague Charlie Angus, to oppose repeal of the federal long-gun registry. The sponsor of the bill remains confident that it will pass, but says “I recognize I’m up against some well-organized, well-financed, politically motivated organizations”. Can’t imagine what organization is as well organized, financed and politically motivated as the NRA, which, according to the Coalition for Gun Control “is tracking the Canadian situation carefully”. (See NRA TV video at http://bit.ly/btWXH3) – We are deeply upset that the NRA is so interested in our gun registry.

As debate continues about immigration reform in Canada, a number of immigration ministers met in France. So far as we know, the conclusion (at least for Canada’s own Jason Kenney) was that it is Time to get tough on human smuggling and, furthermore, that we must send clear messages about how to dis-incentivize those who exploit desperate migrants. Presumably this means that Canada is currently offering incentives? If not, we must not be understanding the clear message.

Two Wednesday Nighters debate immigration below.

1. Problems accommodating immigrants are not unique to Canada. Some of the reasons derive from inadequate education or university degrees or skills which may not be in as great demand here as elsewhere. Therefore, it is imperative we invite those with the education and skills we do need to actually come here. They would experience a greater sense of self-worth; they would feel valued and appreciated by all Canadians. In effect, for many, their dreams would be realised.
As long as we concentrate our resources on attracting those with inadequate or unsuitable qualifications, the situation will worsen unnecessarily. We will be constantly faced with an increasingly larger, dissatisfied and troubled immigrant community, to the detriment of Canada as a whole.
Canada will become the melting pot that some wished to eschew in favour of their multicultural tapestry. If our leaders exercise the necessary political will to implement immigration policies and procedures to shape the inevitable, the result could be extremely beneficial to Canada and all Canadians, whether native-born or newly-minted immigrants.
In the meantime, we cannot simply throw up our hands, accept the current problem as inevitably worsening and insoluble, and not adopt the easily comprehensible initiatives suggested above to stem it, or at least mitigate its effects.  We must be proactive for the sake of all Canadians, including relatively recent immigrants.

Another viewpoint:

2. How is it that there is a sustained multi-generation decline in income for immigrant families that are non-European, and visible minorities?  Is this a result of sustained under-employment?  Or is it a result of misinformation prior to migration to Canada and lack of preparation for the actual challenges that exist once new immigrants arrive?  Did you know that Statcan does not count or track new immigrants during their first year of residence in Canada?   I thought this was curious as it is the period most critical to the future success of new immigrants, particularly skilled immigrants.  Cultural affinity of European-born immigrants may give them an ability to find information and opportunity with greater ease than those immigrants who come from non-European backgrounds.  I’m curious if there is serious consideration of the disparity between European-born immigrants and those who are not, as was presented clearly in Mark Kelly’s article in the National Post.
Another aspect to this issue is the changing demographics in Canada.  [This] Statcan table shows changes taking place in a majority of our cities across Canada.  In 2031 there will only be a small fraction of Canadian cities that will not have 20% or more of their population represented by visible minorities from non-European backgrounds.  They may be first, second, third or fourth generation Canadians.  However, if Mark Kelly’s story and related stats are to be believed, we are going to have a problem on our hands.  Increasing numbers of Canadian citizens and immigrants have not realised the success achieved by European born immigrants during the same period of residence in Canada. As a result of feeling marginalized and discouraged, these citizens may over time not have the same investment in the vision of Canada that has been established by European-born immigrants. These differences can be glossed over during periods of strong economic growth.   However, as we are experiencing a very gradual recovery of the Canadian economy, the folks who are having difficulty entering the Canadian labour market or fully participating in the labour market as their European-born or Canadian born counterparts may feel they are being left behind.  Poverty will claim a greater number of Canadians in coming years and make them vulnerable to political opportunists who may choose to exploit these populations.
The research paper from Statcan provides further evidence of the fundamental demographic shift within our lifetime.   The shift references not only visible minority as one characteristic but also a population that does not have English or French as their maternal language, etc.   In terms of social reproduction of the cultural and social norms that we have come to know, growing up in Canada, the absence of easy integration and settlement of new immigrants will bring fundamental change in their opinion of Canada.  My question remains - how are we examining the impact of these experiences on citizen’s participation in a vision (theirs or others) of Canada?  What is that vision?

You are welcome - invited - to contribute your thoughts.

As the UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, there is growing concern about world hunger , exacerbated by the floods in Pakistan and drought in Syria about which we hear much less. Jeffrey Sachs reminds us of the differences between acute malnutrition, global hunger and global malnutrition.

On our favorite topic of governance, there are several relevant items.

Ballots and bullets in Nigeria’s oil state - As the country prepares to vote, a life-and-death struggle to control the patronage networks from which many Nigerian politicians draw their power gathers pace. Sadly, this hardly qualifies as news.
Putin, Citing Roosevelt, Hints at a 3rd-Term Bid  Mr. Putin, asked whether he would damage Russia’s political system if he chose to run again, noted that Roosevelt was elected four times in the United States because at the time, it was allowed under the Constitution. He seemed to be suggesting that if he ran again, it would be as proper because he would be complying with Russia’s Constitution.

And on China - The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers. By Richard McGregor,  the must-read book, reviews of which have already engendered some fascinating exchanges between Wednesday Nighters:
(The Economist) The permanent party - An entertaining and insightful portrait of China’s secretive rulers

ANY study of the Chinese Communist Party today will soon confront two jarring questions. The first is how a party responsible for such horrors-the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, the death of some 35m-40m people in the worst-ever man-made famine from 1958-1960-has stayed in power without facing any serious threat, the 1989 Tiananmen protests aside. The second is why it still calls itself “communist”, when China today seems closer to the cut-throat capitalism of Victorian England than to any egalitarian dream.
(New Statesman) Market Maoism
All is not well in the mighty central organisation department of the Communist Party of China, the section that controls the fortunes of the CPC’s 75 million members. In this compelling exploration of the world’s largest and most successful political machine, Richard McGregor reveals that the cadres complain that party members are “losing belief”. Even those in senior leadership positions “doubt the inevitability of the ultimate triumph of socialism and communism”. Many have replaced their faith in communism with a belief in “ghosts and demons”.

An Interview with Richard McGregor, Author of The Party
Richard McGregor is the former Beijing bureau chief for the Financial Times and author of the newly released The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers.
“My purpose was simply to describe the political system as it really is. I think few people, even foreigners living in China, appreciate just how vast and resilient the party apparatus that underpins the government in China is, and how deeply its tentacles extend into all manners of institutions, like universities and the media. And often people who do know a lot about the party will attempt to explain it away, as a product of Chinese culture or some such. I wanted to describe in an unflinchingly fashion a system that is the product of resolutely political arrangements.”

But there is some good news: George Soros’ gift of $100 million to Human Rights Watch certainly qualifies. [Update: did we jump the gun in offering congratulations? There is some criticism of HRW, notably from the NGO Monitor which cites a critical October 2009 op-ed by the founder of Human Rights Watch, its active chairman for 20 years and now founding chairman emeritus Rights Watchdog, Lost in the Mideast.]

To all our Jewish friends who are celebrating Rosh Hashanah, we wish an auspicious beginning to the new civil year, with much blowing of horns (tooting of own horns is also allowed)

(The Economist) More than 700 prisoners were freed after members of Boko Haram, an Islamist sect which wants sharia law throughout Nigeria, carried out a sunset raid on a jail in Bauchi, a city in the north-east of the country. The group has been blamed for a spate of killings in the past month. (Aljazeera) Prison break by armed rebel group Boko Haram raises new fears of violence as security is tightened in country’s north.

Ban heads to Rwanda in bid to calm tensions
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has traveled to Rwanda to meet with President Paul Kagame and other officials amid tensions over a UN report that accuses Rwandan forces of mass-scale human-rights abuses against ethnic Hutus in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwandan authorities have threatened to pull out of UN peacekeeping missions over the report’s contents. The UN delayed official publication of the report after Rwanda raised objections. CNN (9/8) , Google/The Canadian Press (9/8)
7 September
Exiled Rwandan leaders call for Kagame ouster
(AFP) Rwandans and the international community need to work together to end President Paul Kagame’s rule and pave the way for a democratic transition, exiled leaders said in a report obtained by AFP Tuesday.
The 60-page document, co-authored by four former senior officials turned opponents in exile, paints a damning picture of the state of political and individual freedoms in the small genocide-scarred central Africa nation. (CNN) Rwandan president sworn in for second term — Kagame won the August 9 ballot with 93 percent of the vote, according to the Rwandan National Electoral Commission.
Ballots and bullets in Nigeria’s oil state
(FT) As the country prepares to vote, a life-and-death struggle to control the patronage networks from which many Nigerian politicians draw their power gathers pace
9 July
South Africa’s migrants fear fresh violence
With only two days to go until the World Cup final and the end of the month-long tournament, South Africa’s millions of migrants are living in fear of a return of the wave of xenophobic violence that swept the country two years ago, killing 62 people and displacing tens of thousands more.
So far a number of isolated incidents have not escalated. But refugee and migrant agencies across the country have been warning for months that a co-ordinated whispering campaign threatening attacks on foreign nationals after the World Cup has created a “climate of threat”.
30 June
Congo - Africa’s disaster
… this is a state that epitomises so many of Africa’s historic and contemporary problems. The Congo is shackled with a terrible (and notoriously brutal) colonial legacy. This is a nation the size of Western Europe with only a handful of usable roads. With its stark east-west divide and countless ethnic and tribal divisions it is doubtful whether it is actually a viable state at all. Congo is also a country, like Nigeria, that is cursed by its natural resources. Its vast gold, copper, coltan, cobalt and tin reserves make it a mineral superpower. But these resources are mined and sold by armed groups, often sponsored by Congo’s stronger neighbours. Rwanda’s role in destabilising Congo for profit has been particularly grotesque. Belgium revisits the scene of its colonial shame
14 June
Mo Ibrahim prize goes to none
(Al Jazeera) Judges for a $5m annual prize for good governance in Africa have decided not to give the award for the second consecutive year.
on Sunday, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which is based in London, said that its seven-member prize committee, led by Kofi Annan, the ex-UN secretary-general, had not chosen anyone to win the award.
The foundation said that since last year’s failure to select a winner, there had been “no new candidates or new developments”.
13 June
South Africa: Africans Forced to Flee
(All Africa) The nation of South Africa has never been made to look so attractive, and yet many Africans resident in the Republic have been chased into neighbouring countries by the police. This is the unfortunate experience of illegal immigrants who are living in South Africa in the hope that they might become citizens there.
10 May
Death of Nigerian leader exposes ’sham’ democracy
The death last week of the Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua has exposed popular anger over the nature of the country’s power politics - and, according to one political scientist, revealed the country’s democratic credentials to be a “sham”.
Since the return of civilian rule in 1999, the ruling and dominant People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has sought to rotate, or “zone” the office of president between the overwhelmingly Muslim north and the mainly Christian south.
The handover to President Jonathan was entirely peaceful, legal and constitutional.
But it has broken the deal planned by the godfathers of the powerful PDP. So some northern leaders are complaining that President Jonathan should not seek to stand as the PDP candidate in elections next year.
6 May
(BBC) Obituary: President Yar’Adua
23 April
Jean pushes rights in Rwanda — Press freedom sensitive subject
(Winnipeg Free Press) Press freedom is a particularly touchy subject with a tragic history in Rwanda, and Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean delved into it Thursday during a passionate debate in a packed auditorium.
It’s a country where hate media incited genocidal mobs to slaughter their neighbours 16 years ago. Today, the government cracks down on news organizations in the name of national security.
International monitors accuse Rwanda’s government of increasingly authoritarian behaviour with elections approaching, with a pair of anti-government newspapers having their licences suspended and an opposition leader being jailed in recent days.
28 April
Africa Needs a New Map
(Foreign Policy) It’s time to start seeing the redrawing of the continent’s colonial borders as an opportunity, not a threat.
Silence about borders has become Africa’s pathology, born in the era of strongman leaders that followed decolonialization. Loath to lose any of their newly independent land, the continent’s leaders upheld a gentleman’s agreement to favor “stability” over change. Today, the unfortunate result is visible in nearly every corner of Africa: from a divided Nigeria, to an ungovernable Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), to the very real but unrecognized state in Somaliland. Borders created through some combination of ignorance and malice are today one of the continent’s major barriers to building strong, competent states. No initiative would do more for happiness, stability, and economic growth in Africa today than an energetic and enlightened redrawing of these harmful lines.
24 February
Jeffrey Gettleman: Africa’s Forever Wars - Why the continent’s conflicts never end.
(Foreign Policy March/April 2010) There is a very simple reason why some of Africa’s bloodiest, most brutal wars never seem to end: They are not really wars. Not in the traditional sense, at least. The combatants don’t have much of an ideology; they don’t have clear goals. They couldn’t care less about taking over capitals or major cities — in fact, they prefer the deep bush, where it is far easier to commit crimes. Today’s rebels seem especially uninterested in winning converts, content instead to steal other people’s children, stick Kalashnikovs or axes in their hands, and make them do the killing. Look closely at some of the continent’s most intractable conflicts, from the rebel-laden creeks of the Niger Delta to the inferno in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and this is what you will find.
24 January
Anglican bishop kidnapped in Nigeria amidst worsening religious violence More
Yar’Adua speaks in bid to calm Nigeria tension
Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua spoke publicly for the first time since traveling to Saudi Arabia for medical care in November and insisted he is recovering nicely. Yar-Adua’s heart condition and long silence led to speculation he was critically ill, prompting growing calls for him to relinquish his hold on power. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)/Reuters (1/12) , BBC (1/12)
11 January
Is Nigerian president Yar’Adua dead? His absence may spark political crisis
(CSM) Rumors that Nigerian President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, hospitalized for six weeks in Saudi Arabia, has gone into a coma have put the West African nation on edge.
22 December 2009
As war consumes Somalia and Sudan, once-stable Kenya looks volatile
A power-sharing agreement and a reform mandate has not fully rescued Kenya from the specter of violence that divided the nation after the contentious 2007 elections. Analysts fear the violence that has consumed Somalia and threatens to reignite in Sudan could spread to Kenya. The Washington Post (12/22) 
22 November
Human rights concerns raised as Rwanda set to join Commonwealth
Rwanda has trumpeted its Commonwealth credentials with the switch from French to English instruction in schools last year, and won acclaim for low levels of corruption and high health and education spending. Its membership bid is strongly backed by Tony Blair who works as an unpaid advisor on governance. Suspicions persist that, beyond talk of deepening trade and improving cultural ties, Commonwealth diplomats are tempted by the prospect of cementing such a public defection from the Francophone world.
22 October
A chance to end the Delta rebellion
As a result of a Nigerian government amnesty which ended earlier this month, some 15,000 rebels in the oil-rich Delta region have surrendered in the hope that the country’s president, Umara Yar’Adua, will fulfil a pledge to help develop the poor villages in the area. 
20 October
White House Unveils Sudan Strategy
(NYT) The strategy, worked out after months of intensive debate, is meant to build pressure on Sudan to end the abuses that have left millions of people dead or displaced in its vast Darfur region. It places a greater emphasis on incentives than the Bush administration policy, but officials were quick to stress that there were also additional punishments on the table.
No winner for $5 million African leadership prize
(AP) The prize-giving committee could not select a winner after considering “some credible candidates,” said former Botswana President Ketumile Masire, a board member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. He said the foundation “noted the progress made with governance in some African countries, while noticing with concern recent setbacks in other countries.” Committee members said they could not discuss their deliberations. (The Independent) Now attention has been focused on a discouraging year for democracy in Africa, marked by coups, inheritance battles and dysfunctional power-sharing administrations born of rigged elections.
Nigeria ‘to give 10% of oil cash’
(BBC) Nigerian officials are reportedly planning to give 10% of the country’s oil revenues to people in the Niger Delta, an area plagued by insurgencies. Presidential adviser Emmanuel Egbogah told the UK’s Financial Times that the money would go directly to communities, bypassing powerful state governors. Analysts say the government fears local officials would embezzle the money.
Blood diamonds headed back to market?
The Kimberly Process certification scheme set up to halt the trade in conflict, or blood, diamonds by the international diamond industry is faltering over a lack of accountability and follow-through, according to a report from Partnership Africa Canada. The failures, campaigners warn, have contributed to a flourishing illegal market that threatens to put conflict diamonds back on the world market. AlertNet.org/Reuters (10/18)
11 July
Obama speaks of hopes for Africa
(BBC) Africa can forge its own future and solve its problems, Barack Obama says on a first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as US president.
Ghana Visit Highlights Scarce Stability in Africa
(NYT) “The African continent is a place of extraordinary promise as well as challenges. We’re not going to be able to fulfill those promises unless we see better governance.”
With that as his objective, a harsh reality emerged: Mr. Obama did not have too many options. From one end of the continent to the other, the sort of peaceful, transparent election that Ghana held last December is still an exception rather than the norm, analysts said. The same is true for the country’s comparatively well-managed economy.
Countries like Botswana, Namibia and South Africa have consistently received better-than-average global scores for their governance in recent years, according to rankings based on World Bank research. [But] The list of exploding countries, unstable countries, corrupt countries, is long. Military coups still break out with regularity, as in Guinea and Mauritania within the last year. Journalists in a number of countries continue to be killed, jailed, tortured, forced into exile or otherwise muzzled. A day after Mr. Obama’s visit to Ghana, the Congo Republic will hold elections that have already been attacked as flawed, after the country’s constitutional court recently rejected the candidacies of opponents to incumbent Denis Sassou-Nguesso, leaving the president as a heavy favorite.
9 July
Bono: Rebranding Africa
No one’s leaked me a copy of the president’s speech in Ghana, but it’s pretty clear he’s going to focus not on the problems that afflict the continent but on the opportunities of an Africa on the rise. If that’s what he does, the biggest cheers will come from members of the growing African middle class, who are fed up with being patronized and hearing the song of their majestic continent in a minor key.
Obama visit sparks jealousy among Ghana’s neighbors
U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit to Ghana, his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa and his only stop in the region, has prompted speculation Obama chose Ghana for its recent success — and chose against other nations hamstrung by corruption. Ghana has cut its poverty rate in half, enjoyed economic growth and seen peaceful democratic transfer of government. Further, Ghana stands out among neighbors wracked by violence. Nigeria’s oil pipelines have been sacked by militants, while Kenya was plagued by violence after contentious elections. Los Angeles Times (7/10)
Squandered oil wealth, an African tragedy
Equatorial Guinea is a tiny country of about half a million people on the west coast of Africa, but is the fourth-largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa. Oil money gives the country the means to be a model for development and human rights. The economy is nearly 130 times as big as it was when oil was discovered in 1995. But as a report released by Human Rights Watch today details, the government has squandered or stolen much of the money at the expense of its people.
6 July
Obama’s mission of tough love in Africa
‘I’m not a believer in excuses,’ U.S. President says as he prepares for his first visit to the continent
… he is also bringing an unexpected message of tough love to this continent: no more excuses, no matter what happened in the dark dungeons of the colonial fortresses … where millions of slaves were shackled and shipped overseas.
“I think part of what’s hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we’ve made excuses about corruption or poor governance – that this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism,” Mr. Obama told an African website, AllAfrica (U.S. Wants to Spotlight ‘Successful Models’ And Be An ‘Effective Partner’ - Obama), in his only interview dedicated to Africa before his visit. “I’d say I’m probably as knowledgeable about African history as anybody who’s occupied my office, and I can give you chapter and verse on why the colonial maps that were drawn helped to spur on conflict. … And yet the fact is we’re in 2009.” The West cannot be blamed for the disastrous policies that have brought catastrophe to Zimbabwe and other African countries over the past 15 or 20 years, he said. “I think it’s very important for African leadership to take responsibility and be held accountable.” He called for a “practical, hard-headed approach” to improving the lives of Africans – beginning with a war on corruption. “If government officials are asking for 10, 15, 25 per cent off the top, businesses don’t want to invest there.”
12 June
How does President Obama help Morgan Tsvangirai and Zimbabwe without bolstering Robert Mugabe?
Mr. Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s prime minister, received more votes than President Mugabe in an election last year but was pressed by regional leaders into an unsatisfactory power-sharing deal four months ago. It left Mr. Mugabe in control of the police, the spy service, the media and the criminal justice system, and he has used his power to countermand Mr. Tsvangirai’s recent efforts to re-establish the rule of law and freedom of the press.
The world’s new threat: conflict fatigue
(Foreign Policy) As violence escalates again in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the world must recognize the need for sustained attention and intervention.
10 June
Royal Dutch Shell agreed yesterday to pay $15.5-million (U.S.) to settle a lawsuit alleging it was complicit in the hanging of six Nigerian protesters, including famed writer and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, by the country’s military government in 1995.
The company walked a fine line by agreeing to settle while continuing to deny any involvement in the deaths of the demonstrators, who were protesting against the development of oil fields. Globe & Mail ; Shell, Ogoni people settle out of court
30 January 2009
David Kilgour: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FACING AFRICA
Corruption exists in every nation, including Canada, to lesser or greater degrees. In Africa, the issue of non-accountability has been manifested in decades of widespread corruption.
I refer here again to [Robert] Calderisi’s 2006 book (The Trouble with Africa). The Nigerian winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Wole Soyinka, is quoted there on this topic in wide-hot prose: “African dreams of peace and prosperity have been shattered by the greedy, corrupt and unscrupulous role of African strongmen…a power-crazed and rapacious leadership who can only obtain their egotistical goals by oppressing the rest of us.
May-June 2008
Séverine Auteserre: The Trouble with Congo - How Local Disputes Fuel Regional Conflict
Although the war in Congo officially ended in 2003, two million people have died since. One of the reasons is that the international community’s peacekeeping efforts there have not focused on the local grievances in eastern Congo, especially those over land, that are fueling much of the broader tensions. Until they do, the nation’s security and that of the wider Great Lakes region will remain uncertain.
(Foreign Affairs) Donors would do better to expand the funding available for local conflict resolution by increasing their aid budgets or shifting their assistance priorities away from elections. They should focus on helping the Congolese government and representatives from all the eastern communities work on land reform and the review of mining contracts by providing independent experts on land and judicial matters. Donors should also fund the training of local Congolese NGOS and justice officials so that they can be deployed as observers to the land-redistribution commissions or sent to villages to educate the rural population. And they should provide the NGOS with the funds to compensate the parties who will lose land. To ensure that any additional money goes to efficient programs, donors should ask the experts on local conflict resolution and the specialists on Congo and Rwanda in their consulates to identify reliable local peace builders in the eastern provinces. They should offer financial support to the Congolese NGOS that organize peace talks and reconciliation programs, such as Plate-forme des Associations de D?veloppement de Bunyakiri, which brings together military, political, business, and ethnic elites of the territory of Bunyakiri, in Sud-Kivu, and Arche d’Alliance, which helps victims of human rights violations in Sud-Kivu and promotes the reform of existing human rights legislation.

Floods wracked Pakistan’s food system
Development planners, government officials and relief agencies are struggling to identify a road map for Pakistan to replace to the massive amount of food-producing capabilities destroyed by recent monsoon flooding. Raging waters destroyed 1 million hectares of agricultural land, existing food supplies, seed banks and millions of chicken and livestock. Planners hope to help Pakistani farmers complete the winter planting season, but it will be years before Pakistan can return to a status as a “food secure” country. The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (9/8)

FAO is taking a closer look at rising food prices
Rising food prices are raising tensions across the developing world and have sparked violent confrontations in Mozambique. The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization has called a meeting Sept. 24 to examine wheat and grain pricing, but has so far refrained from describing the food situation as a “crisis” for fear of triggering a run by financial speculators that could cause more price increases. The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (9/7)
Jeffrey Sachs: Saying “Nuts” to Hunger
It is critical that we not confuse the many types of hunger and malnutrition (poor nutrition) around the world. Plumpy’Nut is not a miracle cure for global hunger or for global malnutrition. Plumpy’Nut addresses only one kind of hunger — acute episodes of extreme food deprivation or illness, the kind mainly associated with famines and conflicts. Plumpy’Nut is not designed for the other major kind of hunger, notably chronic hunger due to long-term poor diets. Nor is it designed to fight long-term malnutrition that is due to various kinds of chronic micronutrient deficiencies, such as iron, zinc and vitamin-A deficiencies.
The chronic kind of hunger is by far the most prevalent kind of hunger in the world, though it is more hidden and less recognized by the American public.
5 September
The Peanut Solution
The product may not look like much — a little foil packet filled with a soft, sticky substance — but its advocates are prone to use the language of magic and wonders. What is Plumpy’nut? Sound it out, and you get the idea: it’s an edible paste made of peanuts, packed with calories and vitamins, that is specially formulated to renourish starving children. Since its widespread introduction five years ago, it has been credited with significantly lowering mortality rates during famines in Africa. Children on a Plumpy’nut regimen add pounds rapidly, often going from a near-death state to relative health in a month. In the world of humanitarian aid, where progress is usually measured in subtle increments of misery, the new product offers a rare satisfaction: swift, visible, fantastic efficacy.
3 September
Fears grow over global food supply
(Financial Times) Russia announced a 12-month extension of its grain export ban, raising fears about a return to the food shortages and riots of 2007-08 which spread through developing countries dependent on imports
In Mozambique, where a 30 per cent rise in bread prices triggered riots on Wednesday and Thursday, the government said seven people had been killed and 288 wounded.
23 August
Oxfam, a British aid agency, warned that Niger faced disaster due to persistent flooding.
(BBC) Oxfam issued its warning as nearly eight million people, or half the population, are already facing hunger because of failed harvests. Now more than 100,000 people have been left homeless after heavy rains washed away their homes earlier this month, according to the United Nations.
Floods have destroyed crops, and thousands of animals have drowned.
Afghanistan, Africa top world food insecurity ranking
Afghanistan is the country most at risk to face food shortages, while Finland is the least likely, research agency Maplecroft said of a food security risk index compiled with the United Nations World Food Programme. African countries accounted for 36 of the top 50 out of 163 countries ranked in the index most likely to face food security issues. CNN (8/19), AlertNet.org/Reuters (8/18)
17 August
A fertile field for BHP
(The Economist) FEEDING the world is a noble ambition. For BHP Billiton, the world’s biggest mining company, the profits to be made from enriching the soil are an appetising prospect too. On Tuesday August 17th news emerged that PotashCorp (formerly Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan), itself the world’s largest fertilisers firm, had rejected a $38.6 billion takeover bid from BHP. The mining giant owns Jansen, a deposit of potash (an important fertiliser feedstock) close to PotashCorp’s own mines, and had been intending to invest heavily in potash anyway. But BHP has also been mulling recently how to make best use of a robust balance-sheet, the result of voracious Chinese appetite for metals over the past few years, and of canny management that saw BHP weather the credit crunch and economic downturn better than its competitors.
11 August
Grain price rise may fuel Mideast, Europe unrest
(Reuters) - Rising grain prices from Russia’s drought and fires will pressure populations already hit by the financial crisis and could stoke unrest — particularly in the Middle East, North Africa and parts of Europe.
Wheat prices have risen by nearly 70 percent since June after Russia suffered its worst drought in 130 years and are at their highest since 2008, when the last major food price rally sparked protests and riots in a string of emerging nations.
8 August
Drought doubles price of barley in six weeks
European feed barley rises 130 per cent since mid-June in response to the drought affecting Russia and Ukraine, prompting fears of increases in the cost of meat and poultry
6 August
Russia grain export ban sparks price fears
(FT) PM says ‘temporary restriction’ needed after severe drought ravages country’s grains crop, sending US wheat prices up almost 80% in a little over one month
(ABC News) Wheat prices spiked Thursday .. as [Russia] confronts grain shortages amidst drought and withering crops, a situation made worse by out-of-control wildfires.
The global ripple effect – other countries possibly hoarding food, grain supplies dwindling, commodities prices rising – is likely to impact a range of food companies and livestock farmers. … flooding in China is also going to cause rice shortages: “This could be just as important a story to the world’s food supply as the wheat shortages.” … There [is] more bad news. Locust swarms are threatening Australia’s crop and heavy rains are putting Canada’s crop at risk as well. But the wheat price spike also reflects the growing power of financial speculators.
Floods From Pakistan to North Korea Strain Aid as Global Food Costs Soar
(Bloomberg) At least 1.8 million people urgently need food supplies in Pakistan after the deadliest floods in 80 years, according to the United Nations World Food Programme [crops across the nation were damaged. Five percent of the nation’s rice crop has been damaged, the Rice Exporters Association said.] In North Korea, rains triggered landslides that blocked railways, destroyed homes and buried crops, piling on hardship for a country that already needs aid to feed its 24 million people. … China’s worst floods in more than a decade may cut production of rice and pork in the largest producer. Rice output may fall 5 percent to 7 percent, Li Qiang, managing director at Shanghai JC Intelligence Co., said this week. … The surge in wheat prices may fuel another food crisis as early as the fourth quarter this year, as millers seek cheaper substitutes for livestock feeds, sending prices of corn higher, and dragging with it the cost of soybeans, said Franciscus Welirang, chairman of the Flour Mills Association in Indonesia, Asia’s biggest importer of wheat.
11 July
Cleo Paskal advises that the Hari piece is based on a much longer one by Frederick Kaufman, The Food Bubble: How Wall Street starved millions and got away with it in the July issue of Harper’s.
Johann Hari: How Goldman gambled on starvation
Speculators set up a casino where the chips were the stomachs of millions. What does it say about our system that we can so casually inflict so much pain?
Until deregulation, the price for food was set by the forces of supply and demand for food itself. (This was already deeply imperfect: it left a billion people hungry.) But after deregulation, it was no longer just a market in food. It became, at the same time, a market in food contracts based on theoretical future crops – and the speculators drove the price through the roof.
Here’s how it happened. In 2006, financial speculators like Goldmans pulled out of the collapsing US real estate market. They reckoned food prices would stay steady or rise while the rest of the economy tanked, so they switched their funds there. Suddenly, the world’s frightened investors stampeded on to this ground.
So while the supply and demand of food stayed pretty much the same, the supply and demand for derivatives based on food massively rose – which meant the all-rolled-into-one price shot up, and the starvation began.
30 June
Algae trials test ‘wonder food’ status of spirulina
(SciDev.Net) A blue-green algae rich in protein could help curb global malnutrition if a US$1.7 million cultivation project in Chad — due to end in December — proves successful.
Dubbed a “miracle food” this cyanobacterium — known as spirulina — has been eaten around the world for centuries.
Analyses by industry and university laboratories reveal that almost 70 per cent of its dry weight is protein. It also has a small environmental footprint, needs little water, and can be cultivated in salty conditions harmful to other crops.
6 June
Surging food prices make many staples unaffordable
Families from Pakistan to Argentina to Congo are being battered by surging food prices that are dragging more people into poverty, fuelling political tensions and forcing some to give up eating meat, fruit and even tomatoes.
Scraping to afford the next meal is still a grim daily reality in the developing world even though the global food crisis that dominated headlines in 2008 quickly faded in the U.S. and other rich countries.
With food costing up to 70 per cent of family income in the poorest countries, rising prices are squeezing household budgets and threatening to worsen malnutrition, while inflation stays moderate in the United States and Europe. Compounding the problem in many countries: prices hardly fell from their peaks in 2008, when global food prices jumped in part due to a smaller U.S. wheat harvest and demand for crops to use in biofuels.
Chinese see salvation in spuds
China has turned to an unlikely tool in hopes to prevent famine, alleviate poverty and make the most of its dwindling arable land resources: the potato. Facing a population boom that will require it to produce 100 million additional tons of food every year by 2030, China has ramped up research and training in the cultivation of the potato — a food resource that produces more calories per acre and requires less water to grow than rice. The Washington Post (5/31)
19 May
UNCTAD 2010 Technology and Innovation Report - Enhancing Food Security in Africa Through Science, Technology and Innovation focuses on the challenges of improving agricultural performance in Africa and the role of technology and innovation in raising agricultural production and incomes of all farmers, including smallholder farms. The report argues that the main challenge is to strengthen the innovation capabilities of African agricultural systems as a means of addressing poverty, improving food security and achieving broader economic growth and development. More highlights
13 May
Wal-Mart Gives $2 Billion to Fight Hunger
The Wal-Mart Corporation announced plans on Wednesday to contribute $2 billion in cash and food to the nation’s food banks, one of the largest corporate gifts on record.
Over the next five years, the giant retail company will distribute some 1.1 billion pounds of food to food banks and provide $250 million to help those organizations buy refrigerated trucks, improve storage and develop better logistics.
FAO Launches Anti-hunger Petition
ROME, May 12 (Bernama) — Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Tuesday unveiled a major online petition calling on people to get angry at the fact that around a billion people suffer from hunger.
The 1billionhungry project” uses strong images to illustrate hunger at its worst. Bold language and typography grab attention saying that enough is enough.
8 April
Legal fight over Plumpy’nut, the hunger wonder-product
Should a revolutionary humanitarian food product be protected by commercial patent, when lifting restrictions might save millions of starving children?
(BBC) That is the moral conundrum at the heart of a bitter transatlantic legal dispute.
On one side are the French inventors of Plumpy’nut, a peanut paste which in the last five years has transformed treatment of acute malnutrition in Africa.
Nutriset, the Normandy-based company, says the patent is needed to safeguard production of Plumpy’nut in the developing world, and to stop the market being swamped by cheap US surpluses.
And on the other side are two American not-for-profit organisations that have filed a suit at a Washington DC federal court to have the patent overturned.
10 February 2010
Climate change set to reduce crop yield in Africa
Climate change will reduce production of five staple crops in Sub-Saharan Africa – maize, sorghum, millet, groundnut and cassava – by a mean of between 8 and 22%. And in all cases except cassava there’s a 5% chance that yields could drop by more than 27%. That’s according to researchers in the US who looked at historical data on crop production and weather.
One in three people in Sub-Saharan Africa is chronically hungry and national economies in the region are strongly dependent on agriculture.
2 February 2010
New investments in agriculture likely to fail without sharp focus on small-scale ‘mixed’ farmers
Smallholder farmers who feed much of the world today and are key to future global food security remain neglected by aid and policies
(Eureka) A new paper published today in Science warns that billions of dollars promised to fund programs to boost small-scale agriculture in developing countries are unlikely to succeed in feeding the world’s increasing populations. This is due not only to increasing populations and changing environments, but also to little “intellectual commitment” to the ubiquitous small-scale “mixed” farmers who raise both crops and animals and are the source of much of today’s food supplies and economic development.
Smallholder mixed farmers, particularly in Africa and Asia, have been overlooked by donors and policymakers because they typically cultivate small plots of land, where they grow modest amounts of staple crops such as rice and maize while also tending a few cows, goats or chickens. Yet collectively these farmers are feeding most of the world’s one billion poor people and they are the key to any efforts to intensify production in the developing world, according to the paper.
The analysis reports that small farms that combine crop and livestock production supply much of food staples of developing countries—41 percent of maize, 86 percent of rice and 74 percent of millet—and most of the meat and dairy products consumed in these regions as well. These so-called “mixed systems” can be models of efficient farming, with livestock providing the draft power to till the land and leftover crop residues serving as feed for animals. Moreover, the eggs, milk and meat from livestock routinely serve as important sources of regular household income, of high-quality protein, as well as a buffer against failed harvest
11 June 2009
Ethiopian scientist named 2009 Laureate
Gebisa Ejeta of Purdue University developed drought- and weed-resitant sorghum, enhancing food supply in sub-Saharan Africa
Dr. Gebisa Ejeta of Ethiopia has been named winner of the $250,000 World Food Prize for his monumental contributions in the production of sorghum, one of the world’s five principal cereal grains, which have dramatically enhanced the food supply of hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa.
20 February 2009
Newly Poor Swell Lines at Food Banks
Demand at food banks across the country increased by 30 percent in 2008 from the previous year, according to a survey by Feeding America, which distributes more than two billion pounds of food every year. And instead of their usual drop in customers after the holidays, many pantries in upscale suburbs this year are seeing the opposite.
26 January 2009
Jeffrey Sachs: A breakthrough against hunger
Our response to the world food crisis is sadly inadequate – but we are proposing a new initiative to help
Today’s world hunger crisis is unprecedentedly severe and requires urgent measures. Nearly 1 billion people are trapped in chronic hunger – perhaps 100 million more than two years ago. With Spain’s leadership and United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon’s partnership, several donor governments are proposing to pool their financial resources so that the world’s poorest farmers can grow more food and escape the poverty trap.
The benefits of some donor help can be remarkable. Peasant farmers in Africa, Haiti, and other impoverished regions currently plant their crops without the benefit of high-yield seed varieties and fertilisers. The result is a grain yield (for example, maize) that is roughly one-third less than what could be achieved with better farm inputs. African farmers produce roughly one ton of grain per hectare, compared with more than four tons per hectare in China, where farmers use fertilisers heavily.

BP blames spill on a “sequence of failures” - The blame game begins
(FP Morning Brief) BP released the results of its internal investigation into the causes of the April 20 oil rig explosion that led to a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While the report accepts some blame for the disaster on BP’s part, it also emphasizes that “a sequence of failures involving a number of different parties led to the explosion and fire.”
The inquiry, which began almost immediately after the initial incident, faults workers for Transocean, which operated the rig, for failing to recognize the flow of hydrocarbons into the well in advance of the explosion. It also holds contractor Halliburton responsible for a faulty cement job in the well. (NYT) Report by BP Finds Several Companies at Fault in Spill (The Guardian) BP oil spill report lists series of failures - mostly by others -that led to disaster (WSJ) The BP Report Is Out, But What About Its Methodology? … a quick read of BP’s executive summary indicates the company hardly employed rigorous legal standards in putting together the report and, in fact, acknowledges as much. (FT) Backlash greets BP’s internal report — BP’s internal inquiry into the causes of the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico provoked an immediate backlash from its contractors on the rig and US politicians who dismissed it as “not BP’s mea culpa”
3 September
BP Says Limits on Drilling Imperil Oil Spill Payouts
(NYT) BP is warning Congress that if lawmakers pass legislation that bars the company from getting new offshore drilling permits, it may not have the money to pay for all the damages caused by its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The company says a ban would also imperil the ambitious Gulf Coast restoration efforts that officials want the company to voluntarily support. (FP Morning Brief) BP is not only balking at paying money into the $20 billion escrow fund, but also financing a whole range of programs that it previously agreed to. These include $100 million to provide for oil workers who lost their income due to Obama’s moratorium on deepwater drilling, $500 million for a research program to study the spill’s environmental impact, and almost $80 million to fund the tourism campaigns of the Gulf Coast states affected by the spill. Why does this sound like those outrageous jokes about the child who kills his parents,  then throws himself on the mercy of the Court because he is an orphan?
23 August
Questions About the Gulf
The Obama administration owes the American people plain talk about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico — particularly about how much oil remains and the dangers to humans, wildlife and the environment.
… in early August [a] report by government scientists declared that three-quarters of the five million barrels spilled had disappeared — skimmed, burned, dispersed.
This rosy narrative has since been badly shaken. Scientists at the University of Georgia said last week that the rate of evaporation and biological breakdown had been greatly exaggerated. Another team of scientists wrote in the journal Science about the discovery of a vast 22-mile underwater oil plume the size of Manhattan. Most alarmingly, they said they saw little evidence that the oil was being rapidly consumed by the gulf’s petroleum-eating microbes, raising the possibility of significant future damage to the ecosystem.
20 August
Huge oil plume found in Gulf
(FT) Scientists say they have proved a huge plume of oil is lurking below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, a remnant of the catastrophic BP oil spill that gushed nearly 5m barrels of oil into the sea
Researchers find underwater oil plume in Gulf
Researchers say the presence of a mile-wide underwater oil plume in the Gulf of Mexico proves environmental dangers from the BP well leak remain, according to a study published in the journal Science. Scientists do not yet know the levels of toxicity present in the plume, but say degradation of the oil is occurring at one-tenth the rate it would if the oil was on the surface. National Public Radio (text and audio) (8/20) , Google/The Associated Press (8/19)
Gulf oil spill: Why raise the faulty blowout preventer? It’s evidence.
(CSM) Drilling on the relief well has stopped while BP prepares to raise the failed blowout preventer from the sea floor. The effort is not just a safety precaution. The equipment is also evidence that may reveal how the Gulf oil spill happened.
6 August
If BP qualifies for $10 billion cleanup tax break, should it get one?
(CSM) BP says it will seek a $9.9 billion tax write-off based on the $32 billion it expects to spend on Gulf oil spill cleanup and recovery. One US senator is already calling for hearings to prevent it
(NYT) James Carville, the outspoken Democratic political strategist and television pundit, has sent what amounts to a very public kiss-and-make-up note to his friends in the White House, praising President Obama’s recent handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Any fair assessment would have to conclude that in spite of some people’s criticism of the early response (and by ‘some people’ I mean Ms. Nippy’s firstborn son, James), one must also give credit to a much improved and vigorous response to the environmental catastrophe in the gulf,” Mr. Carville wrote in an essay on CNN’s Web site.
BP finishes cementing damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well
BP has finished pumping cement into the top of its damaged Gulf of Mexico oil well as part of its “static kill” procedure.
The move comes the day after it was announced that almost three-quarters of the oil spilled had been broken down by natural forces or cleaned up. The report on the fate of the spilt oil was compiled by 25 of “the best government and independent scientists”, the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) said.
4 August
The BP Disaster Continues Despite the Cheerful Happy Talk
The press, government officials and BP pitchmen are insulting our intelligence by suggesting that the oil has vanished and there’s nothing to worry about. From a political perspective it’s easy to see why everyone wants to make it appear as though the response was successful and they were able to achieve the impossible. Whatever short-term gains this might provide in terms of approval ratings or the confidence of the American people will surely be undermined when the true long-term environment impact emerges.
3 August
BP oil spill - the static kill explained
Procedure pumps heavy mud and cement through blow-out preventer to force oil back down Macondo well
Static kill is similar to the top kill method that BP attempted to use back in May. The procedure works by essentially pumping heavy mud and cement through the blow-out preventer and into the well. The idea being that the mud is so dense that it will suffocate the flow of oil, forcing it back down the well into the reservoir.
In a recent technical update, Kent Wells, BP senior vice-president, said the key difference between top kill and static kill is that during the top kill the well was flowing.
1 August
Despite Rule, BP Used Dispersant, Panel Finds
The Coast Guard approved dozens of requests by BP to spread hundreds of thousands of gallons of surface oil dispersants in the Gulf of Mexico despite the Environmental Protection Agency’s directive on May 26 that they should be used only rarely, according to documents and correspondence analyzed by a Congressional subcommittee.
Gulf surface oil slick is gone, but dangers remain
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill that covered hundreds of square miles in the Gulf of Mexico has largely disappeared thanks to cleanup efforts, the Gulf’s natural oil eating bacteria and two recent storms that helped disperse the massive slick. Researchers warn the absence of surface oil does not eliminate threats to marine life and the Gulf Coast as oil, dispersant chemicals and other pollutants remain underwater. The New York Times (7/27)
26 July
BP boss Hayward to get immediate £600,000 pension
BP chief executive Tony Hayward will get an immediate annual pension worth about £600,000 ($930,000) when he leaves in October, the BBC has learned. BBC business editor Robert Peston said that the pension entitlement was “bound to be hugely controversial”.
The Wall Street Journal points out that Dudley Has Long To-Do List at BP, while noting that BP is expected to report second-quarter earnings on Tuesday. Excluding spill-related costs, an average of analysts’ estimates forecasts a $4.9 billion profit for the second quarter—up 60% from year-earlier levels. But analysts have issued a wide range of projections for spill-related costs, so the company’s actual profit for the quarter remains hard to pin down.
25 July
BP boss Hayward ‘negotiates exit’
(BBC) Tony Hayward, widely criticised for his handling of the US oil spill, is negotiating his exit, with an announcement expected within 24 hours. (Bloomberg) BP’s Dudley May Replace Hayward as CEO, Times Says
21 July
New Oil Spill Containment System to Protect Gulf of Mexico Planned By Major Oil Companies
(MarketWatch) A plan to build and deploy a rapid response system that will be available to capture and contain oil in the event of a potential future underwater well blowout in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico was announced today by Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and Shell.
The new system will be flexible, adaptable and able to begin mobilization within 24 hours and can be used on a wide range of well designs and equipment, oil and natural gas flow rates and weather conditions. The new system will be engineered to be used in deepwater depths up to 10,000 feet and have initial capacity to contain 100,000 barrels per day with potential for expansion.
20 July
BP sells Canadian assets to Apache
(CBC) BP is selling properties in Alberta and B.C. worth $3.25 billion US to Apache Corporation help pay for the cleanup and to cover damage compensation claims from its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
BP said Tuesday it is selling properties in Alberta and British Columbia worth $3.25 billion US to Apache Corporation to help pay for the cleanup and to cover compensation claims from its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The sale is part of a $7-billion asset deal with Apache.

Engineers detect seepage at capped BP well
Retired U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen ordered BP to provide a him with plan for reopening the recently capped well in the Gulf of Mexico if reports of seepage around the cap are confirmed. Engineers detected seepage on the ocean floor that could be methane or oil and may undermine the heavy cap that has prevented oil flow since last week. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, who is visiting the U.S. this week, will meet with U.S. President Barack Obama to discuss the well issue, which has complicated the traditionally close alliance between the U.S. and U.K. BBC (7/19) , The New York Times (free registration)/Reuters (7/18) 
17 July
After Oil Spills, Hidden Damage Can Last for Years
Every oil spill is different, but the thread that unites these disparate scenes is a growing scientific awareness of the persistent damage that spills can do — and of just how long oil can linger in the environment, hidden in out-of-the-way spots.
At the same time, scientists who have worked to survey and counteract the damage from spills say the picture in the gulf is far from hopeless.
16 July
(Foreign Policy) For the first time since April, oil has stopped flowing into the Gulf of Mexico after BP successful placed a new cap over the gushing well yesterday. Engineers will continue to take pressure readings from the cap until at least Saturday. If pressure reading hold, it will be a sign the the pipe underneath is undamaged and the 35,000 to 60,000 barrels of oil spilling out of the well per day can be captured by surface ships. NYT, Reuters
BP staunches flow of oil, at least temporarily
BP has apparently plugged its oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico after more than 85 days and up to 184 million gallons of spilled oil. The 75-ton cap on the damaged well does not offer a permanent solution, however, and technicians continue to monitor the well to determine pressure levels. Erratic pressure levels could force BP to remove the cap. TIME/Ecocentric blog (7/15)
Brazil innovates offshore cleanup method
Brazilian scientists have developed a way to use glycerin to clean up offshore oil spills, a method they say is more efficient and safer than using chemical dispersants or burning off oil. The glycerin is thrown over spilled oil in the form of a powder, which then transforms into a plasticlike material that absorbs the oil and allows it to be recovered for later use. One ton of glycerin can absorb 23 tons of crude oil. Brazil produces glycerin as a byproduct of its biodiesel industry. AlertNet.org/Reuters (7/15)
14 July
Senators question BP’s Libyan links
(FT) With BP still trying to cap the leaking Gulf well and a permanent fix weeks away, US politicians are increasingly looking for other ways to target the company
(Reuters) - BP Plc said on Wednesday a 24-hour delay in a key pressure test on a cap on its Gulf of Mexico wellhead was needed to reduce risks as it works to stop oil that has been spewing for months into the ocean.
13 July
Giant oil skimmer collects Gulf water in test
A giant Taiwanese oil skimmer has collected 6.3 million gallons of oily water from the Gulf of Mexico as tests continue to prove its worth in the cleanup effort.
New BP cap set for slow tests of how it holds oil
Engineers will slowly shut down three valves that let oil flow through the 75-ton capping device to see if it can withstand the pressure of the erupting crude and to watch if leaks spring up elsewhere in the well.
12 July
In BP’s Record, a History of Boldness and Costly Blunders
(NYT) Despite a catalog of crises and near misses in recent years, BP has been chronically unable or unwilling to learn from its mistakes, an examination of its record shows.
10 July
Six lessons from the BP oil spill
(CSM) What the tragedy of the BP oil spill has taught us about regulations, technology, and how our energy diet must change.
BP Removes Cap From Well, Aiming for a Tighter Fit
Technicians on Saturday removed a containment cap atop BP’s out of control well in the Gulf of Mexico, beginning an ambitious engineering effort that could fully contain the massive oil leak but will also make matters worse, at least temporarily. BP Oil Spill — Old Cap Removed The removal of the old cap, which will allow oil to gush into the sea unhindered for at least two days, is the first step toward putting a new, tighter cap on well that would be capable of funneling more oil to collection ships on the surface of the Gulf, the AP reported.
9 July
Canada may sue BP over oil spill
Fishermen fear U.S. disaster could hurt Atlantic tuna stocks. Background: U.S. oil spill could hit Atlantic tuna May 3
8 July
BP oil spill: relief well drilling ‘ahead of schedule’
Mr Dudley said completion between 20 and 27 July was possible but only “in a perfect world with no interruptions”.
In his interview with the Wall Street Journal newspaper earlier this week, Mr Dudley added that such a “perfect case” was threatened by the hurricane season in the region and was “unlikely”.
Owner of Exploded Rig Is Known for Testing Rules
Transocean is the world’s largest offshore drilling company, but until its Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April, few Americans outside the energy business had heard of it. It is well known, however, in a number of other countries — for testing local laws and regulations.
5 July
Special Report: Should BP Nuke Its Leaking Well?
(Planet Ark/WEN) … the former long-time Russian Minister of nuclear energy and veteran Soviet physicist Viktor Mikhailov knows just how to fix BP’s oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. “A nuclear explosion over the leak,” he says.
For some, blasting the problem seems the most logical answer in the world. Mikhailov has had a distinguished career in the nuclear field, helping to close a Soviet Union program that used nuclear explosions to seal gas leaks. Ordinarily he’s an opponent of nuclear blasts, but he says an underwater explosion in the Gulf of Mexico would not be harmful and could cost no more than $10 million. That compares with the $2.35 billion BP has paid out in cleanup and compensation costs so far.
BP Wants Partners to Help Shoulder Spill Cost
Newly released documents show that on June 2, BP sent out demands for nearly $400 million to its partners in the well, Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Mitsui Oil Exploration Company of Japan, or roughly 40 percent of the $1 billion it had spent in May. … Anadarko has suggested that BP has engaged in “gross negligence” and “willful misconduct” — terms that, if proved in arbitration or court, could allow it to slip the bonds of liability under its joint operating agreement with the oil giant.
3 July
Giant oil skimmer [A Whale] being tested in Gulf
Converted ship will try to pick up oil close to spill site through weekend
(MSNBC/AP) The vessel will cruise a 25-square-mile test site through Sunday. The U.S. Coast Guard, along with BP, are waiting to see if the vessel, which is 10 stories high and as long as 3 1/2 football fields, can live up to its makers’ promise of being able to process up to 21 million gallons of oil-fouled water a day.,The ship works by taking in water through 12 vents, separating the oil and pumping the cleaned seawater back into the Gulf.
2 July
A Canadian solution to the Gulf oil spill
For years, an Edmonton company [Earth Care Products] has been using peat moss to absorb petroleum products
1 July
Storm Alex Weakens Over Mexico, Oil Restarts
U.S. oil installations have not been hit by the storm, which formed near the Yucatan peninsula on Saturday, and oil companies began to ramp up production again after shutting down about a quarter of the Gulf’s output as a precaution. Conspiracy Theories Behind BP Oil Spill in Gulf — From Dick Cheney To UFOs
Far from the media spotlight, pulled from the “X-Files” of the Internet, are some of the more interesting and conspiratorial narratives on what — or who — triggered BP’s oil-spill disaster, now unfolding more than 18,000 feet below sea level in the Gulf of Mexico.
30 June
BP Relief Well Weeks Away, Hurricane Hurts Cleanup
(Reuters/Planet Ark) A relief well that might divert the gushing Gulf of Mexico oil leak is still weeks from completion, a top U.S. official said on Wednesday, as the season’s first Atlantic hurricane disrupted cleanup efforts.
U.S. lawmakers also took a step toward making oil companies face unlimited liabilities from offshore spills like the one devastating the Gulf coast.
Scientists warn Gulf “dead zones” are growing
Scientists are finding growing evidence of oxygen-starved “dead zones” in the Gulf of Mexico near the BP oil spill area. In some areas, methane presence is as high as 100,000 times normal levels, sucking oxygen out of the water and killing off marine species, and forcing surviving animals to move from their traditional habitats. The Guardian (London) (6/30)
29 June
Gulf oil spill: The story so far
(CSM) The effort to contain the Gulf oil spill has had more twists and turns than a mystery novel. This rundown of events so far also shows what is ahead in the struggle to clean up the Gulf of Mexico.
BP PR blunders carry high political cost
(Reuters) “BP’s handling of the spill from a crisis management perspective will go down in history as one of the great examples of how to make a situation worse by bad communications,” said Michael Gordon, of New York-based crisis PR firm Group Gordon Strategic Communications.
“It was a combination of a lack of transparency, a lack of straight talking and a lack of sensitivity to the victims. When you’re managing an environmental disaster of this magnitude you not only have to manage the problem but also manage all the stakeholders.”
NRDC Authors First Book on Deepwater Horizon Disaster
NRDC Executive Director Peter Lehner, together with Bob Deans, will author the first book on the Gulf oil spill entitled Deepwater Horizon: The Oil Disaster, Its Aftermath, and Our Future.
Published by OR Books, Deepwater Horizon provides a brief account of the disaster as well as the conditions that made it possible — and lays out a blueprint to avoid similar catastrophes in the future.
“The book is not so much about BP as it is about how we got to the point where drilling in inaccessible spots became hugely profitable for oil companies,” said Peter Lehner. “There is a real need for an assessment of the situation that goes beyond criticizing one company’s incompetence. Our oil addiction and how we get rid of it has to be at the heart of these discussions.”
Whom to believe?
Alex To Become Hurricane, Delay Oil Spill Efforts
Day 69: The Latest on the Oil Spill
(NYT) A tropical storm moving across the western Gulf of Mexico will most likely strengthen into a hurricane but is not expected to seriously disrupt efforts to capture oil gushing from the stricken BP well.
28 June
Relief Wells Getting Close, But Could Take a Few Tries
(The ProPublica Blog) One relief well is now within about 20 feet of BP’s ruptured well in the Gulf, but historically these fixes haven’t always worked on the first try—even on blowouts in far shallower waters.
The Ixtoc well in the Gulf of Mexico was only 150 feet below the surface, and it took nine months, two relief wells, and several tries before a relief well finally stopped that spill. That was in 1979.
24 June
Advances in Oil Spill Cleanup Lag Since Exxon Valdez
Advances in spill response have been hampered by a lack of research and rules that make it hard to test new ideas.
BP Relied on Faulty U.S. Data
BP PLC and other big oil companies based their plans for responding to a big oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on U.S. government projections that gave very low odds of oil hitting shore, even in the case of a spill much larger than the current one.
22 June
Jimmy Buffett’s Gulf rescue mission: Saving marine life
(USA Today) Singer Jimmy Buffett and two friends are hoping their new rescue boats could help save birds and marine life under threat from the nation’s worst oil spill. The boats are specially designed to traverse shallow marshlands, the breeding grounds for a wide variety of wildlife off the Gulf Coast
BUT according to Care2 SWAT boats will not be allowed in the water, says BP and the United States government.
Why? Because the US Fish & Wildlife Service requires all organizations involved in the rescue of wildlife to have a permit. Dragonfly Boatworks planned on donating the first of four SWAT boats to the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Laboratory (GCRL) … the boats will not be used because GCRL does not have a permit to rescue wildlife suffering in the Gulf.
21 June
Rig Worker Says BP Was Told of Leak in Emergency System Before Explosion
19 June
Kevin Costner’s Company Hired to Help BP Oil Spill Clean-Up
Costner said that he has been working with scientists on the development of this machine to aid in the clean up of oil spills for the last 17 years. He testified in front of Congress last week, stressing the need of such a machine and a solution to the risks posed by deep-water drilling. 2 June Celebrity Oil Spill Experts: Can Cameron, Costner and Redford Really Help?
As the BP oil spill disaster continues to grow, some faces from the world of entertainment are popping up to lend a hand. Perhaps even more surprising: at least some of the stars are being taken seriously.
18 June
BP Chief on Hot Seat
Over and over, he said he wasn’t involved in the decisions preceding the accident and declined to speculate on causes until investigations were complete. BP’S Hayward Attacked as Evasive; Points to Failed Blowout Preventer
In 2 Accidents, BP Ignored Omens of Disaster
In the last five years, BP had two accidents that should have raised its focus on safety, and that makes the gulf disaster even more unforgivable.
16 June
Oil Executives Try to Explain Differences From BP
In their remarks to a House panel, the executives of oil drillers tried to cast the BP spill as a rare event that their companies were not likely to repeat.
15 June
Matthew Simmons: The Relief Well Will Fail, And An Undersea Oil Lake May Be Covering 40% Of The Gulf
He confidently predicts that the relief well will fail (due to structural problems with the pipe) and that unless we’re content with having 100K+ barrels spill each day, then we have no choice to nuke the well.
Obama Taps New MMS Head To Oversee Reorganization
The White House announced today that President Obama has named Michael Bromwich to head embattled Minerals Management Service (MMS).
Bromwich, a former assistant U.S. Attorney and Justice Department inspector general, is being tasked with implementing the reorganization of MMS into three parts that President Obama announced in the wake of the Gulf coast the oil spill. As a lawyer, Bromwich specialized in rooting out mismanagement of private companies.
9 June
Plumes of Oil Below Surface Raise New Concerns
Tests confirmed that some toxic compounds that would evaporate in a shallow-water spill are instead spreading far below the ocean surface from the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, raising fresh concern about the potential impact of the spill on sea life.
8 June
(National Geographic) Shouldering the weight of heavy oil spewed from the Gulf of Mexico’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a brown pelican struggles in sludgy surf on East Grand Terre Island, Louisiana, Friday.
Nearly 800 dead birds, sea turtles, dolphins, and other animals have been found in the Gulf and on its shores, according to federal authorities cited by the Associated Press. But the real story may be the rate at which animals are being affected by oil, which appears to have accelerated drastically in recent days.
1 June
Concern for Crew Cleaning Up Spill
Top Obama administration health officials are heading to the Gulf of Mexico amid increasing concern that the oil spill may be sickening some of the workers who are cleaning it up.
30 May
Reforms Slow to Arrive at Drilling Agency
Mr. Obama, shortly after taking office, had assigned Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to clean up the agency, the Minerals Management Service. The office’s history of corruption and coziness with the industry it was supposed to regulate had been the subject of years of scathing reports by government auditors, lurid headlines and a score of Congressional hearings.
But the promised reforms of the agency were slow to arrive, and the subject of the minerals service never came up at the meetings leading to the new drilling policy, according to a senior administration official involved in the discussions.
29 May
BP ‘top kill’ falters: Macondo well keeps spewing oil into the Gulf
(CSM) It will take 7 years for the oil deposit below the Deepwater Horizon well to empty if left alone. On Saturday, BP acknowledged it may abandon its best chance so far to cork the well: the ‘top kill’.
28 May
What Does the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Mean for Human Health?
Initial concerns about spill-related health problems are focusing on cleanup workers, some of whom were hospitalized this week after reporting nausea, dizziness and headaches.
27 May
Gulf oil spill update: Top kill maneuver
Greg McCormack, Director, Petroleum Extension Service, University of Texas
(WaPost) The top kill is underway, success uncertain. BP engineers are pumping mud at a furious rate into the damaged blowout preventer that sits on the uncapped well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. The hazardous-but-high-reward maneuver comes five weeks into the oil spill crisis amid an intensifying atmosphere of political recrimination that has spread from the Gulf Coast to the White House and Congress.
10 May
The Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: An Accident Waiting to Happen
(Yale 360) The oil slick spreading across the Gulf of Mexico has shattered the notion that offshore drilling had become safe. A close look at the accident shows that lax federal oversight, complacency by BP and the other companies involved, and the complexities of drilling a mile deep all combined to create the perfect environmental storm. This is one of, if not the, best analyses published to date.
7 May
In Pictures: ‘Gulf Oil Spill Containment Attempts Continue’
6 May
John Hofmeister: Why We Hate the Oil Companies
As Shell’s then top U.S. executive traveled the country, he discovered how corporate leaders create their own reputation for arrogance — and lose their chance to deliver the right message.
This article, by a former president of Shell Oil, was written before the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 22 and the subsequent oil leak. It is adapted from a book by the same name to be published May 25 by Palgrave Macmillan.
3 May
Gulf Oil Spill: Who’s to Blame? BP, Halliburton and the Feds Are All Implicated

CEO Hayward thinks that the damage to BP, and the wider oil industry, may be manageable if the oil spill is soon contained. That’s half the story, anyway; the other half is the notion that the Horizon’s explosion was a cruel twist of fate, the kind of industrial accident that occasionally occurs regardless of all safeguards.
If it’s discovered that BP didn’t do everything it could to prevent the accident, its guilt in the public eye will soar to new levels. Now a whistleblower report by a former contractor has emerged that apparently says BP was in fact cutting corners, dangerously so. The contractor first suspected problems when hired to work on the BP Atlantis oil platform, according to Truthout.
1 May
Drilling Down: A Troubled Legacy in Oil
The Mocando blow-out could terminate oil companies’ hopes for drilling the easy oil off Florida. That temporarily aborted plan will depend on the images from the Gulf coast. Exxon was crucified 21 years ago by TV pictures of oily seabirds, floating salmon and the devastation of pristine shores. Robustly, Lee Raymond refused to accept that Exxon bore the responsibility. Eventually, he trampled the original $5 billion damages awarded by the court down to $507.5 million. Ever since, Exxon has been cursed for its insensitivity but it remains the world’s biggest private oil corporation. Mr. Hayward is now facing his baptism of fire—to limit the damage and ensure BP’s survival. Few CEOs will envy his challenge.
The spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the latest disaster for BP, which has been haunted by a history of cost-cutting
30 April
Oil-Spill Fight Bogs Down
BP Says Stopgap Plan to Cap Well May Take Weeks; Weather Slows Effort to Limit Slick
Oil Slick Nears Coast as U.S. Escalates Response
(WSJ) In an afternoon appearance in the Rose Garden, President Barack Obama promised to use “every single available resource” of government to help with the spill, which could be one of the largest in U.S. history. The U.S. military began mobilizing for what could be a major effort to prevent environmental damage to Louisiana and other states.
Viewing the aerial photos of the spreading oil that threatens the coastline of Louisiana and possibly other neighboring states, it is impossible to separate feelings of dismay and the inevitability of such an event. The attempt to burn off the oil will create further environmental damage
28 April
Efforts to Contain Slick Falter
Officials Consider Setting Fire to Spilled Oil to Minimize Impact on Coastline
Officials were considering setting fire to a giant oil slick in hopes of preventing it from lapping onto the environmentally sensitive Gulf of Mexico shoreline in the wake of an offshore drilling disaster.
Response efforts continued Tuesday as debate over offshore drilling heated up in Washington, with two senior House Democrats questioning whether BP PLC and rig operator Transocean Ltd. had an adequate emergency plan in place.

21 April
Deepwater Horizon oil rig fire leaves 11 missing
(The Guardian) Rig listing after explosion in Gulf of Mexico, but most workers escape unhurt

Paul Heinbecker: The case for travel and hospitality funds
(Embassy Magazine) Travel and hospitality funds are the diplomatic equivalent of military force multipliers, like helicopters and satellite communications—and they cost a lot less. The entire hospitality budget for Foreign Affairs, $13.5 million, is less than the cost of purchasing and servicing one executive jet, of which DND has five in its fleet of aircraft.
These funds make our diplomats, our trade commissioners and even our consular officers abroad a lot more effective—for Canadians.
Canadian diplomats need local travel funds so they can get around their countries of accreditation, understand first-hand how Canadian interests are affected, and build relationships designed to protect and advance those interests.
22 July
Future NGO funding requires ‘policy alignment’ (subcribers only)
(Embassy) Only days after confirming one of the country’s most important development groups is being cut loose as a partner, the government has laid out a new approach to how Canada’s aid agency will support non-governmental organizations. CIDA Minister Bev Oda says the changes will streamline administrative requirements, improve aid effectiveness and lead to better co-ordination of Canadian development efforts. The move—which came without any consultations—has prompted as many questions as answers, and reinforced concerns the Harper government is prepared to punish NGOs who speak out about its policies.
23 July
Brian Stewart: Another critical group feels Ottawa’s axe
In the fields of justice, human rights and foreign aid, it seems that one non-governmental agency after another is being “de-funded” into non-existence or near paralysis by the Harper government.
So what, you ask. Well, the end result will likely be a less civil society with less informed debate and less public testing of ideas. Also, I suspect, less courage in the voluntary sector.
For decades, I have covered human rights and aid groups here and around the world and have never seen such a chill as what is happening now in our own country.
I am not talking about the normal, up-front budget cuts that most federal departments will now face and pass along, but a more sinister loss of funding that seems tied to political payback. The difference is profoundly important.
For when an NGO has its budget cut, apparently for speaking out, others fear the same fate.
Minister Oda announces next step to CIDA’s Aid Effectiveness
(CIDA Website) “Effective assistance is aid that yields concrete, sustainable results and makes the best possible use of resources to maximize impact. Today’s announcement builds on those efforts through the newly renamed “Partnerships with Canadians” approach.”
22 July
Tories cut funding to aid umbrella group
The government made it official Thursday that it will no longer fund, after 40 years, the Canadian Council for International Co-operation, umbrella for 90 non-government development and aid agencies.
The council represents most of Canada’s aid and development agencies, ranging from the Red Cross and World Vision to Oxfam and Save the Children. It is the sector’s representative with government and since 1968, has analysed government policies on aid, trade, debt and defence. Gerry Barr [president and chief executive officer] believes the government made a “partisan” decision to halt the funds because the council has been critical of a number of policies. Yes, we believe that. 
29 June
Carney to chair international financial forum
The Bank of International Settlements in Basel, which acts as a sort of central bank for central bankers, appointed Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to chair the key forum on the global financial system.
Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU: le Canada intensifie sa campagne
Convaincu d’avoir marqué des points durant les sommets du G8 et du G20 en fin de semaine, le Canada entend maintenant intensifier sa campagne afin d’obtenir l’un des deux sièges non permanents du Conseil de sécurité de l’ONU.
22 June
Tape Reveals [Chinese] Embassy Footing Bill for Hu Jintao’s Welcome Rally
Official tells students they must join; describes event as “political struggle” against human rights advocates
Beginning today, expect to see throngs of flag-waving Chinese on Parliament Hill and lining the streets of Ottawa where Chinese leader Hu Jintao will visit the next three days.
19 June
Canada’s moment in the spotlight
G8 and G20 summits are celebratory events in Harper’s makeover project for this country
However, there is a big BUT in the article that belies the cheery headline.
Has Harper succeeded in restoring Canadian international leadership? -most foreign affairs watchers shake their heads with frustration and say the very opposite has occurred.
“This government hasn’t been much interested in foreign policy, and with one or two exceptions it’s been disappointing. There’s no substance to it,” said Paul Heinbecker, a former ambassador to Germany and the United Nations, and one-time foreign policy adviser to prime minister Brian Mulroney. …Canada can have international influence -and could do so much more -if only Harper would move beyond public posturing and treat foreign policy seriously.
15 June
Canada in the world
Michael Ignatieff commits to a Global Networks Strategy
In a speech to the National Forum today, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff released a major component of the next Liberal election platform: a plan to restore Canadian leadership in the world through a Global Networks Strategy
(CTV) Give soldiers post-combat role in Afghanistan: Ignatieff
The call for a post-combat role was part of a sweeping new foreign policy agenda unveiled Tuesday by the Liberal leader. More
McQuaig: Partner in flotilla ‘farce’
… there hasn’t been a murmur of protest from Canada over the Israeli seizure of a Turkish ship in international waters late last month, and the shocking killing of nine peace activists on board.
While governments around the world denounced the Israeli attack and Turkey decried it as an act of “state terrorism,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper cheerfully followed through with a planned meeting the next day with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Appearing with Netanyahu, Harper merely expressed regret about the loss of life and the fact that it interfered with Netanyahu’s visit to Canada: “I’m sorry this has coloured this [visit],” said Harper, “but delighted you were able to join me at least last night and today, and we’ve had some important talks, so welcome to Canada.”
1 June
Canada backs call for inquiry into Israeli raid on convoy
The federal government supports a prompt, impartial inquiry into the deadly events in Israel, Minister of State Peter Kent told the House of Commons Wednesday.
Mr. Kent provided the most fulsome remarks so far by a Canadian official on the events in which nine people were killed when Israel used military force on a ship in an aid convoy headed for the Gaza Strip. Israel says its soldiers were defending themselves.
30 May
Canada stands to benefit from improved relations with Mexico
Canadians have an interest in taking Mexico more seriously, and therefore in asking their government to commit more firmly to our southernmost NAFTA partner.
29 May
(Globe & Mail editorial) Despite strife at home, heed Mexico’s influence abroad
The Canada-Mexico relationship can benefit from Mexico’s growing stature, on issues of trade, global economic co-operation and climate change
Love Not War For Insurgents? India - Canada and visas
… anger within the uniformed services in India that has been caused by the propensity of the Canadian High Commission in New Delhi to confuse the Indian security services with their counterparts in Pakistan, a country whose army has jihad as an official motto. As a consequence, since at least 2008, several retired and serving officers of the Indian uniformed services have reportedly been denied a Canadian visa on the grounds that they are ‘human rights violators’ by the mere fact of being part of these services.
27 May
Israel’s new ‘best friend’?
(AlJazeera) When Binyamin Netanyahu arrives in Canada on Friday, it will mark the first visit to Ottawa by a sitting Israeli prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin in 1994. In the years since, as Israel has found itself increasingly isolated on the world stage, successive Canadian governments have moved against the trend and deepened ties with Israel - something that Netanyahu is keen to protect.
24 May
Chilly relations hang over Calderon visit to Canada
Mexican President Felipe Calderon will begin a three-day visit Wednesday to Canada, amid strains in bilateral relations and perceptions that Ottawa is more preoccupied with ties to its superpower neighbor, the United States.
9 May
(RCI) Pakistan has expressed dissatisfaction with a Canadian-led initiative to improve Pakistan’s dangerous border with Afghanistan. Canada announced the initiative on behalf of the Group of Eight when G8 foreign ministers met in Ottawa two months ago. As one possible project, Canada proposed building a new highway to link two cities straddling the important Khyber Pass—Peshawar in Pakistan and Jalalabad in Afghanistan. But Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Canada, Akbar Zeb, says that the initiative should go beyond one or two projects to include poverty alleviation, and improvements to infrastructure and health services. Pakistan is asking Canada to re-consider the initiative when Canada hosts a summit of the Group of Eight next month.
26 April
In our list of Canada’s high-profile activities on the world stage in 2010, we omitted mention of  participation in the Shanghai World Exhibition (expo). How could we, enthusiastic survivors of the fabled expo 67? Our friend and colleague from those glorious days, Alan Hustak, writes  discouragingly about Canada at this year’s expo - how the mighty have fallen  Send in the clowns: Canada at Shanghai’s world’s fair
1 April
(Brookings Institution) Kandahar is What the Canada-U.S. Alliance is All About
29 March
Envoy savages Liberals, Tories on foreign policy
Afghan Mission doomed, he says; ‘We simply do not have the heart for a brutal, no-holds-barred struggle’
(The Gazette) “The bottom line is that we will not prevail in Afghanistan,” Robert Fowler told the Liberal Party’s Canada 150 conference in a scathing critique of Canadian foreign policy. “Once we understand and accept that reality it is time to leave, not a moment, not a life and not a dollar later.”
Fowler also charged that both the Liberal and Conservative parties are contributing to turmoil in the Middle East and fostering international terrorism by pandering to Jewish voters in Canada with blindly uncritical support for Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Another missed opportunity to show leadership
Hillary Clinton blasts Canada for exclusive Arctic talks
A carefully orchestrated effort by Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon to show international leadership on polar affairs by hosting an Arctic summit near Ottawa ended awkwardly on Monday after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized Canada for excluding aboriginal leaders and three northern nations - Iceland, Finland and Sweden - from the gathering. John Baglow: Divvying up the Arctic without inviting its inhabitants - Five nations’ representatives meet in Chelsea, Quebec, to divvy up the Arctic. Missing from the table: Iceland, Finland and Sweden. Oh — and the aboriginal populations of the region in question.
Arctic summit highlights tensions, competing interests
19 March
Harper Government obstructs visit of Respected Palestinian Leader
(CJPME) The Harper government has obstructed the issuance of a visa to Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, resulting in the cancellation of [his] upcoming speaking tour … Dr. Barghouti applied for a visa on March 5th, for entry into Canada on March 19th, yet despite the urgency of the issue being brought directly to high-level officials in Foreign Affairs and Citizenship and Immigration, the government delayed the issuance of a visa to the point where Barghouti missed two key flights, resulting in a cancellation of [the] visit.
18 March
The quickest about-face in human (political) history?
Contraception an option in maternal health plan: PM
The Conservative government is now saying birth control is an option in its international maternal-health initiative after it appeared the Tories would exclude contraception in any of its programs.
“We are not closing doors against any options, including contraception, but we do not want a debate here or elsewhere on abortion,” Prime Minister Stephen Harper said … on Thursday.
Birth control won’t be in G8 plan to protect mothers, Tories say
The Conservative government has offered an explanation for why it will exclude contraception from its initiative to improve the health of mothers in poor countries: Birth control doesn’t fit with saving lives. [our italics]
In no uncertain terms, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon yesterday ruled out any kind of family-planning programs being included in Canada’s “signature” initiative at June’s G8 summit - a strategy to improve the health of mothers and young children in poor countries.
Making a difference on the Security Council
(Embassy) Canada was last elected to the Security Council in 1998. It is hoping to be elected again later this year. But in the past 12 years, the Security Council has changed dramatically and this new environment is certain to affect Canada’s ability to make an impact, if it is elected.
Brett House and Désirée McGraw: Our shaky hand on African aid - ‘Accountability’ is a poor excuse for delays or cuts
Canada’s freeze on increased aid to Africa also comes as the very accountability structures that Mr. Cannon says he seeks – such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development and its African Peer Review Mechanism that were set up at the 2002 G8 summit in Kananaskis – are starved for resources. The Harper government’s sudden interest in aid accountability arrives after years of fractious relations between [CIDA] and Canada’s Auditor-General.
Gar Pardy: Peter Kent goes to war
(Ottawa Citizen) Some have suggested that the statements by the junior foreign minister and backed by various actions of the Canadian government have more to do with Canadian politics than with the Middle East. If that is the case, then all Canadians should hang their collective heads in shame that their government would play such games in the world’s most dangerous area. Perhaps it is time for ministers of the government to read Middle East history beyond that in the Book of Chronicles of the Old Testament.
18 February
Cannon to meet with arctic stakeholders
Facing criticism from Northern aboriginal leaders and Iceland’s top diplomat over their exclusion from a five-nation “Arctic Summit” to be hosted by Canada next month, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has pledged to meet with a full spectrum of circumpolar stakeholders ahead of the controversial March 29 gathering of Arctic foreign ministers in Chelsea, Que. But his peace offering fell short of opening the summit to other stakeholders. Canada called out by Arctic allies - Iceland, Finland and Sweden frustrated at non-invitations to Arctic summit.
Canada to build Haiti government building
The Canadian government will supply CA$12 million to build a temporary headquarters for Haiti’s government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said during a visit to the earthquake-ravaged island. The new base will house key ministry personnel and bureaucrats to centralize aid and reconstruction efforts. The Toronto Star (2/15) , The Globe and Mail (Toronto) (2/16)
11 February
Canada’s reputation worsens: global poll
It is the first time Canada’s popularity among its major trading partners has declined since polling firm GlobeScan began tracking international sentiment in 2005, and the deterioration could hurt Canadian business interests, said GlobeScan chairman Doug Miller
6 February
G7 Iqaluit meeting ends
The meeting of the finance ministers from the world’s leading economies ended in Iqaluit Saturday, but there was no indication whether the Group of Seven leaders had bridged the gaps that separated them. The meeting addressed ways of ensuring that, in the future, the international banking system could avoid the kinds of problems that led to the continuing global recession. (FT) Canada G7 meeting may be group’s swansong; (Globe & Mail) Informal setting will help G7 reach consensus, Flaherty contends Mr. Flaherty’s plan to drop a written communiqué comes as the future of the G7 is in question now that the G20 has become the main venue for international financial decision-making.
4 February
Iqaluit: ‘Cold enough to freeze a can of 10W30′
When finance ministers from the world’s seven biggest industrial democracies descend on the small town of Iqaluit Friday, they will have more on their minds than financial system reform, China’s undervalued yuan and mounting deficits. The G7 finance ministers appear to be more concerned – even alarmed – at the prospect of being fed raw seal meat, being eaten by polar bears, and of course braving the Nunavut capital’s freezing temperatures.
3 February
Harper’s new foreign policy concept targets U.S. role in G20
(CP) As Ottawa gears up to host the G7 finance ministers in Iqaluit on Friday and the G8 and G20 summits in June, the government is well aware of the discrepancy between the detailed promises the G20 has made and the actions of some key players within the group. … No one is questioning the U.S. dedication to the G20 cause in general. American officials have been central in promoting the group as the primary economic decision-making body in world affairs. For Canadian policy, the implications of Harper adopting an enlightened sovereignty approach to foreign affairs are subtle, experts say.
29 January
Gerald Caplan: If the PM is serious about the plight of mothers…
(Globe & Mail) Undermining CIDA and cutting funding to NGOs like Kairos leave Stephen Harper with a sizable credibility gap on maternal health
The Prime Minster must not think he’s just discovered America. All kinds of efforts have been attempted for decades to improve maternal and child well-being globally. Those involved have included the United Nations, UN agencies, NGOs, the World Health Organization, government aid organizations like CIDA, and governments and civil society groups in poor countries. But as the ongoing crisis demonstrates, results have been distinctly mixed. That’s why so many Canadian NGOs have been urging the government to make this issue a priority.
28 January
Harper demands results from world leaders
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says multinational organizations like the G8 and the G20 must focus less on “lofty promises” and more on “real results.” He also called on the world’s richest countries to work together in a spirit of what he called “enlightened sovereignty,” which he defined as “an expanded view of mutual interest, in which there is room for all to grow and prosper . . . the natural extension of enlightened self-interest.”   Text of PM’s speech
(Globe & Mail) Carpe diem, Stephen Harper. Davos was underwhelmed
26 January
Canada’s G8 priorities
As president of the G8 in 2010, Canada will champion a major initiative to improve the health of women and children in the world’s poorest regions. Members of the G8 can make a tangible difference in maternal and child health and Canada will be making this the top priority in June. Far too many lives and unexplored futures have already been lost for want of relatively simple health- care solutions.
Montreal summit on Haiti ends with reconstruction principles
(WEF) Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, will deliver a special address at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. Canada is G8 President this year, and Prime Minister Harper will set out his country’s agenda for its presidency.
25 January
Canada leads international efforts to rebuild Haiti at Montreal Conference
22 January
Canada wants lead in Haiti reconstruction
Canada is pressuring Haiti’s prime minister to give it a leading role in reconstruction efforts to deal with the devastation from the Jan. 12 earthquake. … Canada was seeking assurances it would take charge of a project to build temporary buildings to house displaced Haitian ministries. Canada also wants responsibility for assigning experts to help with reconstruction. Montreal Hosting Haiti Aid Meeting: Foreign Ministers to Discuss Recovery Plans
17 January
Rush to help Haiti also helps Harper politically
(CP) In the space of a few days, Parliament Hill has morphed into an emblem of … compassion and concern for the people of Haiti. The Hill has become a hub of frenzied government activity aimed at speedily alleviating the tragic plight of Haitians devastated by a catastrophic earthquake.