The price of corn, the stable of the Zimbabwe diet, rose 700% in Zimbabwe this week. Given the poverty rates in this country, this will almost certainly lead to mass starvation, most likely riots and unrest as well. As of this morning, neither the Red Cross nor Oxfam has announced any initiatives to [...]

This article chronicles how children in war torn countries are kidnapped, brainwashed, and turned into professional soldiers. Its horrifying. If Americans really understood the realities of war, I think there would have been a lot less support for Bush’s policies.

God bless Nicholas Kristof. In his article today, the New York Times columnist points out that western indignation over “sweatshops” is misplaced. In fact, sweatshops provide a needed service to many poor countries, by providing relatively high-paying, comfortable, and safe jobs for the local population. Twenty-five cents per hour may seem scandalous [...]

I was at an interesting talk from the former CEO of the non-profit CARE. They focus on a variety of philanthropic efforts, but the most prominent is promoting the rights of girls in third world countries. One of the big strategies they use is to make sure girls have access to education. [...]

The most important reason why the Iraq War was a mistake has nothing to do with WMDs, or the lack thereof. It doesn’t concern Saddam Hussein, Muqtada al-Sadr, Grand Ayatollah Sistani, or the Kurdish militias. The most important reason that invading Iraq was a mistake is Sudan.

With all the controversy surrounding Iran and the IAEA, I thought it might be useful to talk about nuclear proliferation. Trying to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons is a lot like trying to contain a river after its started raining. All you can do is pile sandbags as fast as you can, [...]