The Council on Foreign Relations, a respected observer, summarizes the summit findings in an authoritative essay entitled: “What the Summit Did and Did Not Accomplish”. Its summary: Would you consider COP26 a success? The quick response, according to the CFR, was blunt: “Yes, but barely.” The recently-concluded summit, it said, “delivered on its primary goal…
The New York Times reports Nov. 17 that the Biden administration plans to invest billions of dollars to expand United States production of coronavirus vaccines to deal with the deadly plague at home and abroad. “That goal,” according to Times correspondent Sheryl Gay Stolberg, “is a proposed first step in a new plan”, enabling the…
In an article in the latest edition of Foreign Affairs, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright describes her concerns about United States foreign policy in the 2020s. “Historically,” she says, “our republic’s claim on the global imagination has been inseparable from its identity — however imperfectly embodied — as a champion of human freedom. That…
A draft agreement at the climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, expresses “alarm and concern” about our planet’s global warming in 2021 and well beyond. The Associated Press reported on November 10 that coal mining and production remain a principal element of that concern. “There is a big push at the summit by most developed countries…
First, a personal thanks to the Voice of America, which enabled me to travel to most of the 60 countries I experienced during my 36 years at the Voice from 1962-1998. Two incidents during those wanderings stand out as a foundation for my understanding of public diplomacy today: On the banks of the lower reaches…
A civil war in Ethiopia began a year ago this November. Now, the fighting is escalating and the world is seriously concerned that aid supplies can’t reach millions who desperately need them. As the Associated Press reported: “Urgent new efforts to calm Ethiopia’s escalating war unfolded November 4th as Ethiopia’s East African neighbor Kenya warned…
At a landmark global summit in Glasgow this week, world leaders must reckon with and take specific steps to curb global warming. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently described the crisis: “We have reached a tipping point in the need for climate action. The disruption to our climate and our planet is already worse than we…
Gil worked for more than 30 years at the Voice of America, the nation’s largest public-funded international broadcaster. He was 86 years old. Distinguished VOA correspondent Butler passed away on Oct. 10 at his home in Waldorf, Maryland. During his years at the Voice, from 1978 until his retirement well into the 21st century, his…
On October 31, representatives of around 200 countries are set to gather in Scotland for an annual U.N. conference on climate change. Central to their debate: progress on limiting global warming in the 2020s. There is a growing popular consensus that there’s not a minute to lose in making such reforms. President Biden told the…
Boise, Idaho, is one of many communities bracing for a surge of Afghan arrivals. The small city is preparing to welcome 58 Afghan refugees, and southern Idaho’s refugee center in Twin Falls expects another 50 in the next few weeks. Brown University’s Watson Institute, an expert on refugee issues, notes that thousands of Afghans have…