Africa

You almost have to admire Steve Krakauer’s ability to turn this CNN interview with President Obama into a “possible wise Latina moment.” The president, in Africa, thought out loud about being an African-American, and how he knows African-Americans who come to the continent and feel more American than ever. It’s because you’re “in some ways, [...]

Here’s Sharon Burke, vice president of Center for a New American Security, who just got effusive praise from former Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), and who’s presenting a panel on those old atavistic security questions about natural resources. The idea of climate change, for instance, as a national security issue has been much derided, but it’ll [...]

And the winner is … a cardboard box, followed closely by cow farts and evaporating tiles!
The results of Forum for the Future’s green design competition are in, and first prize goes to the Kyoto Box, an aluminum foil-lined cardboard box that makes use of the greenhouse effect to combat, well, the greenhouse effect. Its acrylic [...]

Yesterday, an unlikely message popped up in my inbox, from the U.S.-African Chamber of Commerce. Responding to Madonna’s latest controversial forays into the messy world of African adoption, Chamber President Martin Mohammed makes a plea in her favor, arguing that “African nations should welcome high profile celebrities seeking adoption as an opportunity to increase international [...]

The former Clinton-era State Dept. official shares with the president-elect a frustration with conventional foreign-policy thinking. Impatient with ideology, she focuses on transnational threats, challenges and opportunities — befitting the emphasis of a new generation of global strategists. Her experience with Africa has taught her invaluable lessons.