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An open letter signed by “46 foreign policy experts” calling for more arms shipments to Ukraine published in POLITICO failed to mention ties of nearly half of the signatories to the defence industry, allegedly glossing over conflicts of interest, the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft claimed.

June 8th, 2005: Senate Event, Partial Transcription: “The plight of Iranian women and children under Islamic rule”. Full transcription of Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky: Begin Transcription ### Good morning to all of you and thank you [Organizer] I’d like to thank our distinguished panelists for being here and I also know that we have distinguished senators coming by and welcome to all of you. The president in fact did make it clear in his State of the Union Address that the United States supports the democratic aspiration of the people of Iran. As part of our commitment to spread...

Czechoslovakia had its Velvet Revolution, the former Soviet republic Georgia the Rose Revolution, and Ukraine an Orange Revolution. In Lebanon, at least according to a State Department official, a less-colorful but catchy "Cedar Revolution" may be under way. The reference to Lebanon's majestic trees -- celebrated in the Bible as a symbol of well-being -- came Monday from Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky. Lebanon is struggling to get out from under the control of Syria. "In Lebanon, we see growing momentum for a Cedar Revolution that is unifying the citizens of that nation to the cause of true democracy and...

The U.S. is, of course, to blame for all the world's ills. But when disaster strikes, who always renders aid? America is the world's largest contributor of international relief funds. Last year Paula Dobriansky, State Department undersecretary for global affairs, reported "Americans privately give at least $34 billion overseas annually." That does not include the $10 billion in official U.S. foreign aid, though it does include $18 billion in remittances immigrants send to their home countries. That still leaves $16 billion sent across the world, which doesn't sound too stingy to us.

The State Department has awarded an explicitly anti-feminist U.S. group part of a US$10 million grant to train Iraqi women in political participation and democracy. The group, the Washington-based Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), will help implement the administration’s “Iraqi Women’s Democracy Initiative,” along with a number of other groups that, unlike the IWF, have experience in international exchange and democracy-promotion activities, including the Meridian International Center, the International Republican Institute (IRI), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI). Recipients of the grants also include the Bangalore-based Art of Living Foundation, a volunteer organization that promotes yoga and other breathing exercises to...

Where Are the Hydrogen Mines? By Ronald Bailey MILAN, Italy, Dec. 10 -- "Of course climate change is an environmental issue, but it is fundamentally one of economics and development," declared Elliot Diringer, director of International Strategies at the Pew Center on Global Climate Change at a press conference on Tuesday where he unveiled the Pew Center's new Beyond Kyoto report. Pew Center president Eileen Claussen added that nothing less than a "technological revolution" is needed to stop global warming. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs Paula Dobriansky, who is heading up the US delegation to the COP9 meeting...

"We are so tired of this life, so miserable," said the Iraqi mother of two. "There are only thieves, killing, and murder." Life in post-war Iraq is grim. For women, it wasn't much better before the war either. Many Iraqi women are highly educated professionals in fields from engineering to medicine. But under Saddam Hussein, who catered to Islamic fundamentalists, women were kept in the shadows. Today, in the midst of the post-Saddam chaos, they're not sure what will happen next. One Christian mother, named Sahar, and her family are looking for a way to leave Iraq "to escape the...