Next America Blog

Defense contracting is in the news again with the President of Afghanistan calling for replacing foreign advisors with Afghans and banning foreign security firms (UPI).This news comes on top of recent reminders of the precarious security situation in Afghanistan, two days ago Joshua Partlow of the Washington Post reported that 10 medical aid workers were murdered, they'd been travel

This evening, a Federal judge ruled that the California state constitution had violated the U.S.

The Global Security Forum, CSIS’s marquee conference, surveys a range of major security issues confronting the United States.  By bringing together senior decisionmakers, opinion leaders, and perspectives from the private sector, the Forum fosters open conversation and brings forth the best solutions to the biggest security challenges of the day. The event including all the breakout sessions will be streamed live during the conference.

On April 20,2010, Brazil's national electricity regulator awarded the Norte Energia consortium rights to build the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Brazilian officials state the 11,000 megawatt dam is critical to development, providing relatively "cheap" energy in a renewable manner. Last week Kristen blogged about James Cameron's recent visit to the Xingu River, the new home of the Belo Monte.

Meet Wael Abbas.  He's been arrested, interrogated, beaten, threatened, and detained.  For what crime? Updating his blog.

In a country with state-run media, limited freedoms, and police brutality, "freedom of expression on human rights and politics is often safest when whispered."

Last night I heard an unusual argument - that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is bad for world order.

There's been buzz the past few days over a new report published by Oxfam International on sexual violence in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  The report found that sexual assaults increased seventeen-fold from 2004-2008 -- and over half the attacks were perpetrated by militia within family homes.  The investigation was carried out at Panzi

As Washingtonians dealt with the traffic jam from the nuclear summit, I've been in a traffick jam of my own -- shuffling through FOIA documents on forced labor.  It's part of a project of the HRSI.  Sorting through stacks of documents on involuntary servitude, I thought of a panel I attended in March at the Woodrow Wilson Center, called

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Two days ago, the New York Times ran an article on James Cameron's recent trip to the Brazilian Amazon. His visit was to collaborate with indigenous leaders against the government's imminent production of a dam that, according to the article, "would flood hundreds of square miles of the Amazon...

The 2010 Iraqi National Election Day helped us define the modern development of the nation’s democratic institution and domestic security.  As millions of voters participated in the parliamentary elections, many feared for their lives as they faced mortar attacks and loud bomb explosions near the polling stations.  However, the level of violence did not stop voters from casting their ballots.