Last week, CNN aired ‘Czar Putin”, a report on Vladimir Vladimirovich’s accumulation of power since his ascension to the Kremlin in 2000. Coinciding with the Russian Parliamentary Elections held over the weekend, the program gave attention to something many engaged in that region have known for a long time – Russia’s window of opportunity for a healthy democracy is closing fast, if not already shut tight. While Putin has methodically morphed fledgling democratic institutions into something much closer to dictatorship, the scarier aspect of Russia is the popular approval of his Presidency, fueled by resurgent Russian nationalism. A recent...

By accepting a donation of about $130,000 in carbon offsets from the publicity-starved – and San Francisco based! – Planktos International, the Vatican this summer became the world’s first “carbon neutral” nation. The offsets will go toward planting trees in Hungary and will no doubt have a beneficial, but tiny and temporary, impact on the area’s economy. Hmmm… Not wholly unlike the effort’s impact upon climate change which, as we’ve recently been told, is unavoidable and will be, by any measure, catastrophic. However, as tempting as it is to… • deprecate Planktos’ flagrant PR-mongering • dismiss their primary business model...

Interesting article in the Washington Post about international reaction to the Virginia Tech massacre including reactions from Iraq particularly after bombings that killed at least 158 people in Baghdad today....

Five international interests working to protect and more stringently regulate the world’s Bluefin Tuna stocks [meet this week] in Kobe, Japan to agree on strategies which they hope will lead to more sustainable fishing practices. Blue Fin Tuna has long been popular in Japan as an ingredient in sushi and sashimi, and consumption of the fish has risen of late in the United States and Europe as “healthy diet” habits have become more prevalent.

Variations of the word “confidence” appeared in the Bush’s State of the Union six times. At times, one could not help envisioning Bush prancing down an Austrian path singing “I Have Confidence” on his way to the von Trapp family home. And like Frauline Maria as she approached the gate, Bush demonstrated anything but confidence in his State of the Union address by admitting defeat, failing to make bold proposals, and…by backing away from the word “reprocessing.”