Scott Guggenheim is the most influential development expert you’ve never heard of. A grad school buddy of new Afghan President, Asraf Ghani, Guggenheim has pioneered the Community Driven Development approach that puts locals in charge of their own development projects. I interviewed him in my first stint as guest host at UN Dispatch. You can […]
Archives for 2014
Negotiating the Next War
August 1, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Allowing rebels to leverage a cease-fire into political power will only lead to more death in the Central African Republic — as it has in South Sudan and too many other African states. For a moment last week, it looked as though the people of the Central African Republic (CAR) were getting some much-needed good news. […]
Justice for MH17
July 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The world wants to hold someone accountable for the 298 people killed. But determining whom to go after — and how to hold them responsible — won’t be easy. When a catastrophic event like the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 occurs, there is an understandable demand for accountability. “We will not rest until we […]
Malaysia Airlines Ukraine Crash
July 20, 2014 by Leave a Comment
As the investigation progresses into responsibility for the shooting down of MH17, I spoke with NBC about the likelihood of eventual prosecutions. As I told them, “An ICC case is not impossible, but it is unlikely for both procedural and substantive reasons.” Read the article.
Foxes Guarding a Hen House
June 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment
A new U.N. report reveals that peacekeepers sent to the Central African Republic took sides in the conflict Imagine that at the start of last year a group of armed men ravaged your community, killing your family and destroying your town. And picture that once they reached the capital of your country, this group installed […]
Samantha Power in Practice
February 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is the rare political figure whose fame does not depend on the office she holds. A Problem From Hell, her 600-page indictment of the U.S. government as an essentially amoral bureaucracy that “functioned” to assure genocide went unchallenged, won her the Pulitzer Prize and a place as […]
South Sudan
January 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment
With 200,000 southerners displaced, and the dreams of a prosperous nation fading fast, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, and his former deputy, Riek Machar, are meeting in Addis Ababa for negotiations this week. What should we be looking for, and what are the possible outcomes? I discuss these questions and more on Blogging Heads TV […]
Seize this crisis to push South Sudan reform
January 9, 2014 by Leave a Comment
January 9, 2014 Three years ago this week, outside a makeshift polling station in Bentiu, South Sudan, I interviewed Riek Machar, vice president of the then semi-autonomous region. Machar had just cast his vote for South Sudan’s independence; I asked him what he would say to those who doubted that South Sudan, desperately underdeveloped and […]
