According to the World Bank, global food prices have increased by 75% since 2005 and 45% in the last nine months. In the past two months, the cost of rice, a staple food for over half of the world’s population, rose by 75%. The price of wheat has risen 120% during the past year.

Deadly protests and rioting over these increasing costs are occurring throughout Africa and Asia.

In Haiti, where 80% of the population survives on less than $2 a day, mass demonstrations turned deadly. Rioting in Les Cayes killed 4 and wounded at least 20. A few days later Haitians attempted to storm the presidential palace in Port-au- Prince shouting “We are hungry!”

In Egypt, where over 33% of the population live on around $2 a day, police took over a textiles plant to prevent a widespread strike over rising food costs. The military has been enlisted to bake bread to curb the growing anger. Read More »

Go beyond the cruise ship, past the safari, further than you’ve ever gone before… study abroad in the Galapagos with the Isabella Oceanographic Institute (IOI) this year!This is seriously one of the coolest programs I’ve come across.

1.As they note on their website, teaching inhabitants to conserve is essential to ecological preservation.

My boyfriend’s mom often laments that her twin goals—environmental friendly goods and fair trade seldom coincide for this very reason—local inhabitants often use inefficient and environmentally harmful practices to produce their goods. But honestly who can blame them? Especially given the poverty of these places? Read More »

Is it just me or have we all entered some kind of Twilight Zone in which torture and terror are both permissible as long as the defenders of freedom and democracy are using them?

This past Saturday, March 9, President Bush exercised his veto on a piece of legislation that would have banned interrogation techniques used by the CIA, such as Waterboarding.

In his weekly radio address he stated:

“The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror […] so today I vetoed it.”

What is Waterboarding?

Waterboarding is an incredibly controversial interrogation technique - or form of torture, depending on who is talking - that originated in the 16th century during the Italian inquisition.

A bound and gagged prisoner is immobilized on his back, head tilted downward. Water is then poured over him, causing an immediate gag reflex and simulating drowning. Often, cellophane is also placed over the prisoner’s face—further preventing him from taking any air. (remember how your parents told you not to place saran wrap over your face when you were little….) Read More »

Many candidates running in the primaries are able to go back to their political careers nearly unscathed by the political process. It is already clear, however, that this campaign will have a lasting effect upon the political trajectories of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

As a recent New York Times article comments, Obama’s campaign can be summed up in one word: growth. Obama’s campaign has only added to the inspirational picture portrayed through his two-bestselling books, “Dreams of My Father”, and “The Audacity of Hope”. He is compared to Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King to such an extent that some fear for his personal safety.

Clinton’s campaign, on the other hand, seems to be about mudslinging and accusations. The New York Times featured an article on Hilary’s “5-point attack” leading up to the primaries in Ohio and Texas. From attacking Obama of hypocrisy over campaign ad spending to comparing his foreign policy to that of President Bush, it’s obvious she’s decided to risk it all during these last few months. Should Hillary lose, it’s possible that her tactics during this race will haunt her political career. Read More »

Russians will go to the polls on Saturday, March 2, to elect a new president. Unlike our suspenseful US elections, in Russia it is all but a foregone conclusion that Dmitry Medvedev will be the winner.

Why such a farce? While hardly anybody claims to “get” the Russian political system, it’s generally agreed that Putin’s power over the Russian public stems from the state’s chaotic transition during the 1990s.

Russia emerged from the ruins of the USSR on January 1, 1992 led by reformist Boris Yeltsin. Economically speaking, it was an entirely new country.

The Russian nouveau riche established their positions through purchasing the most lavish of cars, furs, and mansions. The most flamboyant were members of an elite group of young, big-spending billionaires known as the “Oligarchs”. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Roman Abramovich, Oleg Deripaska, names that conjure up images of kitschy 1970’s spy flicks, dominated Russian business interests. Read More »