http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/317007

Even a tiny request designed to create greater balance in US foreign policy is not fully granted by Congress, and not in the budget signed by President Obama

Robert Gates served as United States Secretary of Defense from November, 2006 (replacing Donald Rumsfeld) until April, 2011 (replaced by Leon Panetta). At his retirement ceremony Gates was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award. David L. Boren, Chairman of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said of Gates, “He’ll be remembered for making us aware of the danger of over-reliance on military intervention as an instrument of American foreign policy.” Josh Rogin in his December 27, 2011 Foreign Policy article writes, “Gates, famously warned of the “creeping militarization” of U.S. foreign policy.” Rogin refers to Gates’ 2009 memo to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, in which Gates noted that the huge increase in Pentagon funding for stabilization efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan has prompted complaints about the militarization of U.S. foreign policy.

On November 15, 2011, US president Obama signed an agreement with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard o have a Marine, air and ground task force using Australian facilities to act as a “force multiplier” in the… 

BBC reports on a constructive meeting in the Maldives between the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers. This is very good news for the region. from www.bbc.co.uk Pakistan’s prime minister and his Indian counterpart have met… 

In recent years, good efforts have been made to advance the cause of peace through dialogue, but as time passes, the concept of bound communities talking across lines of separation is proving to be an insufficient starting point toward the outcome of a peaceful world. Wisdom in stories has proven to be the way to break the deadlock binding dialogue based peace efforts.

On Thursday, September 8, 2011, Wisdom Thinkers Network will sponsor an important conversation in New York, as part of the 92nd Street Y‘s decennial commemoration of 9/11, a series entitled: Searching For Answers In A Post-9/11 World.

Jonathan Sacks in the Times of London (July 22, 2011) posts an article inquiring into elements that create greatness.

What makes a champion? Is it down to hard work and repeated practice? There has been a splendid spate of books recently,  from Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers to Matthew Syed’s Bounce,  on what makes great people great.  What is it that some have and the rest of us don’t,  whether in sport,  literature,  music or science?

Read his findings especially to note  their implications for the growing harmonization between religion and science.

Aug 14, 2011 2:52pm by Frank Kaufmann in Business

We presently suffer from recent decades of business taught in a vacuum sans spiritual principles. Other religions should likewise follow the example of these Christian visionaries. After this, heads of such institutions should dialogue regularly regularly with a goal to forge universal principles applicable for entrepreneurs in all cultures.

This Reuters article looks at global financial structures that outstrip the capacities of governments to manage and respond. Genuine responses to the financial crisis must include observation at this level, rather than scurrying madly inside… 

Maajid Nawaz and T.J. Leyden kicked off an unusual conference Monday morning — the Google-sponsored “Summit Against Violent Extremism” — which aims to uncover the roots of radicalization. Most panelists said there was no one… 

The Middle East and North Africa is ablaze in protest movements seeking democratic reform.  Leaders in these countries are massacring their own citizens in cold blood. Is it the case that the transition from autocracy…