Posted by Luke Forgerson on May 15, 2008 - 05:15 PM
![Luke Forgerson stands near a sign at the State Dept. in Washington, DC May 15, 2008. [State Dept.]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0515_luke_bh_m.jpg)
Press freedom has been on my mind lately, and not just because it was the theme of a recent Dipnote "Question of the Week." Two weeks ago, I joined the Dipnote team as the new managing editor. While we are clearly not the press, we face some of the same issues. Since starting, I have been asked several times whether or not Dipnote posts all of our readers’ submitted comments. Actually, it is probably the question I have been asked most frequently about my new job. This may be due in part because so many of my friends are journalists.
I found the answer when our editor-in-chief informed…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on May 09, 2008 - 05:58 PM
![Airport staff load crates of United Nations aid onto a cargo aircraft in the UAE May 7, 2008. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0509_usaid2_bh_m.jpg)
When a government is incapable of, or unwilling to protect its people, how far should the international community go to deliver humanitarian assistance?
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Posted by Ryan Palsrok on May 13, 2008 - 03:19 PM
![Screenshot of the new Students Abroad website. [State Department image]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0513_students_bh_m.jpg)
Every year more than 200,000 students from American universities travel abroad to pursue international experience in an academic setting. This constitutes a nearly 150 percent increase in the past 10 years, despite post-9/11 apprehensions. Many young people also go abroad on their own dime and outside structured University programs to volunteer, work, intern, and simply to take vacation. According to U.S. Department of State figures, more than 100,000 students spend their Spring Break in resorts across Mexico annually.
The increase of students traveling abroad can be attributed to many factors, but regardless of the "why" or "how" students go abroad, the number one concern among university officials, parents, and even…
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Posted by DipNote Bloggers on May 12, 2008 - 05:58 PM
MR. MCCORMACK: I want to talk about something that is on everybody’s radar screen right now and that is the humanitarian disaster in Burma. And you are at the forefront of the United States’ response to that disaster.
I’d like to, first of all, get your assessment of what’s the situation here. Can you give us a reference point for this, say, versus several years ago, the tsunami or other humanitarian disasters that AID has dealt with?
MS. FORE: Well, it is certainly on everyone’s…
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Posted by Charles S. Shapiro on May 08, 2008 - 10:09 AM
![A worker packs roses to be shipped to the U.S. north of Bogota, Colombia Feb. 8, 2008. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2008_0508_colombia_bh_m.jpg)
Throughout the hemisphere, democratic nations are looking to create conditions for sustained economic growth. In today’s world of globalization, countries are not looking inward but rather outward to achieve growth and prosperity. Our friends in Latin America see free trade agreements as the way to accomplish this goal. As we partner with other nations to remove trade barriers, no country wants to strengthen its ties with us more than Colombia.
The cup of Colombian coffee that I had this morning, the roses that I’m going to send to my mother for Mother’s Day along with the box of chocolates all come from Colombia into the United…
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