Posted by Frederick Jones on Dec 12, 2007 - 11:18 AM
![Workers assemble toys at the production line of a factory in China September 4, 2007. [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/2007_1212_toy_bh_m.jpg)
Is the United States doing enough to protect its consumers from potentially harmful imported products?
Category: Question of the Week More entries by Frederick Jones | Comments (16)
Posted by Alison Blosser on Dec 11, 2007 - 12:02 PM
I've not blogged for over a month and would like to quickly answer some of the questions posed by readers (in no particular order) before introducing a new topic:
-- What is the single most pressing need in Afghanistan for the common people?
This is probably the hardest question you could ask. The single most pressing need for the common person varies significantly province to province,…
Category: South and Central Asia More entries by Alison Blosser | Comments (2)
Posted by Nancy Brinker on Dec 10, 2007 - 05:37 PM
![The National Christmas Tree shines bright with the White House in the background in Wash., DC [AP]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/field/white_house_m.jpg)
Today is the beginning of a busy week for the Protocol Office. We will have three important visitors to the White House -- The President of Italy, the President of Nigeria and the President of Peru. There are also numerous receptions for Christmas and end of year planning for the first quarter of 2008. We have created many outreach events for the Diplomatic Corps. One of the first is a visit to the hill for the State of the Union Address in January. Also, Presidential travel will be starting soon and we must carefully deploy our staff to make sure we have coverage for all of the incoming visitors…
Category: Behind the Scenes More entries by Nancy Brinker | Comments (0)
Posted by Joshua Polacheck on Dec 10, 2007 - 01:36 PM
![Passengers boarding an airplane at the airport in Mosul, Iraq December 7, 2007. [U.S. Army photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/UNGA/UNGA/2007_1210_mosul_bh_m.jpg)
When I arrived in Mosul in March of this year one of the first things I heard about was the Mosul Airport. It's a pre-war airstrip built with British assistance and for most of its seven decades of existence it's been primarily a military airfield. Iraqi Airways flew there briefly in the early 1990's. Since then, it has been almost exclusively military and, since 2003, run by the U.S. Army.
I came to Mosul as a member of one of the State Department's Provincial Reconstruction Teams. Our focus is primarily on strengthening the capacity of Iraqi institutions - "nation-building" if you will. Since the Government of Iraq has billions of dollars in revenue, we focus our direct monetary assistance…
Category: Near East and Asia More entries by Joshua Polacheck | Comments (2)
Posted by Nancy Brinker on Dec 07, 2007 - 11:22 AM
On Tuesday, I was asked to attend a meeting about the Women Leaders’ Working Group, a group which was created in 2006 by Secretary Rice in order to ensure that women’s empowerment issues such as education, political and economic empowerment, and access to justice are international priorities. It is comprised of women Heads of State, Ministers, and high ranking female government officials from across the globe. They meet intermittently to discuss challenges women face and how to address these issues strategically. Having founded and built one of the largest cancer NGOs in America, I…
Category: Behind the Scenes More entries by Nancy Brinker | Comments (1)