Arthur I. Cyr's blog

Facebook, the exceptionally fast growing networking site, is both symbol and tool of globalization. The Internet represents development of a global society as well as economy. This particular social arena is populated primarily by young people, entirely appropriate and not at all surprising.

The nuclear test by North Korea on Monday, following an earlier one three years ago, occurred not only on Memorial Day in the U.S. but during mourning in South Korea for former President Roh Moo-hyun, who committed suicide. The explosion has also been accompanied by missile tests.

In relatively slow but steady fashion, the Obama administration has been filling diplomatic posts. John Roos, head of the powerful Silicon Valley law firm of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati, reportedly is about to be named Ambassador to Japan. He is close to President Obama and a major campaign fund raiser. Moderate Republican Gov.

The visit to Washington of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has been free of public acrimony. Some predicted a contentious meeting with President Barack Obama given the particularly hard-line personality of the Israeli leader. Instead, Netanyahu has emphasized support for an independent Palestinian state, though with restrictions, and urged immediate resumption of peace negotiations.

Barbarism and the law collide in war. Armed conflict is inherently terribly destructive. The law is a vital tool for mitigating the most brutal aspects of war. Both dimensions are present in the intensely politicized debate in Washington about torture.

The NASA space shuttle Atlantis was successfully launched Monday afternoon from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, beginning the latest adventure in the now lengthy story of exploration of outer space. This mission is focused on repair and upgrading of the Hubble Space Telescope, which was put into orbit in 1990 and has provided enormous valuable information.

Current very public attention to civilian deaths in Afghanistan underscores the challenging nature of the vexing ongoing guerrilla war. On May 4, according to allegations, civilians were killed during an Allied operation. Taliban insurgents entered a village in Bala Bulak in western Afghanistan and beheaded three civilians. When Afghan police responded, they were ambushed.

Two influential names in American party politics have passed from the scene in recent days; each provides through his example valuable pragmatic lessons in a highly partisan time. Republican Jack Kemp is the more prominent, but Democrat Sam Beer is equally instructive.

This past week President Barack Obama completed his first one hundred days in office. Since the activist leadership of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression, this time period has been regarded as a very important initial benchmark.

The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Washington D.C. over the weekend have reconfirmed the increasingly central roles of these global institutions, established during World War II.