APDS Blogger: Martha Adams

Green is not just a color. Culturally, green can have contradictory meanings within its spectrum of usage. It is often associated with slang for money or ‘green with envy’, while the opposite end of its range of meaning is closely related to the Old English verb growan or “to grow” [plant life], or more relevant today, sustainable practices and formation of trust.

The Canada-U.S. Institute, the first of its kind in Canada, is expected to become a focal point for exploring shared and conflicting values on issues such as health care, border security, domestic and foreign policy, and how they affect the two countries.

Whatever happened to the good old days of quiet diplomacy: good old boys making deals behind the curtain with winks and nods, leaving us reporters like biblical scholars or rabbis trying to decipher their meaning of holy writ?

But two international conferences on nuclear security present Ottawa and Washington with a golden opportunity to bridge the bilateral chasm by working together to bolster waning international support for the most important arms control treaty in history.

Guests will have the opportunity to see firsthand some of the outstanding photographs of the original Jazz Ambassadors, part of the traveling exhibition – Jam Session: America’s Jazz Ambassadors Embrace the World. The reception will also feature performances by talented young jazz musicians – the jazz greats of tomorrow.

Members of Congress have urged China, which has set up 60 cultural centers in the United States, to allow more than the four American centers it says can operate in China. However, the State Department has no funds to match what China is spending on those projects, the officials say.

Public opinion has not mobilized to make nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation a highly salient issue in any single country, including the United States. The result is a president ready to lead a long-term campaign to remove the existential threats posed by nuclear weapons, but as yet lacking sufficient followers to make it happen.

The instability highlights both Kyrgyzstan's vital role for the US war in Afghanistan and the compromises both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have made to deal with an increasingly unsavory regime.