1) My first pick for today isn't exactly a blog, but the perspective is certainly blog worthy. In the Youth Media Reporter, a professional journal for the youth media field, Lisa Russell writes about the Liberian youth perspective of the US elections. Russell produced a short film entitled “Liberia??? Check.” Of the film, she says:

The film opened doors for me to hear from youth in Liberia who were forced to flee their country during its war and to better understand the concerns and hopes they had as non-Americans, living in America, who still care deeply for their homeland. The youth had varying degrees of support for the different candidates. Some would vote for Barack Obama because.e of his African roots and therefore perceived understanding of the challenges facing the African continent. Some would vote for John McCain because of his experience with war and from their perspective as youth living amidst conflict, they believed a strong and experienced (male) politician was needed. Others wanted Hillary Clinton because they believed a woman would do a better job at helping the community, referencing the success of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in bringing peace to the country.

When asked specifically what they would want the next President to do for Liberian youth, many commented on the housing, education and healthcare needs for Liberians living legally in the U.S. Others wanted more trade between the two countries that would create new jobs for a nation that has an incredibly high unemployment rate, particularly among youth. And more broadly, they wanted the next U.S. President to focus on creating better economic ties with the Africa continent as a whole, to give African countries more bargaining power at the global level.

2) My second “fave” for today involves Passport, a blog by the editors of Foreign Policy. Today's blog post notes the fact that Barack Obama has shown up in the strangest of places…on Colombian lottery tickets! The blogger writes of the tickets:

The lottery tickets are hardly a scientific way to gauge Colombian public opinion. But they just might be a barometer of the excitement level that the Illinois senator has produced, particularly among the younger generation.

3) My third and final pick for the day comes from London, where Anorak has blogged about the new Pepsi logo. The blogger posts the following image and asks readers to select the real Pepsi logo:

Can you guess which one is not an iteration of the Pepsi logo?

Although non-Americans cannot vote for the next U.S. President, their input and perspectives could hold incredible value in the current presidential debate, especially in regards to issues concerning international cooperation, an area of great interest to young voters in the 2008 race (1). According to the Harvard University's Institute of Politics “Campus Voices” initiative (2), young Americans are driven by global issues such as poverty, climate change and the genocide in Darfur. Surveys also show that there is an underlying shift in American attitudes regarding the role and priorities of the United States. Voters believe that “America needs to be a leader in the world, but instead of being a “bully” or policeman, it is time to be a role model for democracy and a partner.”(3) Considering this interest in better diplomatic relations with the rest of the world, shouldn't we be engaging in an international conversation about the elections?

This experience inspired a short film I pitched for the WGHB Lab and POV Open Call, which selected 10 independent producers to produce three-minute shorts on the elections. Entitled, “Liberia??? Check” my film, intended for an urban youth audience, addressed the question, “if Liberian youth had a say in the elections, what would they say?” To view a clip, go to: http://lab.wgbh.org/open-call/election2008/rough-cuts/liberia-check. I proposed to mix my footage from my shoot in Liberia with animation and interviews with Liberian youth living in Park Hill, Staten Island. What transpired was quite interesting.

In order to understand their desire to participate in the elections debate, it is necessary to put the historical relationship between Liberia and the United States into context. In 1822, freed slaves from America resettled in Liberia and monopolized both the political and financial landscape while retaining diplomatic ties with the U.S. Liberia, who often refers to America as its “Big Brother”, still receives a great deal of humanitarian aid from the U.S.. After a long and bloody 14-year civil war, Liberians were welcomed as refugees and immigrants with many resettling in Park Hill, Staten Island, the largest population of Liberians living outside of Africa. Having the first female President democratically elected in Africa, (Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, a former World Bank employee who is considered an “Americo-Liberian”), the country is not immune from controversies surrounding gender and race in a presidential election.

The film opened doors for me to hear from youth in Liberia who were forced to flee their country during its war and to better understand the concerns and hopes they had as non-Americans, living in America, who still care deeply for their homeland. The youth had varying degrees of support for the different candidates. Some would vote for Barack Obama because.e of his African roots and therefore perceived understanding of the challenges facing the African continent. Some would vote for John McCain because of his experience with war and from their perspective as youth living amidst conflict, they believed a strong and experienced (male) politician was needed. Others wanted Hillary Clinton because they believed a woman would do a better job at helping the community, referencing the success of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in bringing peace to the country.

When asked specifically what they would want the next President to do for Liberian youth, many commented on the housing, education and healthcare needs for Liberians living legally in the U.S. Others wanted more trade between the two countries that would create new jobs for a nation that has an incredibly high unemployment rate, particularly among youth. And more broadly, they wanted the next U.S. President to focus on creating better economic ties with the Africa continent as a whole, to give African countries more bargaining power at the global level.

The film shoot with the Liberian youth inspired me to seek out other resources where Liberians and other non-American youth gave commentary on the most pressing issue arising in this Presidential election and, unfortunately, it was quite difficult to find. Several organizations and websites had the components but not the content. For example, Generation Engage (4)—a very progressive and active organization that promotes online and face-to-face opportunities between young people and civic leaders did not have an international component. Americans for Informed Democracy, which gives resources to young people to become active in addressing international problems and has several global programming areas (Global Development, Global Environment and Global Health) does not have an online networking component. And, finally, Voices without Votes, an initiative of Global Voices with support from Reuters that congregates blogs about the U.S. election from non-Americans, does not have a focus for youth.

Given that young voters are anticipated to be a powerful force in the 2008 elections and that international cooperation is a major issue in determining their choice for the next U.S. president, community and youth media sites focused on educating and recruiting young voters would be better equipped if they opened a communication channel with non-Americans. The internet, which already has given young people more opportunities to be politically active through organizing events and rallies, recruiting volunteers and exchanging information about candidates, could help link the voices of American voters with their allies around the world.
With an event so important and historical as the 2008 elections, and as that young Liberian pointed out, so influential on so many people all over the world, its time for that dialogue to be opened.

(1) The New American Consensus on International Cooperation (http://www.betterworldcampaign.org/resources/unf_national_survey2007.pdf)
(2) CampU.S. Voices (http://www.campusvoices.org/)
(3) The New American Consensus on International Cooperation (see above link)
(4) Generation Engage (http://www.generationengage.org)
(5) Americans for Informed Democracy (http://www.aidemocracy.org/)
(6) Voices without Votes (http://www.voiceswithoutvotes.org)

Lisa Russell is an independent documentary filmmaker who is contracted by UN/NGO communities to produce films about global health and development issues. www.governessfilms.com.

interview the most certain act in the fight against AIDS is to maintain monogamous relationships. The advice was seen as seen as ironic coming from a former President who was impeached by the House of Representatives (and later acquitted by the Senate) for perjury and obstruction of justice involving an extra-marital affair he was having with a 22-year-old White House intern.

Speaking of politics, the former President later failed to admit that Barack Obama was ready for the highest office of the United States. This has fueled reports that Clinton is still angry over Obama defeating Hillary Clinton to become the Democratic nominee for the presidency of the United States.

Win or lose, Obama will find himself most often compared to Bill Clinton, the country’s last Democratic President. In Israel, Aron’s Israel Peace Weblog noticed something familiar when Obama recently sat down for an interview with the conservative paper, the Jerusalem Post.

No one in my quadrant of the political spectrum is ever going to be elected President. So my key criteria for a “good” President are: compassion, worldliness, intelligence and political savvy. Obama seems to have all of these in abundance. Although I don't agree with many of the details of his positions, the more I hear him speak the more impressed I am. He is the savviest and most intelligent politician the Democratic party has produced since Bill Clinton, and I mean that as a compliment. He may not be super progressive, but he seems to be on the correct side of the fence on all important issues. And the more I see him, the more I feel he has the same human empathy and care for people that Clinton did.

Finally, Clinton’s policies against Osama bin Laden have again made waves. Saisi Duni, from Kenya, reports that a new book by the journalist Lawrence Wright claims that the U.S. military strikes to hoping to cripple the Al-Qaeda network in east Africa after the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania had the opposite effect.

The Clinton administration’s failure to strike back effectively in 1998 helped make it possible for al Qaeda to carry out the massive attacks on New York and Washington three years later, says the book titled The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Wright describes as “ineffectual” the US retaliation for the August 7, 1998, bombings of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Less than two weeks later, 13 cruise missiles were fired at a factory in Khartoum that the United States believed was being used to develop poison gas for use by al Qaeda. Simultaneously, 66 cruise missiles were launched from US warships in the Arabian Sea. Their targets were al Qaeda training camps near Khost in eastern Afghanistan. The twin missile attacks were given the code name “Operation Infinite Reach.”


The US presidential election is seen by many in France as a chance to reassess this relationship and find a common ground. One Frenchman in China explains on link TV why this election matters so much to the rest of the world.

The Facebook group called Les socialistes avec Obama concurs. The group lists the reasons why it is important for the French left wing to support Obama:

• Redonner une vision aux Etat-Unis en étant un exemple en rétablissant le multilatéralisme car l'union fait la force.
• Être plus interventionniste (Congo, Darfour et Liberia)
• Améliorer la sécurité sanitaire mondiale
• Plan pour arrêter la guerre en Irak.
• Un système de sécurité social plus performant et protecteur
• Combattre la pauvreté en mettant en place des formations pour ceux qui sont sans emploi, assurer la liberté de syndicalisation, aide aux plus pauvres pour trouver des crédits d'investissement dans une entreprise, création d'incubateur d'entreprises”

-Give a new vision of the US by giving an example of multilateralism. There is strength in unity.
-More intervention in Congo, Darfur and Liberia.
-Improve Global Health care.
-A withdrawal plan for the Iraq war.
-A social security system that is more effective.
-Fighting poverty by training the unemployed, the freedom to unionize, aid the poorest obtaining investing credits in their companies and create business incubators.

However, Not everyone in the group thinks that Obama reflects the value of the French left-wing:

Jean-Arnaud Coste says:

” Vous êtes vraiment d'une naïveté déconcertante pour croire qu'Obama est de gauche, c'est dingue…
Il est certes peut être moins à droite que Mc Cain mais il est bien plus à droite que Sarkozy par exemple . Donc voir des socialistes soutenir Obama c'est vraiment absurde…Comme si la gauche ça existait aux Etats-Unis.”

Your naivety is really disconcerting, to think that Obama is left-wing, it’s crazy. He is certainly less to the right the McCain but he is more to the right of Sarkozy for example. So to see socialists support Obama is truly absurd…As if there was a true “left” in the US.

To which Michel Attia replied:

“il y a une très grande différence entre l'unilatéralisme de Bush et le multilatéralisme des Démocrates »

There is a major difference between the unilateralism of Bush and the multilateralism of the Democrats.

Arthur Mitteau adds:

“Que Barack répare l'édifice des relations entre les EU et le monde, ce sera déjà gigantesque »

If Barack can repair the front door of the relation between the US and the world, it would already be a gigantic achievement.