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Author: Elmira Bayrasli
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Nick Kristof & a few do-gooders
Nicholas Kristof is among today’s great writers. I was instantly mesmerized when he transitioned from daily reporting in China to the New York Times op-ed page. Just consider this excellent piece “Cassandra Speaks” written in March 2003 on the eve of the Bush invasion of Iraq. It thoughtfully questions the wisdom of the invasion, using [...]
The Mark Zuckerberg moral: Entrepreneurship or Terrorism?
Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg is TIME magazine’s person of the year. That has unleashed voluble outrage, particularly on Twitter. “The world is off its rocker,” one Twitterer commented. “Ridiculous,” noted another. Among the 140 character crowd Wikileaks’s Julian Assange seemed to be the favorite. (Definitely not mine.) TIME notes that “person of the year” isn’t [...]
Social innovators of the world unite!.. in Japan
This is why the next social innovation conference needs to take place in Japan. It’s a pay phone shop — in Japan. A pay phone shop was the last thing I would have expected to find in the East Asian island nation. Isn’t it supposed to be the world’s technology capital? Yet after attending a [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged development, entrepreneurship, Japan, JICA, RIkkyo University, social entrepreneurship, social innovation, technology Leave a comment
What I learned about Wikileaks on Twitter
As a former State Department “official,” foreign policy hound, Turcophile, Middle East watcher and news junkie, I can’t take my eyes off of Wikileaks. Trouble is, my eyes are jetlagged weary (as I write this it’s 3:30 AM in Tokyo) and focused on social innovation as I attend and speak at several social innovation events [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged Assange, Clinton, cybersecurity, Internet, Middle East, whistle blowing, wikileaks 2 Comments
The SNL foreign aid revolution
Like so many highly trained comedians these days, Kenan Thompson has choices. He could be working in a Manhattan office tower… oh wait, he does. This clip from last night’s Saturday Night Live captures what’s wrong with the rampant idealism put forward in D.I.Y. foreign aid. I’m all for idealism, within reason. Can we make [...]
Pakistan postcard part four: Smell
Part four of my five-part postcard of impressions of my Pakistan visit… smell…. Smell It brought tears to my eyes. As soon as the astringent yet sugary scent that wafted through the Marriott Karachi hit my nose, my stomach tightened: someone was cooking onions. I hate onions. There’s no real explanation for it. I just [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, MBA, onion, Pakistan, poverty 3 Comments
Pakistan postcard part three: Taste
Part three of my five-part postcard of impressions of my Pakistan visit… taste…. Taste “I’d like a glass of wine,” I said to the waiter as he handed me a menu in the garishly lit hotel restaurant in Karachi. It was my first night in the country. Jetlagged, I was looking forward to red wine [...]
Posted in Uncategorized Tagged discrimination, Islam, Pakistan, women, women's empowerment 3 Comments
A Holden Caulfield holiday thought