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Turning off the lights in Afghanistan
By Lucky Gold, CNN
Just as President Obama considers accelerating the exit of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, the prospects for peace and prosperity there may be dimming – literally.
The Kajaki Dam on the Helmand River symbolizes all that has gone right and wrong in Afghanistan.
It was built by American contractors in the 1950s, and survived both the Soviet invasion and Taliban rule after that.
Since the beginning of this latest Afghan war, the U.S. has committed hundreds of millions of dollars to upgrade hydro-electric generators in order to bring electricity to three hundred thousand people and bolster agriculture in the region.
At an even greater cost, the U.S. and NATO have committed the lives of coalition forces to protect the workers from insurgents bent on killing them and destroying the projects.
Afghans have vowed that the work will go on, but the price – both in blood and treasure – only keeps rising. With the United States’ imminent withdrawal, the dam could become vulnerable again.
Now, it seems that unless Afghans are willing to pay for it with money and manpower, the lights – and the hopes of a people – will be extinguished.
Exiting the nuclear club
The world believes that Iran, despite its denials, is trying to join the handful of nations around the world that possess nuclear weapons.
Over the past two decades, that list of countries has been growing, with nations like Pakistan and India publicly acknowledging their nuclear weapons.
There has been just one exception.
Just as Nelson Mandela was emerging from prison over 20 years ago to lead South Africa out of the wilderness of racial hatred, his country was in the midst of another change that could be a model for the rest of the world.
By 1991, the Rainbow Nation had become the only country to dismantle and destroy its own nuclear arsenal. That decision, along with the end of apartheid, helped restore South Africa's international legitimacy.
It also made the country a leading voice for nuclear sanity.
Today, South Africa's weapons-grade uranium left over from the apartheid era is being turned into medical isotopes that can detect cancer and other diseases.
Swords into plowshares.
Pioneering female doctor leaves behind an inspiring legacy
By Lucky Gold & Richa Naik, CNN
When Rita Levi-Montalcini was born in Italy in 1909, girls were expected to marry and have children, but Levi-Montalcini wanted to be a doctor.
Despite her father’s opposition, she graduated from medical school, ready to devote her life to science and research.
However Levi-Montalcini, who was Jewish, was banned from pursuing that dream when Benito Mussolini and the fascists came to power. But that didn’t stop her.
She turned her bedroom into a laboratory, risking her life to conduct research in secret. Levi-Montalcini’s solitary work led her to see what other scientists had missed – a crucial factor that allows cells to grow and develop.
After the war, she came to America to continue her research, creating a new way of understanding conditions like cancer and Alzheimer’s.
In 1986 Levi-Montalcini shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. She continued to work even after her hundredth birthday, making her the oldest living Nobel Laureate.
“At one hundred, I have a mind that is superior, thanks to experience, than when I was twenty,” she said.
Rita Levi-Montalcini died this week at the age of 103. She never married or had children, but leaves behind a legacy of courage and discovery.
U.S. political storm trumps natural disaster
By Lucky Gold & Richa Naik, CNN
The U.S. Congress narrowly averted going over the fiscal cliff, all the while ignoring the dire needs of a natural disaster.
Just a little over two months ago Superstorm Sandy devastated Northeastern United States and President Barack Obama along with other politicians promised that the country would not forget.
“We are here for you, and we will not forget. We will follow up to make sure that you get all the help that you need until you’ve rebuilt,” he said after touring the devastation caused by the storm.
The U.S. Senate approved $60 billion in emergency relief, but the Republican-led House of Representatives adjourned this week without even bringing the bill to a vote.
Outrage has been swift and passionate.
“There are Republicans who are deeply grieved by this action and there are Democrats on this floor deeply grieved by this action. This is not the right thing to do,” U.S. House Democrat Steny Hoyer said.
“Dysfunction, Mr. Speaker, in this Congress shouldn’t result in punishing victims of Sandy in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. This is a sad day,” U.S. House Democrat Nita Lowey said.
With President Obama also demanding action, House leaders now say they will take up the bill once the new congress is sworn in.
Meantime winter temperatures keep falling in the areas where Sandy’s victims are waiting for the richest nation on earth to keep its promise.
How moms can stop America’s gun violence
By Samuel Burke and Lucky Gold, CNN
Could a grass roots movement change America's permissive gun laws in the wake of the massacre of six- and seven-year-olds?
It happened thirty years ago, when a grieving mother named Candy Lightner turned her anguish into action and created Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or “MADD”.
She did that in 1980, just days after she buried her 13-year-old daughter Cari. MADD’s first office was Cari's bedroom.
From there she launched a movement that changed the way Americans and America’s laws treat drunk driving. And it soon spread to the rest of the world. MADD now has 600 chapters in all fifty states.
The result?
Since 1991, drunk driving deaths have been cut by almost 40%. And for the first time on record, the number of alcohol-related traffic deaths dipped below ten thousand.
The loss of one child helped change America’s drinking culture.
Will the loss of twenty young lives mark a sea change when it comes to tolerating military style weapons on America's streets?
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