You Might Have Missed: Terrorism, Women in Nonprofits, and China

Ehud Yaari and Michael Morell, “Israel vs. al-Qaeda: Emerging Challenges on Two Fronts,” The Washington Institute, April 29, 2014.

Michael Morell: For everyone 100 hours I spent in the Sit Room talking about how to deal with terrorists that already exist, maybe we spent 10 minutes talking about winning hearts and minds and deradicalization, etc…

“Country Reports on Terrorism 2013,” U.S. Department of State, April 30, 2014.

In 2013, a total of 9,707 terrorist attacks occurred worldwide, resulting in more than 17,800 deaths and more than 32,500 injuries (National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism: Annex of Statistical Information)…

U.S. citizens worldwide killed as a result of incidents of terrorism: 16. (Annex: Terrorism Deaths, Injuries and Kidnappings of Private U.S. Citizens)

Remarks by President Barack Obama and President Benigno Aquino III of the Philippines in a Joint Press Conference, White House, April 28, 2014.

President Obama: Typically, criticism of our foreign policy has been directed at the failure to use military force. And the question I think I would have is, why is it that everybody is so eager to use military force after we’ve just gone through a decade of war at enormous costs to our troops and to our budget? And what is it exactly that these critics think would have been accomplished?...

President Obama: We’ve been able to mobilize the international community to not only put diplomatic pressure on Russia, but also we’ve been able to organize European countries who many were skeptical would do anything to work with us in applying sanctions to Russia.  Well, what else should we be doing?  Well, we shouldn’t be putting troops in, the critics will say.  That’s not what we mean.  Well, okay, what are you saying?  Well, we should be arming the Ukrainians more.  Do people actually think that somehow us sending some additional arms into Ukraine could potentially deter the Russian army?  Or are we more likely to deter them by applying the sort of international pressure, diplomatic pressure and economic pressure that we’re applying?

Maria Di Mento, “Lack of Women in Top Roles Hinders Nonprofits, Female Nonprofit Workers Say,” Chronicle of Philanthropy, April 28, 2014.

Nonprofits, especially the largest ones, are missing out on donations from women and hurting their missions by not putting more females in board and leadership jobs, according to a new poll of nearly 650 women who work at nonprofits…

Forty-four percent of female nonprofit workers think their organization favors men over equally qualified women for chief leadership positions.

Forty percent of women at large nonprofits, groups with $25-million or more in assets, said their organization did not put as much effort into identifying and soliciting affluent women as it does men and as a result their organizations were losing money that could have been donated to their causes. Thirty-six percent said wealthy female donors were given the same respect as well-to-do men…

While women may face discrimination from employers, they are not lacking in confidence about their ability to hold the top job. Only 7 percent of those polled said they didn’t think they could do the job. Younger women were the most ambitious of those in the survey. Seventy-two percent of all the women under 34 said they wanted to be a leader, while only 30 percent of those 55 or older said the same.

Adam Entous and Julian E. Barnes, “U.S. Beefs Up Military Options for China as Obama Reassures Allies in Asia,” Wall Street Journal, April 27, 2014.

The U.S. military has prepared options for a muscular response to any future Chinese provocations in the South and East China seas, ranging from displays of B-2 bomber flights near China to aircraft-carrier exercises near its coastal waters, officials said…

The new U.S. options were developed by the Hawaii-based U.S. Pacific Command in recent months, and come after the international crisis last year in which China unilaterally declared an air-defense zone around islands that are the subject of a territorial dispute with Japan…

In addition to bomber flights and aircraft carrier maneuvers, the options include demonstrations of U.S. power such as increasing surveillance operations near China, and stepping up U.S. naval port visits to allies.

A senior Obama administration official declined to comment on details of any military options, but said unilateral moves by Beijing—such as the declaration of another air-defense zone in the region—" could result in changes in our military posture and presence" in the region.

The military options don’t specify particular responses to individual actions. Rather, officials briefed on the options said, the actions would need to be tailored to the specific incident, such as maritime confrontation.

Andrew Higgins and C. J. Chivers, “Defying Moscow, Ukraine Threatens to Blockade Pro-Russian Militants,” New York Times, April 25, 2014.

On Friday, Mr. Kerry’s Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov, hit back, accusing Washington of seeking only to further its interests in Ukraine. “The West wants to take control of Ukraine while exclusively putting its geopolitical interests, not the interests of the Ukrainian people, at the forefront,” he said at a conference of diplomats from former Soviet republics. “This is not our method. We will not blackmail, we will not threaten, we are all polite people.”

“Real Personal Income for States and Metropolitan Areas, 2008-2012,” U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis, April 24, 2014.

Regional Price Parities (RPPs) measure the differences in the price levels of goods and services across states and metropolitan areas for a given year. RPPs are expressed as a percentage of the overall national price level for each year, which is equal to 100.0.

In 2012, the District of Columbia’s RPP (118.2) was higher than that of any state. The states with the highest RPPs were Hawaii (117.2), New York (115.4), New Jersey (114.1), and California (112.9). Mississippi (86.4), Arkansas (87.6), Alabama (88.1), Missouri (88.1), and South Dakota (88.2) had the lowest RPPs among the States. States with high (low) RPPs typically have relatively high (low) price levels for rents. States with RPPs closest to the national average price level were Florida (98.8), Oregon (98.8), Illinois (100.6), and Vermont (100.9)…