Barack Obama is approaching the end of his first 100 days in office as the United States’ 44th President. Traditionally viewed by the media as the first interim benchmark assessment of how the US President is faring in office, we at the HSoG also would like to focus on this occasion. Three of our faculty members - Michael Zürn, Mark Hallerberg, and Henrik Enderlein - take a few minutes to focus on how President Obama has been faring so far in the arenas of foreign, domestic, and economic policy.

In the latest twist along the winding, bumpy and treacherous road that is Kenya’s Grand Coalition, Justice Minister Martha Karua resigned today citing, among other things, the recent appointment of 7 High Court judges without her knowledge as the reason for her tendering her resignation.

SO high maintenance. I mean, what are a few ‘under-the-table, between friends’ judicial appointments when it’s all about holding together the government?

If you were scanning the headlines of any major newspaper today, you would have found no mention that today is World TB Day - marking a day of raising awareness about a disease, virtually eradicated in the developed world by the 1960s, which ravages the developing world, claiming nearly 2 million lives every year.

As we were sharing our morning tea, catching up on the events of the past 6 months, my coworker nodded to me casually ‘… and did I tell you that my brother died in October?’ - a sort of add-on to our conversation about grad school plans, thesis topics and STATA versus EpiInfo. ‘Oh, I’m sorry,’ I responded, ‘was it an accident?’

The Spring Semester has started up, and so we at Schlossplatz3 hope to start posting soon!  You can expect posts from us and other students within the next few weeks or so.  We hope that everyone’s holiday season went well!

Dear Readers,

We would like to wish you wonderful holidays with your beloved ones and time to look back at what happened the last twelve months. We hope that our blog contributed interesting and fascinating tidbits from the Hertie School of Governance and the world of Public Policy to your very personal life. We are very grateful for the many visitors and all the feedback that we have received since we started blogging  our policy perspectives in January. And we are looking very positive into the future hoping that you join our further expeditions into the often frustrating, but even more often fascinating and worthwhile world of public affairs. We definitely will share our discoveries with you right here after spending a splendid time with our families and friends in the coming days.

Kind regards,

The Schlossplatz³ Blog Team

I am feeling only moderately vindicated. After some months of bashing Alberta’s environmental policies, and actually a lifetime of that sneaking suspicion that my home province’s environmental policies were a farce (I blame a grade 4 letter-writing campaign to stop the development of a golf course in a wildlife corridor - which went ahead anyways), Hertie hosted Rob Renner, the Alberta Minister for Environment, in a lunchtime talk this week.

Awesome, finally someone to speak to with real power to make changes…

Viet Nam has 54 distinct ethnic groups, although 87% of the population are from the Kinh ethnic group. Ethnic minority people make up 1/8th of Viet Nam’s population but 40% of those Vietnamese considered poor. Ha Giang province, bordering China in the north of Viet Nam, is home to 22 ethnic groups and a poverty rate of 35%.

Ethnic minorities in this region face economic and social challenges. Often, their situations are portrayed as destitute, which in many senses they are. However, I would like to shed light on some positive things happening for people of Ha Giang province.

This post is a guest contribution to the Schlossplatz3 blog but the author wishes to remain anonymous.

Anticipated Result: Whoever wins, the citizens will lose because of a decaying Thai economy!

On November 26th, 2008, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) besieged Suvarnabhumi Airport – the Gateway to the Land Of Smiles, Thailand. The next day, they stormed in the domestic airport Don Muang, pressuring the Prime Minister to resign or dissolve the government. Two days of airports closure and yet, there seems to be no signs of agreement. It has been a long fight since 2006 when the PAD successfully ousted Thaksin Shinnawatra, but the fight continues. It looks almost as if it would come to no end. For once, Thailand reminds the international community that it is not only known for being the Land of Smiles, but it is also the origin of Thai kickboxing. We are experiencing the Thai kickboxing match in the worst possible form!! Let’s untie this political boxing match!

Currently the LA Auto Show is taking place. General Motors rents the biggest exhibition area but has cancelled all its promotional activities, has dimmed the lights and does not fly in any top manager. The LA Auto Show is the first car exhibition after the “Big Three” - General Motors, Ford Motors, and Chrysler - have publicly announced that they are close to bankruptcy. GM is supposedly already counting the days until they are running out of cash.