Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy BY CAROLINE LINDEN “You’ve got to get there and teach them to read and write and think…and that I think is the biggest job for our society and if we keep at it relentlessly, 30, 40, 50 years from now you will have a good part of the work” –Ateed Riaz (The Citizens Foundation) This quotation from Ateed Riaz of the Citizens Foundation seems, for me, to resonate with the ...

NPR’s Frank Langfitt shares his experience during a recent reporting trip to Taiwan with NPR’s News Blog, The two-way.  For GES Staffer Brian Chen, a Taiwanese American himself, he sees both sides of the argument.  In the globalized world today, a friendlier economic situation with China will be helpful for businesses in Taiwan. However he is proud of Taiwan's democratic ideals and hopes that as these two governments work together towards a better and brighter future, Taiwan will stand strong ...

Global Engagement Summit is now accepting International Delegates Applications until December 15, 2009 and American Delegate Applicants until December 30, 2009. APPLY TODAY If you are an international citizen and are currently enrolled in, recently (within 1 year) graduated from, or will soon (within 1 year) be enrolled in an international university, please apply to be an International Delegate. Contact international@theges.org or american@theges.org with any questions.

For almost a decade now, Macedonia has been trying to gain entry into the European Union. This process has not always been an easy one for the formerly communist nations that have, in the years since the fall of the Iron Curtain, tried to rebuild their standing in the eyes of the rest of the continent and the world. Macedonia's trials have been unique, though. The main hurdle preventing their entry right now is a dispute with Greece over the ...

Even before the 2010 Summit begins, we are already learning from our promising international applicants. Looking through applicants' project proposals is always inspiring and exciting, and this week, through the project proposal of one of our applicants, we have learned about an incredible movement that is completely new to us: “hibakusha.” Literally translated as “those who were bombed” and is used more specifically to describe survivors of the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki blasts. The death tolls were huge, and the ...