3 posts and columns on Congo

Firms Seek Supply Route Around Conflict in Congo

in News on April 27, 2011 at 4:45 am PT

While the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake is causing many companies to worry about the electronics supply chain, a different pall is hovering over a rare, blue-gray metal that is mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Is the State Department's Tweeter-in-Chief Headed to Google?

in News on July 23, 2010 at 8:54 am PT

Jared Cohen, who has gained fame as the State Department’s social networking phenom and the youngest member of its policy planning staff, is considering taking a job at Google in a strategic policy role, said several sources close to the situation. Cohen has been in discussions with Google recently about going there, those sources said, although it is not a done deal. In other words, the revolving door between D.C. and Silicon Valley keeps on turning, especially Googlers.

Eve Ensler Calls for Rape-Free Cellphones

in D7 on May 27, 2009 at 12:19 pm PT

On May 13, 2009, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a hearing called “Confronting Rape and Other Forms of Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones.” Its purpose: to end the use of rape-as-a-weapon-of-war in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo–a place where 1,100 women a month are raped, in part as a consequence of the region’s coltan trade. Coltan, or columbite tantalite, is a mineral essential to the manufacture of a wide array of consumer electronics–cellphones, laptops. Among those who testified, Eve Ensler, playwright of “The Vagina Monologues” and the founder of V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls–and a speaker at D7.
Eve Ensler at D7