Four months before the scheduled July 2011 drawdown, well into a term where international forces are redeploying to urban areas, a few weeks into peak fighting season, the counterinsurgency in Afghanistan remains in flux, troublingly fluid, radically unsettled. The Taliban have announced that they have taken over a district in North Eastern Afghanistan, signalling not […]
Abducted, bound, sedated, flown to an undisclosed location in siberia, detained in a cell for a week, nose broken, then released only to be continuosly monitored by Putin on his presidential iPad. No, we are not talking about an average Tuesday in the life of a Russian journalist: the Prime Minister’s latest target is an […]
As African Union peacekeepers continue to come under attack in Somalia, the mission there, known as AMISOM, received two pieces of good news this week. First off, Uganda and Burundi, offered to send 4,000 more troops to the mission. The two countries account for a majority of what will now be a 12,000-strong force aimed […]
An Associated Press investigation found that Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) officials ignored glaring scientific evidence regarding the risk of a major earthquake or tsunami in constructing the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. In assessing the risk of a tsunami striking the Fukushima reactor, TEPCO officials did not account for a wave larger than 18 […]
In the aftermath of the killing of five Israelis, including three children, in the West Bank settlement of Itamar, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas offered a tepid condemnation, saying: “…violence produces violence and what is needed is to speed up a just and comprehensive solution to the conflict.” Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu immediately criticized […]
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports that Russia has increased tariffs on oil and oil products exported to Tajikistan by as much as 5.3%. This will increase the price of gasoline from the current $232 per ton to more than $250 or even as high as $285 per ton, just in time to squeeze the […]
Elections in two German states (Länder) led to one historic result while confirming the national government’s unpopularity and its perceived mishandling of a number of (inter)national and local issues. A historically unprecedented development is the emergence of the Greens as a third major party which will lead a coalition on eye level – there is […]
Radioactive isotope iodine-131 has been found in water samples from six states: Massachusetts, Nevada, California, Hawaii, Colorado and Washington. The radiation undoubtedly came from Japan’s leaking reactors following damage from the Mar. 11 earthquake and tsunami. The radiation levels found in the samples were low, with a half-life of only eight days, and should not […]
The Following piece is written by a Yemeni-based journalist who writes for Foreign Policy Association (FPA), and due to serious security concerns, remains anonymous. After announcing on Friday the imminent resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh on favor of the Opposition, the Foreign Minister, Abubakr al-Qirbi is now playing on words. If Friday’s presidential address […]
PROTESTS IN SYRIA While the NATO intervention in Libya continues, protests in Arabian Peninsula spreads to Syria after Yemen and Bahrain; against President Bashar al-Assad who ruled the country more than three decades after his father Hafez al-Assad’s regime. The Assads originally came from an elite minority in Syria which established itself first in top […]
Okay, I’m ready to reconsider my previous criticism of Catherine Ashton and her seeming fecklessness on hammering out a common EU foreign policy. Though it’s been clear since the Libyan crisis began that EU coordination has been disorganized at best, this summary from Deutsche Presse-Agenteur demonstrates that any hope for a coherent security policy, in […]
I’m afraid I do not get the rationale behind the University of Johannesburg’s recent decision to sever ties with Israel’s Ben Gurion University of the Negev. Of all of the boycotts to conduct, deciding to target the very institutions where some of the most vibrant dissent against Israeli policy is likely to occur seems counterproductive. […]
American drones have been flying the skies over Mexico since 2009 to collect intelligence on drug syndicates. The flights took place with the consent of the Calderón administration, but neither the US nor Mexican governments made it public. As the story broke earlier last week Mexicans of many stripes—from lawmakers to farmers—started to howl that […]
A couple of weeks ago, our colleague, Adam Minter wrote an article looking at the Shanghainese response to the recent Sendai Earthquake. It was a good read, but I wanted to flesh out the topic a bit, expand it to the general Chinese internet blog/BBS (netizen world) response to the earthquake. Then, perhaps, look at […]
Although you don’t choose your country, the most successful patriotisms are those focused around ideals. An American may love America simply because he was born there, but considers his love to be more than mere tribalism by referencing its values as the “land of freedom” or praising its international brands of independence, liberty, democracy, faith, […]