A few days ago, an ad hominem attack on the US appeared in the pages (or on the web site) of “Azerbaijan,” the official journal of Azerbaijan’s parliament, the Milli Majlis. The article delved into real and imagined hypocritical facets of US foreign policy since the end of the Second World War, and despite its […]
Just days after a Nigerian court cleared President Goodluck Jonathan to run for a second term as his party’s candidate, a controversial circumstance because of his Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) policy of rotating its candidates between the North and South, he won the PDP primary and thus the party’s nomination to stand in April’s national […]
As the ousting of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali sent shock waves and fear through the Arab world, ex-dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier stunned the Western world with his surprised return on Jan. 16, 2011, developments that left political pundits puzzling. “It’s such a critically important moment for Haiti and this guy to drop in from […]
“BP will do anything for people not to talk about the Gulf, and Rosneft will do anything for people not to talk about how it got all its assets” That’s how Khodorkovsky lawyer Robert Amsterdam summed up the recent BP-Rosneft deal, which gives the disgraced oil giant drilling rights in the Russian arctic in partnership […]
Last week, I sat down for a two hour exclusive interview with Ilan Mizrahi, the former deputy chief of the Mossad and former head of the Israeli National Security Council under former PM Ehud Olmert. Mizrahi opined on a wide range of issues, including the Iranian nuclear threat, the Stuxnet computer worm, Israeli assassinations in […]
The following article was written by Chelsi Mueller, a junior research fellow in the Center for Iranian Studies and a Ph.D. student in the Department of Middle Eastern and African History at Tel Aviv University. by Chelsi Mueller As Arab leaders’ private statements about Iran began to pour forth from Wikileaks, Iranian leaders strove to […]
Last fall, an article by the Economist praised the consolidation of railway companies in the former Yugoslavia as a development that will ease the movement of freight from Turkey to Central Europe. The Economist went on to argue that a future rail tunnel under the Bosporus and plans between Turkey and China to link Beijing […]
As my fruit salesman on the market at Barbès (an Arabic neighbourhood in the North of Paris) proclaimed with a wide smile this morning pointing to the Tunisian flag his stand boasted ‘C’est la revolution! On voit la vie en rose maintenant.’ (It’s a revolution! We see life through rose-colored glasses now.) Evidently this Jasmine […]
After several months of bidding wars, ArcelorMittal has beaten out Nunavut Iron Ore Acquisition to acquire a majority of Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation’s shares, thereby winning control of the Mary River iron ore deposits on Baffin Island, in Canada’s Eastern Arctic (map). The world’s largest steelmaker will control 70% of the shares, while Nunavut will […]
In a recent turn of events that could be both good and bad news for India-China relations, China has issued stapled visas to two men from Arunachal Pradesh (AP). While this could be construed as an insult to India, it should also be noted that China had so far refrained from issuing visas to anyone […]
Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is reported to have fled the country, a country he ruled for 23 years, amid anti-govt riots over soaring unemployment and corruption. His whereabouts is still unknown, but (as usual) I am suspecting that he may be headed for Europe. Ordinarily I am not a fan of this […]
Stalemate and tension continue to characterize the situation in Cote d’Ivoire, where incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo has been unyielding in holding power despite a near-universal belief that his opponent, Alassane Ouattara, won the 28 November election. Gbagbo has access to and the loyalty of men with guns, who are working to isolate and seal off […]
Former Labor party leader Amir Peretz intends on joining the centrist Kadima party, according to reports. The left-wing Labor party, currently headed by embattled Defense Minsiter Ehud Barak, has been rife with internal strife and could continue crumbling unless the party finds its voice and reclaims grassroots support, especially as the politics of the Israeli […]
President Obama has extended a national emergency in effect for 15 years due to continued threat of terror attacks that could thwart the Middle East peace process. The extension of this national emergency exemplifies several points: the peace process is integral to U.S. interests, mandating that the White House declare an emergency due to efforts […]
This post can also been seen in FPA’s Latin America Blog. In the New Year, all media outlets rush to make their predictions for the coming year. In reality, it is hard to predict the several natural disasters that characterised 2010, or the economic crisis that surprised the global economy in 2009 and 2008 and […]