“The sole aim of journalism should be service. The newspaper is a great power, but just as an unchained torrent of water submerges whole countryside and devastates crops, even so an uncontrolled pen serves but to destroy. If the control is from without, it proves more poisonous than want of control. It can be profitable […]
President Barack Obama issued a presidential determination today to suspend a 1995 law that requires the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In a letter from Obama to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Obama says the 6 month extended suspension of the law “is necessary, in order to protect the national […]
At the international stage, the Southern African country of Namibia is known as the rare success story of the UN. Lost in this UN Namibian success narrative is the story of people detained by the South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO), the current ruling party and one-time national liberation movement in Namibia, during the war […]
Bashneft has bought the Trebs and Titov onshore oil deposits in Russia’s Timan-Pechora province for a reported 18.5 billion rubles ($587 million). The Russian government had earlier sought to keep the deposits under the government’s ownership, since the two constitute strategic oil deposits with 78.1 million tons and 132.8 million tons of oil, respectively. However, […]
More Europe or else. Considering the problems facing the euro, more Europe seems to be the only alternative to a euro meltdown that could jeopardize the entire European project. European Central Bank boss, Jean-Claude Trichet, is not in doubt. In a meeting with the European Parliament´s economic and monetary affairs committee, Trichet called for a […]
There’s a new brew simmering in Bangladesh. It’s made of allegations, recriminations and excuses. This brew has to do with acts committed by the venerable founder Dr. Mohammad Yunus some fifteen years ago. This brew threatens to irreparably mar microcredit institutions, the poverty alleviation regime that over the last several years has gone private, virally, […]
Israel was just struck by one of the largest disasters in the country’s short history — a fire is sweeping through northern Israel and has already killed dozens. Out of this tragedy, several high points, low points and questions have emerged. The good: Israel’s neighbors are here to help, even the ones that have issued […]
When former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon created the Kadima party, he sought to form a middle ground between the left-leaning Labor movement and the right wing Likud of which he had previously been a part. Sharon — who has been described as a murderer due to his role commanding Israeli troops during the early 1980s […]
The irony of profitability Lately, Haitians have experienced high levels of—what scholars have coined– psychological reactance. It is a reaction caused by the fear of losing something deemed valuable, in this particular case, their very lives. Naturally– when neighbors– friends, and family members—those still alive—keep dying of an invisible, highly contagious and seemingly uncontrollable disease, […]
Well, this does not qualify as good news: Kenya is likely to witness worsening food security, significant disease outbreaks, and further pockets of conflict in 2011, as well as a continuing flow of refugees from Somalia, say aid officials. Of course 2011 will help provide the context for Kenya’s scheduled 2012 elections, which will be […]
Zimbabwe features among the confidential documents released online by WikiLeaks, a whistle blower website, on Sunday. In a 2007 confidential diplomatic cable on Zimbabwe, the then-outgoing American ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, penned about the US policy on Zimbabwe as follows: “Having said my piece repeatedly over the last three years, I won’t offer a […]
I’ve written on this before; now, sadly, I’m writing on this again, so here goes: I could not then, cannot now and will not, ever, defend the jerked, jolting way that every instrument of industry, learning and commerce in Bangladesh has shuttered for the second time this month just because one lady with political pull […]
My apologies for the unexpected little break. Between the end of the turn and the American Thanksgiving holiday and family being in town things got a little hectic. Expect things to pick up here soon. Texas in Africa has a great post about the solipsism of some self-professed advocates as World AIDS Day approaches. When […]
I’ve already said my peace on the shameful acts of the Wikileaks’ group and their enablers in the mainstream media and this latest State Department secret document dump only solidifies my feelings. While the leaders and leakers of Wikileaks are rightly being near universally condemned, major newspapers like the New York Times, The Guardian, etc. […]
The incessant mantra in the Middle East is often that Israel (often called the “Zionist entity” or an “apartheid state”) is an unwelcome gnat hovering around Arab states’ peaceful picnic. In a defiant move, Egypt singed a peace accord with Israel, which was followed approximately a decade and a half later by Jordan. Israel remains, though, unacknowledged and […]