In his interview with Larry King, journalist Bob Woodward has come out and said outright that Colin Powell is the best candidate for Secretary of Defense after Robert Gates steps down from that role in 2011. General Powell, as Woodward has pointed out numerous times, is a walking embodiment of the history of American wars […]
Maliki’s political endurance hangs on the support of the Kurdish faction.
According to the Global Post and other sources, Georgia has finally adopted jury trials, at least for cases of aggravated murder – and for now, only in Tbilisi. This is reportedly part of a larger program to introduce jury trials more broadly, weaken the role of judges in Georgian trials, where they are more like […]
After having posted on the Kefer Soussah square project the other day I felt like I should also pass on some pics I snapped from inside the Tishreen National Sports Complex taken the same evening. The complex has been under construction for at least the past year…trust me, I would know, I work out there. […]
A few interesting links for your weekend consumption. First is a long post on the Syria Comment Blog. The post deals with changing norms surrounding the rights and place of women in Syria. Very interesting reading, especially early on. You can find it here. Second are a pair of articles from the New York Times. […]
My apologies for being away from the blog for so long, but I was in Afghanistan for three weeks and just returned. I had been working as an observer during the recent parliamentary elections, and was sent by Democracy International, an NGO based in Bethesda, Maryland. While Afghanistan is somewhat outside my normal baliwick, I […]
I hope the Israelis are taking notes from this article in the Jerusalem Post. It describes exactly the too many things wrong with Mr. Abbas, and explains why he is irrelevant with friends and foes alike. His erratic policies and ability to negate every decision he has made are the reasons he cannot be a […]
The New York Times is reporting the Sadrist bloc has made a stunning reversal to support erstwhile opponent and political bugbear, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, for another term at the helm of the Iraqi government. The Sadrists’ 39 seats would prove the critical tipping point for the incumbent premiere.
Mudslides in the southern Mexico have killed at least 32 in recent days. In the worst disaster, on Wednesday a landslide killed 16 in the state of Chiapas. On Thursday, subsequent mudslides in rural highlands of Oaxaca state killed 11, including a pregnant woman and children. Other casualties are being reported. In recent weeks Mexico […]
The Lucknow Bench of the Allahbad High Court delivered its verdict on the contentious Ayodhya Entitlement dispute on September 30. It was a rare occasion when the issues of divinity and faith were awaiting clarification by a judicial body. Most Indians were more anxious about the fallout of the judgement rather than the actual verdict. […]
The Washington Post editorial page shares my concern of President Obama’s seeming lack of commitment in his Afghanistan strategy, as portrayed in Bob Woodward’s ‘Obama’s Wars’ series: What’s most disturbing in Mr. Woodward’s book is the evidence it offers that Mr. Obama’s own commitment to his plan is weak. The president is described as preoccupied […]
The White House is pushing back against a D.C. rumor that President Barack Obama sent a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu offering a slew of favors in exchange for a two month extension of the West Bank settlement freeze. The rumor originated from a blog written by researcher David Makovsky, who has ties […]
Unless you are from mars, there is a high chance that you probably heard about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), eight set of goals-ranging from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education-agreed to by the United Nations to address the needs of the poor countries! Well the world […]
The American Free Press Newspaper is reporting that President Robert Mugabe said on Thursday that foreign investors should embrace Zimbabwe’s equity laws which require them to sell 51 percent stakes to locals or “stay out.” Putting Mugabe’s rhetoric’s aside, I think the idea of viewing locals as business partners makes sense! Whether Aid or business […]
Nigerian politics are at a crossroads. Or perhaps a better metaphor is that they stand teetering on a precipice. With Goodluck Jonathan set to run for re-election (and for his first election on his own since taking over after Umaru Yar-Adua’s death) the precarious wink-and-nod arrangement whereby presidential power alternates between the North and the […]