From the Global Organized Crime Blog: Wordplay is an important skill for politicians and diplomats, who routinely solve dilemmas by substituting one phrase for another, replacing ‘hot-button’ words with language that may not change reality, but which invariably gives players the ‘wiggle-room’ they need to back-off, rethink, renegotiate, regroup, or retreat from battles plainly lost. […]
One of the themes that repeatedly pops up when trying to “figure out” Syria is the contrast between where Syria has been, and where it is going. You see this division everyday. Old, decrepit services fighting for space on the road with modern buses. Older, covered women sharing the sidewalks with girls in plunging neck […]
Apologies for my lack of coverage regarding the recent Afghanistan parliamentary elections, but I’ve been swamped with some of life’s other challenges…..basically my 4 month year old daughter’s unquenchable thirst for her dad’s attention. Anyhoo, many others have written on the subject, including Joshua Foust and some of his Registan.net colleagues. Here Foust describes some […]
There’s a lot going on lately, and a fair number of calls to the Obama administration to take note and react to all of it. Nothing from Washington yet. First, the Cuban Labor Federation came right out and announced that 1 million public sector jobs were set to be eliminated, half of these by next […]
Last week, Prime Minister Hariri publicly dismissed his case against Syria in the assassination of his father. His opinion on the matter carries no formal weight, but for the people of Lebanon, Mr. Hariri’s actions are indeed significant. It was his father that was killed and if he can look past the issue in order […]
Jamal Mubarak, the eldest son of the Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, is drawing political activists to the streets of Cairo. And they are not out for his support. Yesterday, adjacent to Abideen Palace, hundreds of Egyptians gathered to show their disapproval of what is looking to be preparatory statement by the ruling party of Hosni […]
I cannot imagine the tightrope that Morgan Tsvangirai walks on a daily basis. Tsvangirai, the Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) Prime Minister of Zimbabwe who shares power with Robert Mugabe in little more than theory, knows that the thugs of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) are always just outside the door. The police […]
map from BBC Hot Spot – East China Sea: Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands: China, Japan, Taiwan In continuation: Over the last few days, China has been increasingly the saber rattling in regard to the arrest of a Chinese fishing crew by Japanese authorities. Japan contends that the former rammed the latter (JCG patrol ship Yonakuni) at […]
Independent Online is one of my go-to sources, especially for South African news, because it pulls together the reportage and commentary from the whole array of Independent newspapers, meaning it serves as something of an aggregation source. Well, they are undergoing change, with a new physical appearance and somewhat different interface. It looks better and […]
The law has not been passed yet, but the Local Government Permanent Secretary Erastus Negonga seems to suggest that regional governors will no longer be elected regional councillors, but people appointed by the President. He told the Namibian that the procedure of governors being elected by the regional councils would change and that no elected […]
Amidst all the embarrassment of the Commonwealth Games preparations in Delhi, a report by the National Intelligence Council and EU’s Institute for Security Studies placing India as the third most powerful country has brought in a much need boost to the spirits. The report, Global Governance 2025, puts India in the third position with eight […]
The Namibian parliament is debating a law that will give President Pohamba the power to appoint regional governors. Given the ruling South West People’s Organizations’ (SWAPO) electoral advantage in the parliament, it is given that the law will be passed. This means that soon the new regional councilors to be elected in the regional elections […]
To continue its freeze on settlement building, Israel is proposing a deal. Not with the Palestinians but rather with Americans. Israel is asking for the release of Jonathan Pollard, the convicted Israeli spy who received a life sentence in 1987 for turning presidential directives of the US policy towards Iran to Israel. A close aid […]
An article in Sunday’s City Press, “Mandela ching-ching,” has put the Nelson Mandela Foundation in a fighting mood. The article basically accuses the Foundation of cashing in on Madiba’s legacy. Here is the Foundation’s response. The gist: They believe the author, Khadija Bradlow, is wrong on the facts and is wrong on the merits of […]
Sweden is left with a hung parliament after the country’s September 19 election. Although the current center-right alliance came out on top, commanding 172 of the Swedish Riksdag’s 349 seats, it fell short of an absolute majority. The leftwing opposition managed 157 seats, with the Social Democrats (in power for 65 of the past […]