Approximately ten months after Iran released the five British sailors that were held for straying into Iranian water. Iran released Sarah shourd yesterday after a year long detention in an undisclosed location in Tehran. There were unconfirmed reports about the events leading to Ms. Shroud’s release, whether it was a humanitarian gesture ordered by president […]
After a six-month boycott over last year November’s election results, nine politicians of the Rally for Democracy Party (RDP) and Republican Party (RP) were sworn in as members of the National Assembly yesterday. I must admit…that’s where I want the RDP (as the official opposition party) to be, representing the aspirations of its constituencies, and […]
Former foreign secretary of India, Shyam Saran has an excellent piece in Business Standard where he argues that staying back in Afghanistan and strengthening its presence there is the right strategy for India. He examines the ‘exit strategy’ from Afghanistan for the U.S. put forth by Henry Kissinger at a recent conference in Geneva. According […]
Bahrain’s football team wondered why the Togolese team they had just beaten 3-0 last Tuesday played so poorly. Togo, after all, had been one of Africa’s representatives in the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Well, it turns out that the reason Togo’s team did not seem very good was that they weren’t. Bahrain had played […]
With the exception of American policies toward Africa I tend to keep my Americanist punditry separate from my African commentary on this blog. Nonetheless, since it seems apt, can I just remind those conservatives who have latched onto President Obama’s supposed “Kenyan Anti-Colonialism” that the Kenyan Anti-Colonialists were right? That they were the good guys? […]
South African writer Andre Brink (A Dry White Season, inter alia) is unhappy with the potential encroachments on the media with which the ANC appears to be tinkering and seems dismayed by the general direction of things in South Africa. Naturally he invokes Nelson Mandela, because everyone who wants to establish (or remind us of, […]
In just a few short months, American troops will be replacing the embedded British soldiers in most of Helmand province. These British troops have spent the past several years attempting to bring stability to one of Afghanistan’s most violent and unstable regions. For instance, one-third of the 335 British soldiers killed in the country since […]
A few hours ago Secretary of State Clinton travelled to Egypt in order to help coax the Israelis and Palestinians to renew, continue talks that have been stalled for a few months. The Secretary of State will hold bilatelar meetings with the two sides involved and the Jordanians. A precondition of the resumption of talks […]
On Sunday September 19 citizens of Guinea are supposed to go to the polls to choose their new president in a run-off vote after June’s presidential elections did not reveal a clear winner. The two candidates for what observers hope will be the final stage of Guinea’s first truly democratic election are veteran opposition leader […]
One doctor, two nurses and a volunteer — affiliated with California-based Allen Temple AIDS ministry were scheduled to appear before a judge in Zimbabwe on Monday over AIDS drugs. The aid workers were arrested on Thursday after being charged with distributing AIDS drugs without a license. This is a developing story, and information is still […]
Beyond her displacement camps and their many obstacles, Haiti is taking some baby-steps towards her anticipated recovery. The long-awaited plans, gradually surfacing, offer a real glance into the paths that will lead the country away from its tumultuous past. While these steps may seem too insignificant for some news organizations to notice, Haitians whose lives […]
Nationalism is a beast the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not create, but has often tried harness to it’s benefit. Still, the use of this tool is tempered by the ever present Chinese fear of chaos (luàn:乱). A potential disaster scenario for the party is one in which it finds itself on the wrong side […]
Jews and Israelis celebrated the new year Rosh Hashanah holiday last week, when families gathered and at sweet treats to shepherd in 5771. But, ten days later, Jews around the world fast for 25 hours to atone for their sins during the previous year and spend the day reflecting. As it so happens, Yom Kippur […]
Zainab Jeewanjee comments on Asiam-ul-haq Qureshi, Pakistani tennis stars calls for Peace at the 2010 U.S. Open. She weaves in Fareed Zakaria’s argument that American’s are actually safer 10 years after 9/11 while Muslim countries grow weary of terrorists in their country and suffer from militant Islam to a larger extent than Americans domestically.
Questions have arisen this week over the rights of workers who work within European companies and the results of activities by management staff within those companies in Europe, in European companies in the USA, and European companies abroad. The most drastic example of some worker’s responses towards management comes with the recent suicide of ten […]