Iranian officials have formally rejected Brazil’s second offer of asylum to Iranian Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, who is sentenced to death by stoning for alleged adultery. Iran’s rejection of Brazil’s diplomatic attempts follows President Lula’s initial unsuccessful appeal to the Iranian government made late last month and forms part of an international effort to free Ms. […]
With all the hub-bub about the Wikileaks, tragic death of the humanitarian workers, President Karzai’s anti anti-corruption crusade, etc. an important seachange in the Obama administration’s Afghan strategy has appeared; The administration is discreetly walking back its July 2011 drawdown date. Here is Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week [my emphasis]: “I think we need […]
Just a few stories from South Africa, with brief commentary as appropriate: Public sector employees in South Africa went on strike last week. They were asking for a wage hike and increased housing allowances. Expect heightened labor activity across South Africa in the weeks and months to come. South Africa was able to avert potentially […]
To freshen up after saving the Amazon from the construction of the world’s largest dam and then helping beat the Gulf oil spill, Avatar director James Cameron decided to relax in an unusual setting today: by celebrating his birthday in a submarine at the bottom of Lake Baikal. While Cameron’s connection to Baikal so far […]
The government has arrested 3 garment industry labor leaders on charges that they had engineered violent and disruptive street protests.. This after mass protests against a proposed 3000 taka minimum wage for working in the retail garment industry in Dhaka and its environs. Though nearly double the standing wage, workers had demanded 5000 taka. Indeed, […]
The Lebanese Government has recently called for all citizens and expatriats of Lebanon to donate money to its military. This move was prompted by the U.S. halt of a $100 Million aid package to the Lebanon military. Congress decided to reexamine its policy towards Lebanon after the now infamous tree cutting incident. The IDF has […]
The recent news of the young couple stoned to death in Kunduz Province in Northern Afghanistan suggests that the Taliban are returning to power, town by town spot by spot through an assertive campaign based on long-accepted conservative social practices. Belief and adherence to Shar’iah has long been a lodestar to the principally conservative Pashtun majority […]
The long-discussed merger of Helen Zille’s Democratic Alliance (DA) and Patricia De Lille’s Independent Democrats (ID) is another step closer to happening as the DA has signed a “memorandum of understanding” that is supposed to lead to a full merger by 2014. Four years is a forever in South African politics (think of how things […]
Amidst austerity program s and gloomy worse-than-expected forecasts for the Greek economy, the European economy has caught a break. According to the latest data, the euro zone recovery outstripped that of the US. A 1,7 pct expansion across the 16 euro zone and the 27 EU nations as a whole, compared to the same quarter […]
NASA’s remote sensing instrument, ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), has taken a remotely sensed image of the massive chunk of ice which calved off of the Petermann Glacier in western Greenland on August 5. ASTER is a high-resolution sensor on board the Terra satellite which scans the entire surface of the earth […]
By now nearly every media outlet has written up comments about General David Petraeus’s interview with David Gregory on Meet the Press. Indeed, I have as well, in my other role as way-ward political artist. For now, though I’d like comment on General Petraeus’ deeply analytical understanding of the current situation in Afghanistan. Mr. Gregory […]
The next wave of casualties stemming for the recent flood in Pakistan will sweep along the public health disaster waiting just beyond this hour, today. The 20 million affected by the massive, surging, nearly country-wide flood are now optioning across a ready-made menu of likely epidemics. At least one individual has been diagnosed a victim […]
The BBC reports that along with the national security portfolio, the Bangladeshi army is now encroaching on the civilian government’s major writ to spur on commercial activity. Through interests in commercial banking and the hospitality industry, food production and textiles, the Army is branching out as a leader in Bangladesh’s economy. The BBC reportages suggest […]
So, I realize that when I set out to write this blog I intended to do a lot of writing about Syria’s international position. However, I also wanted to do pieces about domestic issues and things that shed light on what life was like here. Well I haven’t done nearly enough of that so far, […]
Last Monday, August 9, 2010, Rwanda’s incumbent President Paul Kagame scored another landslide similar to his margin of victory in 2003. In Namibia, the ruling Swapo party smashed a fifth tsunami-like victory this past November. South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) and the Liberation Front of […]