Even though the Obama administration has publicly clashed with Netanyahu administration, resulting in what some have called a crisis, the White House has floated the idea of drafting a new peace proposal. Some reports indicate that U.S. and Israeli officials have secretly begun ironing out differences, with the top state department Middle East advisory traveling […]
Author’s note: a previous version of this article appeared on the MEA website. Israeli officials claimed last Thursday that they had intelligence indicating that Syria has been arming Hizballah with SCUD missiles. If so, it would mark a significant departure for Hizballah in terms of military strategy and weapons capability. Now, nothing should come as […]
As the turf war for the European diplomatic service (EEAS) continues, MEPs are claiming High Representative Ashton is inexperienced and that she is incapable of handling the task of setting up the new diplomatic service. Ashton is “simply out of her depth” says German Christian Democratic Union MEP Inge Grässle. Grässle adds that the EEAS […]
Even the Arctic has not emerged unscathed from the eruption of Eyjafjallajokull. A conference that was to be held in Moscow, Russia, called “The Arctic: Territory of Dialogue,” has been postponed until September due to the thousands of flight disruptions. The Russian Geographical Society will host the event, which is to supposed to mark the […]
The government of Bangladesh recently denied unregistered Rohingya people refugee status within Bangladesh’s borders. More distressingly, the government has carried on a policy of detainment and coercively repatriation of Rohingya individuals. This is a wholesale violation of their human rights, according to the doctrinal values enshrined in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of […]
Israelis celebrated Independence Day this week, rejoicing in the streets, on the beach, at barbecues, and dancing to music at concerts throughout the country. While Israelis rejoice, some in society are not quite as happy, namely Arabs and Palestinians who label Israeli independence as the “Nakba,” which is translated as “the Catastrophe.” Protesters “mourning” the Nakba carried Palestinian […]
They were born and live in a small, prosperous and democratic country. Yet that country refuses to give them citizenship rights because they happen to share an ethnicity with its large and authoritarian Eastern neighbour, which has invaded it in the past. Aggrieved at such discrimination, they see their cries fall on deaf ears among […]
Of all of the talk about possible crime, violence, and terrorism at the World Cup, little attention has been paid to what I believe to be one of the most likely sources of disruption: the racist radical white right-wing. The South African Police Service seems to have come around to this view as well, raiding […]
I hate the majority of celebrity activism, and so by rights I really should have loathed Bono’s op-ed in Sunday’s New York Times. Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age, but to be honest, I was ok with it. And this is not just because I am a pretty huge U2 fan. I think […]
In Venezuela, the date April 19th is known as the “Signing of the Act of Independence”, a major move towards separation from Spain. The full declaration of independence came the next year, on July 5, 1811. This was followed by a decade of bloody battles in which Simón Bolívar rose to fame, finally defeating the […]
The meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Obama on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit last week, seems to have produced positive results for India. The US ambassador to India, Tim Roemer will be travelling to Afghanistan to view first-hand the “critical” work being done there by India. He told the Times News Network, “India’s […]
Egypt has a political parody website that has been compared with a cross between The Onion and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Calling itself “Egypt’s most reliable news source” El Koshary Today pokes fun of Egyptian society and politics. Even if you do not have a great grasp of Egyptian life (I do not […]
30,000 Red Shirt Protesters Thailand: Over the last week the situation in Thailand has deteriorated, with as many as 24 people dead and over 800 injured since the new round of Red Shirt protests begin over 2 weeks ago. A protest that started off with a festive atmosphere slowly descended into violence, with grenade attacks, […]
Israeli Memorial Day leads right into Independence Day, thereby creating an interesting shift from a somber attitude and into exuberance. Well, the focus has been on independence, but Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech is interesting, with Bibi issuing a strong message that Israel is here to stay.
With their tweedy manner, fancy degrees, thousand paged books and tenured positions, it was all too easy to forget that Russia historians are really just backstabbing, gossipy teenage egomaniacs at heart. Until now. It all started when a few Russia scholars, including Robert Service, noticed some mean reader reviews for their books on Amazon. They […]