Another marathon = more African dominance. In this morning’s Boston Marathon Kenya’s Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot won, shattering the course record by 82 seconds with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, 52 seconds. On the women’s side Ethiopia’s Teyba Erkesso won by three seconds in the third-closest women’s finish in Boston Marathon history.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir might be loathed and excoriated throughout most of the world and in vast swaths of his own country, but because his tenure has seen the country hit unprecedented heights of economic growth, he is reaping many of the political benefits of prosperity: According to the International Monetary Fund, Sudan’s gross domestic […]
Tired of politics and crises and stories of greed and corruption? Sit back, relax, and imagine a little vacation in Mauritius.
The Obama administration has been notoriously cast as anti-Israel. But, at least Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is a fan. She spoke at the AIPAC conference last month and just issued a video commemorating Israel’s 62nd anniversary. The State Department tends to issue short statements in response to the anniversary of a country’s independence. However, […]
The rhetoric on the Iran nuclear program is all falling into place, and it appears that Israel, the United States and even Iran are bracing for a military confrontation. On the eve of Memorial Day, the Israeli government has warned that it will not face destruction. The United States military is weighing all its options. […]
With the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon, the hopes and fears of euro-skeptics and enthusiasts were stirred. The treaty’s objective of creating an independent and coherent EU foreign policy presence is – on paper, at least – just around the corner. The Treaty of Lisbon has provided the EU with its own diplomatic corps, […]
This Friday, April 23, at 3:30 I will be giving a talk, “Stopped at the Try Line: Rugby, Race, and Nationalism in the New South Africa,” as part of the Newberry Library’s Seminar on Sport & Culture. The seminar is co-sponsored by Northeastern Illinois University and the Dr. Wm. M. Scholl Center for American History […]
At Pambazuka News Briggs Bomba and William Minter question the purpose and efficacy of imposing sanctions on Zimbabwe, and their larger implications certainly extend beyond Zim. From the article abstract: In debates about Zimbabwe’s political crisis and the role of the international community, it is difficult to sort out reality from rhetorical smoke and mirrors, […]
Some new facts have recently come to light regarding Syria’s sale of missiles to Hezbollah. Both Israeli and U.S. intelligence have been watching Syria replenish Hezbollah’s stock pile of weapons for some time. Shipments from Syria have included rockets and anti-tank missiles. Estimates of said weapons arsenal number approximate 30,000 missiles and rockets. This number […]
A few years ago a new music group swept over South Africa, taking over the pop charts and representing a high point in the vaunted but only episodically uplifting process of reconciliation. Freshlyground (whose biggest hit remains the catchy “Doo Bee Doo”) represents an optimistic multi-racial South Africa that so many have hoped for after […]
I cannot possibly add anything to this: “Somalia’s Al Qaeda-linked militia on Thursday banned the ringing of bells in schools because Christian churches also sound bells.”
Afghanistan is becoming a grave yard. Innocent people including women and children are losing their lives in every corner of the country. Sometimes they are shields to Taliban to fight with NATO and sometimes they are killed by NATO, mistaken for Taliban. People are losing hope. They do not trust foreign troops any more. In […]
According to reports Syria has been selling numerous munitions to Hezbollah, a militant group that currently controls the border between Israel and Lebanon, as well as most of South Lebanon. Hezbollah is sworn to the destruction of Israel and is mostly funded, trained and supplied by Iran. The U.S. has recently confirmed President Shimon Peres’s […]
Black helicopters, U.N. conspiracies and shadowy cabals of all-powerful financiers – this is the stuff that fixates in the feverish imagination of a certain segment of the American populace. In one of those wonders of globalization (and ideological indoctrination), those same shadowy cabals do double duty as the object of much Chinese paranoia. This is […]
