The Foreign Minister of Bangladeshi, Dr. Dipu Moni declared that member states attending the UN Climate Change Conference soon to be held in Copenhagen must give grants–not loans–to countries that are victims of the consequences of global climate and environmental change. Addressing the Climate Vulnerable Forum in the Maldives, Begum Moni said “River erosion, land slide, […]
Cambodia and Thailand – Thailand recalled its ambassador from Cambodia on November 5th over former Thai PM and wanted fugitive, Thaksin Shinawatra’s appointment as economic adviser to Cambodian PM Hun Sen. A few weeks back there were rumors that Shinawatra would be allowed to move to Cambodia, but the Cambodian government denied this after […]
The Washington Post’s “On Faith” series included today two articles written on the “despair” of Israelis and Palestinians. Abraham Cooper and Harold Brackman, of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, write: “Yet what has been the reaction to Israel’s defense of itself against Hamas whose founding Charter cites the genocidal Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a blueprint for wiping […]
President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met at the White House earlier today with some media reports implying tension between the two leaders. A White House statement read: “The president reaffirmed our strong commitment to Israel’s security, and discussed security cooperation on a range of issues… The president and prime minister also discussed […]
Two trends converge along Mexico’s southern border. One concerns the US recession, which has shocked the Mexican economy. The peso’s buying power is greatly diminished. Capitalizing on the peso’s decline against the Guatemalan quetzal, Mexican migrants flock south to sell toys, clothes, and foodstuffs. One popular route stretches from Cuidad Hidalgo, a city in the […]
The Zimbabwean unity government talks have shown virtually no movement in months. The parties barely speak to one another, with the beleaguered opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) briefly staging a walk-out from talks before returning last week and thus, in the words of some, stepping “back from the brink.” The situation is the source […]
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has committed his country to a massive expansion of aid across the African continent. The infusion of $10 billion in loans and other sources of support doubles the current amount of Chinese aid to Africa, an amount that already had many fearing that China was engaged in a new scramble […]
I’ve been following the news of three Bangladeshi men who’ve been implicated in an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Dhaka. One of these men is the son of a leader of a major Islamist political party in Bangladesh. I will continue to follow this story, but promise that there will be much else to […]
Don’t get me wrong: I cried as much as anyone when I watched the BBC 9 o’clock newscast from November 9, 1989. In fact, it was precisely the raw human solidarity behind those unforgettable scenes that exposed the farcical, hypocritical and self-serving nature of the official commemorations marking the fall of the wall tonight. Merkel, […]
The resignation of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas revealed another round of ramifications, this time potentially destroying the entire Palestinian leadership in the West Bank or, conversely, reigniting the peace process. (see my previous post on other issues involved regarding the Abbas resignation.) Abbas’ threatened resignation may actually serve to resolve the same issues that originally pushed […]
The Defense Ministers of Japan and India met over the weekend to review defense relations between the two countries. In a joint press statement the two ministers agreed to increase cooperation in anti-piracy operations along the Coast of Somalia. They also “recognized their mutual interest in the safety of sea-lines of communications and welcomed recent […]
The Wall Street Journal published an op-ed piece by one Bjorn Lomborg, who occupies the role of Director of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, a Danish think tank. Dr. Lomborg is interested in prescribing some hard to swallow medicine to all those environmentalists who claim that capping carbon emissions is the magic pill that will solve […]
Whether or not moral imperatives cut mustard, surely medium term strategic interests will be more successful in delivering workable solutions to the crisis of rising waters in Bangladesh. If developing and advanced industrial economies do not move to radically control carbon emissions, not only–in time–will Manhattan and parts of Florida be underwater, but those islands […]
Zainab Jeewanjee covers Fareed Zakaria’s interview of General Musharraf on CNN’s show GPS. Musharraf talks to Zakaria about the Pakistan army’s role in defeating terrorism and whether Pakistan truly has an interest in defeating cross border terrorism in Afghanistan given that the situation is rooted in a ’60 year old geopolitical rivalry at play between India and Pakistan” .
The Global South, it seems. According to a BBC poll published on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, “opinion about the disintegration of the Soviet Union is sharply divided. Europeans overwhelmingly say it was a good thing: 79% in Germany, 76% in Britain and 74% in France feel that way. But outside […]