A comic book about African conflict and efforts at reconciliation? I was skeptical too. But Unknown Soldier seems worth a look. According to this story in The New York Times: Unknown Soldier, published by Vertigo, an imprint of DC Comics, is about Dr. Lwanga Moses, a Ugandan whose family fled the country for the United […]
The Israeli government did a U-turn on its policy involving negotiations with Syria, stating that Jerusalem would only agree to direct talks with Damascus instead of moderated talks through Turkish officials. Deputy Israeli Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon stated in an interview with Reuters that moderated talks were clearly failing and that only through direct negotiations could […]
Jon Elmer has a piece at IPS about Palestinian women who have spent time in Israeli prisons. Despite the rotten conditions – both because of the total absence of women-specific accommodations as well as the fact that, well, it’s a prison – his interviewee, Khawla al Azraq, used her prison time to educate herself. She […]
The Israeli, Turkish, and U.S. navies will participate in a joint exercise over the Meditaranean next week to practice strategies for ensuring safety at sea. The operation, launched annually for the last ten years, will involve eight ships, three search and rescue aircraft, and four helicopters. More importantly, though, the exercise is the first joint operation […]
Today a senior Iranian official admitted that about 4,000 people were detained in June’s post-election street protests. Judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza Jamshidi stated that 3700 detainees arrested during post-election incidents have been released and only 300 people were held for longer than a few days for being “involved in the riots.” Among those 300 people are […]
Gorbachev tried it, and was nearly overthrown. But these days, two thirds of all Russians back a War on Alcoholism. This according to a nation-wide poll revealed today in the popular online newspaper Gazeta.ru under the headline: “Bored of Drinking”. Good news for Medvedev, who had earlier gingerly floated an idea of fighting alcoholism as […]
Arunachal Pradesh seemed to dominate th4e 13th Indo-China talks in New Delhi on Aug 7-8. China lays claim to parts of the north-eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh (AP). The McMohan line forms the disputed border along the AP region and was drawn after an agreement between Tibet and Britain in 1914. China rejects the […]
If you want a sense of the deep divisions among serious observers of the situation in Zimbabwe you could do worse than to draw a sense of the schizophrenia indicated by two recent articles in the Mail & Guardian: In A New Beginning? David Smith posits (with trepidation, as the question mark in the title […]
Is it possible that the Truth and Reconciliation process in Liberia will have the effect of tearing the country apart (again)? This is a fear that some in the country share, at least in part because President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf rejects some of the TRC’s findings, largely because she is included in the report for […]
This week’s (American) Sports Illustrated magazine has an article on a South African who hopes to become the first African player in Major League Baseball. Mpho Ngoepe’s story is a compelling one and SI vet Gary Smith tells it well. And I do not expect American sportswriters to be either specialists on Africa or even […]
Israeli and Hamas officials could be on the verge of a breakthrough in negotiations to release abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit who was captured by the terror group over three years ago. Ma’an News is reporting that Israel transfered Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader Ahmad Sa’adat from a prison in Ashkelon to […]
Texas in Africa speculates on what Hilary Clinton’s itinerary in Goma will be and gives The New York Times and their Central and East Africa correspondent Jeffrey Gettleman a sound thrashing. Ouch. Gettleman lost me (and many others) in early 2008 with his reporting from Kenya during that country’s post-election violence when he referred to an allegedly […]
– South East Asia Times is reporting that the man killed in the Indonesian government’s raid in central Java is not Noordin Mohammed Top. The government will compare the DNA of the corpses of the man suspected of being Top to one of Top’s children, which may take up to two weeks. This may be […]
Headlining the first Fatah conference in 20 years, the election for a new 18-seat Central Committee resulted in some serious surprises and problems for certain party members. Because some party members could not leave Gaza to vote, these officials could vote until 4 p.m. Notably, imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti won, what is likely to […]
There is nothing in Iran and Taliban’s past relationship, which leads one to believe that these two sides can cooperate. Taliban’s hardcore theology includes anti-Shiite prejudice that often bought it to the brink of war with Iran during its days in power. On August 8th 1998, Taliban killed eleven Iranian diplomats and carried out a […]