Texas in Africa has a must-read letter to Hillary Clinton about her ongoing Africa trip. She is particularly effective in conveying some important thoughts on Clinton’s pending visit to Goma in the eastern Congo.
Texas in Africa has a must-read letter to Hillary Clinton about her ongoing Africa trip. She is particularly effective in conveying some important thoughts on Clinton’s pending visit to Goma in the eastern Congo.
Asia Times Online is running an article that touches on Australian PM Kevin Rudd’s desire for a Asia-Pacific Union similar to the European Union by 2020. This union would include all of ASEAN, China, Japan, India, and the United States. As fantastic as the proposal is, he is not the first Australian PM […]
Breaking news informs us that Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud is “believed dead when a drone fired two Hellfire missiles along the Afghan border”. U.S. and Pakistani officials have yet to confirm the reports let alone acknowledge this as a triumph against Tehrik-e-Taliban, the organization Mehsud headed. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik expressed “cautious optimism” while […]
On August 3rd, the 50th anniversary of Alaskan statehood, Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) announced the introduction of a package of seven bills focused on developing and protecting the Arctic. Begich, a freshman senator who took over Ted Steven’s seat last November, sat out the traditional “waiting period” before giving his maiden speech on the floor […]
As Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is officially inaugurated as the President, the question on everyone’s mind is what does the future hold for Iran. The one thing that is confirmed is the election crisis is far from being over. Ahmadinejad’s reformist opponents, along with the two former presidents and notable members of the family of Ayatollah Khomeini, […]
When Iran’s presidential election turned into a full blown protest movement, I have to confess that my first regionally centered thoughts turned to Iraq, not Afghanistan. I wondered if the relatively peaceful and successful provincial elections held in Iraq had had an effect on their nearby Iranian neighbors. On the other side of Iran, of […]
Hillary Clinton is meeting with Somalia’s President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed today in order to provide at least symbolic support for that country’s seemingly hapless government and its fight against the Al-Shabaab Islamist radicals who control most of the southern part of the country, including the capital city of Mogadishu — a fight it is difficult […]
The UN Security Council is deeply concerned the Cote D’Ivoire is planning on delaying long-awaited elections and that the beleaguered nation’s leaders are not honoring the peace process.
At Salon, Glenn Greenwald accuses Hillary Clinton (and by extension American policy) of hypocrisy in demanding accountability for war crimes in Africa while overlooking some heinous behavious on its own part or that of its allies. Meanwhile the advocacy group ActionAid thinks that it is all well and good for Clinton (and again, by extension […]
It does not seem all that unreasonable for countries like South Africa to take the lead in talking to the United States and other developed Western powers on the issue of climate change by saying: You’ve got yours. So now you can afford to make the changes necessary to running a greener economy. That’s great. […]
Boy, this seems potentially problematic: “Zimbabwe’s mines minister said on Wednesday the country was reviewing a bill forcing foreign companies to sell stakes in their businesses to make it more user friendly.” I have no problem with trying to find a way to reconsider and even to adjust foreign investment. But as with Zimbabwe’s land […]
I think we need to introduce a Godwin’s Law for South Africa: Catsam’s Rule: If you make comparisons between Apartheid and the rule of the African National Congress in which the ANC comes out looking unfavorably, you have automatically lost the argument. (Catsam’s Corollary: Ditto for arguments that South Africa is following the path of […]
Russia will open a new base in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, later this year. Osh once hosted a Soviet airbase and is strategically located in the Ferghana Valley, extremely close to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The agreement will last for 49 years, to be renewed thereafter. All soldiers there will have diplomatic immunity, a courtesy not extended to […]
One ghost hovered over the Fatah conference this week. Not quite the ghost of Yasser Arafat, rather that of the conspiracy theory that Israel poisoned, gave AIDS to, or murdered the late Palestinian leader. Many Fatah members who adored Arafat criticized the Palestinian Authority for failing to launch an investigation into Arafat’s death. Some Fatah […]