Regions

The 2003 death of Evergreen student Rachel Corrie still seems to stir debates and outrages from both sides of the Israel-Palestine debate. Corrie protested Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip and attempted to stop an IDF bulldozer by standing in its path. The IDF claims that the bulldozer could not see Corrie, who did not […]

Jacob Zuma’s choice to take over as national Commissioner of Police, Bheki Cele, has raised the ire of opposition leaders across the political and ideological spectrum who claim that Cele is unqualified and that his appointment represents the spoils of political access rather than the triumph of expertise.  But Cele’s tough talk on crime has […]

Mvume Dandala, the parliamentary leader of the Congress of the People, and that party’s presidential candidate in South Africa’s recent elections, recently offered to resign his leadership post in the beleaguered and fractured party. The party requested his offer, which was probably wise. Dandala was clearly not the best choice for party standard bearer, but […]

ct82hpgjq6 Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) has long been the institutional embodiment of Lee Family Power.  Using the PAP, Lee family patriarch, Lee Kuan-Yew created a political monopoly,  in the nation of  4.6 million people, that has lasted its entire 50 years of independence.   This monopoly allowed the establishment of a dynasty with the ascension […]

The Obama adminsitration is developing a strategy to finally push through the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The treaty has been stalled in the Senate since 1994, when the United States signed the 1994 Agreement on Implementation of UNCLOS. This compromise included a few notable concessions to the United States, […]

The recent loan of $280 million given to Bolivia by the Iranian government serves as another example of Iran’s growing influence in Latin America.  This loan is given to Bolivia in addition to 1.1 billion Euros that Iran pledged in August 2007 to invest in Bolivian agriculture, industry, energy and humanitarian affairs.  Many leftists regimes […]

The Indian Defense Ministry has come under sharp criticism from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for financial irregularities in awarding of defense deals. The French Scorpene submarines and the second-hand Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov were amongst the prominent deals slammed by the CAG’s report for 2008. India is set to acquire six Scorpene […]

“Our future is certain; it’s the past that keeps changing’ was how Soviet dissidents lamented the re-writing of history. If only they knew what was coming! Today’s Russia may have lost the certainty of a Communist future, but certainly not the state’s stranglehold over the past. Russia is not alone, of course. The teaching of […]

In a sign of growing cooperation between Iraq and Iran, the Iraqi armed forces took control of Mujahadeen-e-Khalq’s (MEK)- also known as People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI)-  main compound north of Baghdad, camp Ashraf.  It is believed that a number of high-ranking officials and leaders of the MEK, including Ahmad Hanifnejad, brother of the founder […]

So is Zimbabwe entering a new era of openness, as embodied in the country unbanning the BBC, or is Zim still Robert Mugabe’s plaything, as indicated by threats that he is going to shut down the operation of NGO’s in the country? The only thing that seems clear is that we are absolutely unclear as […]

Twenty German companies are working together to harness the North African sun to provide up to 15% of all German electricity needs while at the same time providing power within North Africa. Certainly the sun is a renewable resource that Africa enjoys in abundance. And if it works, this might prove to be the sort […]

In a predictable turn of events, the violence between the military and radical Islamists in northeast Nigeria has led to a growing refugee crisis. President Umaru Yar’Adua has vowed that the military will finish this fight and will hunt down and punish perpetrators of violence. This conflict has all of the hallmarks of a crisis […]

Block out some time and commit it to this epic New Republic piece on Leopold Munyakazi, a Rwandan who came to the United States after his country’s genocide, became a professor at Goucher College and who may or may not have been one of the Hutu genocidaires or an enabler of them. The story involves […]

Two prominent publications ran op-eds on settlements, with one writer slamming the settler movement and another editorial board citing the Obama Administration for mismanagement of the issue. Tel Aviv University Professor Asher Susser wrote a damning op-ed in Haaretz today, condemning the settler movement for considering itself guardians of the State of Israel. The settlers […]

The Iranian and Russian governments pegged an upcoming military exercise as an anti-pollution and search and rescue operation. However, the joint maneuver, involving 30 naval units from the two countries, is likely a show of strength and joint cooperation in order to warn countries intending on striking either nation. Israel recently made its own overtures […]