In the midst of the Israel-U.S. dispute over settlements and a potential Israeli strike on Iran, four senior American officials will arrive in Israel this week, although U.S. officials contend that the high concentration of American presence in the region is purely coincidental. U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on […]
The Israeli government embarked on its first major financial initiative to strengthen Arab-owned businesses by releasing a 160 million shekel ($40 million) tender late last week to support the integration of these companies into the overall economy. The program provides 80 million shekels of government money to the winning bidder of the tender who must […]
Current relations between Pakistan and Europe are defined by cooperation. Through humanitarian and supply assistance offered, European states are also working with Islamabad in collaborating on development projects as a form for debt relief to Pakistan. This cooperation comes with Pakistan’s commitment to democracy and successes in uprooting terrorism.
All across the world today, people are showing their solitary to the Iranian people in their struggle for democracy, freedom and human rights. In over 80 cities, from Austin, Texas to London to Tokyo, people are protesting against the disputed Iranian presidential election and the severe clampdown on opposition activities by the Iranian government. The […]
I wrote before that – Future political integration is dependent on ASEAN resolving its many territorial disputes. There is still a high level of nationalism in the region; member-countries are suspicious of each other due to centuries of conflict, followed by colonial isolation. These disputes were recently surveyed on Capital Hill, by Richard P. Cronin, […]
Foreign Policy published a piece by two academics – one Palestinian, Osama Abu-Irshaid, and one an American Jew with strong ties to Israel, Paul Scham – suggesting that in order to reach any kind of peace agreement with Hamas, negotiating partners (i.e. Israel and the United States) need to accept that they will never recognize […]
The U.S. government delivered the first $200 million of an expected $900 million to the Palestinian Authority yesterday. The State Department pledged the donations in March at a conference in Cairo meant to raise funding for Gaza Strip reconstruction and Palestinian Authority initiatives. The State Department released the following data on U.S. investments in the […]
Another power struggle is going on in Iran and its not reformist politicians against the hard-line political establishment. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has maintained his choice of Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaii as first vice president over the objections of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Rahim-Mashaii upset hard-line clerics and politicians in 2008 by stating that Iranians were “friends […]
Five African nations can look forward to faster, more reliable internet service as the result of the work of a private consortium, Seacom, which installed the first undersea fiberoptic cable. The switch went on yesterday in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda and South Africa. Rwanda should join that group in the next couple of weeks.
Beyond the grave human tragedies, one of the most vexing aspects of the AIDS denialism that was too prominent at high levels in South Africa in the decade after 1994 is that South Africa ought to have been the continent’s, indeed one of the globe’s, leaders in anti-AIDS science and technology. The country had the […]
The latest line in pro-Israel new media is a Facebook widget that changes an individuals Facebook status to read as a fun fact about the Jewish State. A group of students from Hebrew University in Jerusalem created the application and already 3,000 people use the widget on their Facebook accounts. Some fun facts include: the […]
Latest sources tell us that unmanned CIA predator aircraft are credited with killing Osama bin Laden’s son with strikes in Pakistan earlier this year. Although this has yet to be officially confirmed given the highly “sensitive nature of CIA operations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier” according to the Washington Post, debate on the use of unmanned […]
Even as the governments of India and Pakistan struggle to re-establish regular dialogue between the two countries, the Pakistani Army and Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) are reported to want a seat at the table. The two agencies claim to be the real power centers in Pakistan who play a crucial role in Pakistan’s India policy. They […]
Stories that crossed my desk today with brief commentary as appropriate: At Pambazuka News Lansana Gberie is perplexed by the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s purpose, by its intent, and by the entire outcome of its recent report. It might be worth pointing out at this stage that TRC’s are a useful tool for very […]
I just received the following press release. Rather than try to distill it, I will just share the whole text: NAIROBI – President Kibaki of the Republic of Kenya has announced the appointment of Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat as Chairman of Kenya’s newly-created Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC). The Commission was set up by legislation […]