Lately, the news coming out of Timor-Leste is quite reminiscent of the political reality drama, that was Ferdinand Marcos’ Philippines – corruption, assassination plots, and intrigue in abundance. On Monday July 13th, the 27 people accused of the February 2008 “assassination attempt” of East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta, began trial. The case is a puzzling […]
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) recent resolution marking August 23rd as a day of remembrance for Nazism and Stalinism has sparked quite an uproar over the past couple weeks. Russia’s Federal Assembly (the 176 member Federation Council and 450 member State Duma, respectively) issued a statement that the decision to equate […]
During her trip to Thailand, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has created quite a stir with her remarks on Iran. In her harshest words delivered against Iran yet, Clinton warned that the United States would take “crippling action” and work to “upgrade the defense of our partners in the region.” She warned Iran that […]
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak travelled to Paris this week for discussions with European leaders to improve regional cooperation, however some reports indicate that the trip was a guise for surgery. Reportedly, the procedure is likely far more serious than Egyptian media accounts that claim Mubarak had back surgery. Moreover, many medical procedures performed on geriatric […]
The Lebanese government has charged 17 people in a plot to harm UN peacekeepers stationed in the southern part of the country. So far, ten people have been arrested and the other seven, including the groups alleged leader, were charged in absentia. The group, reportedly made up of people from Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian origins, […]
“Pakistan Objects to U.S. Plan for Afghanistan War” reads a New York Times article yesterday updating us on our foreign policy. The article forewarns of “fissures” in the U.S. Pakistan alliance at this critical moment when President Obama sends additional troops to the region. The article specifically outlines Pakistan’s insistence on maintaining forces along the […]
Here are a few more stories that have caught my eye today: Yesterday Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Public Service, announced that civil servants will receive wage increases with some receiving as much as double their current US$100 allotment, a figure far too low to allow most Zimbabweans to take care of the bare necessities, […]
One of the myriad disputes in Sudan involves the contested Abyei region, which is rich in both oil and farmland and which straddled the North and South that has so long been the epicenter of vicious conflicts. Today the Hague made its binding pronouncement on Abyei, with Khartoum emerging with nearly all of the oil […]
In a bad omen that speaks to the instability that chaotic Somalia is capable of wreaking in East Africa, Kenya’s borders are increasingly vulnerable to incursions from the radical Islamist militia group al-Shabab, which dominates a vast swath of southern Somalia. Kenya has vowed to step up border security, but it is not unreasonable to […]
Do you want some evidence that things in Liberia have improved substantially this decade? The Washington Post travel section featured a quite good William Powers-penned feature about the country this weekend, complete with full travel details.
The Mail & Guardian has a fascinating piece on “The Rise and Rise of the Nelson Mandela Industry.” It is a quite remarkable phenomenon. But also an understandable one, as it blends commerce with the undeniable love of Mandela among South Africans, and as important, among tourists and other visitors to the country. Mandela is […]
Reader pandorasgift directed me to this Christian Science Monitor article about the reception of Michela Wrong’s new book on corruption in Kenya. Booksellers refuse to touch it for fear of reprisals, but it is doing a brisk business among curbside vendors.
One reason why Iran has always fascinated me is due to the many contradictions and paradoxes found in the Iranian society. They overthrew the tyrannical Shah in a revolution, but ended up replacing him with a dogmatic theological regime. It is an Islamic Republic, but its most prominent holiday, Nowruz, is based on Zoroastrianism. It’s […]
Human Rights Come to ASEAN? On Monday, in Phuket, Thailand, ASEAN laid out plans to formally adopt the ASEAN Inter-governmental Commission on Human Rights (AIGCHR) at its regional meeting in October of this year. The commission will have a mandate for greater human rights education, information dissemination, and inter-regional capacity building. It will be be […]
The Turkish government seeks to resume facilitating an Israeli-Syrian peace process, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said today after meeting with Syrian President Basher al-Assad. Resumption of the peace process could result from increased overtures from the United States towards Syria, most notably the appointment of an ambassador to Damascus alongside various trips from […]