The Toronto Sun reports on Canada’s plan to rebuild its Arctic research stations as part of the $85 million Arctic Research Infrastructure Fund. The country’s main research facility is currently a creaky 45-year old building called the Aurora Research Institute in Inuvik in the Northern Territories. This station, along with three others, will be rebuilt […]
Saudi King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar Assad are expected to meet Monday in Damascus to discuss regional affairs. The two nations are rivals in the Middle East and are often at odds with each other. Last week Saudi Arabia sent two lower level envoys, including the King’s son Prince Abdul Aziz, to Syria with […]
Israel appears to have an unusual bedfellow- Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Arabian government agreed to permit the Israeli air-force to flyover the Islamic nation in order to attack Iran, according to reports. An official old the Sunday Times that if Israel quietly performed the operation, Saudi Arabia would not object to the flyover. Notably, former U.S. Ambassador to […]
Much of the Western media has portrayed Kyrgyzstan’s decision to permit US troops to use Manas Air Base as a surprise turnaround, painting Kyrgyz president Kurmanbek S. Bayikev as a crafty little leader, capable of pandering to both Russia and the United States as it suits him. Although I have no wish to demean President […]
Iraqis were partying in the streets on Tuesday last week, celebrating the withdrawal of U.S. Troops from Iraqi cities. As Newsweek reported, U.S. military operations have moved to nonurban areas and “belts” around major cities such as Baghdad, Basra and Mosul. American troops will still be at the disposal of Iraqi security leaders, preparing to […]
President of France Nicholas Sarkozy’s new initiative – to outlaw the wearing of a burqa in public in France – has sparked quite a debate over the past week. Adding to it on the New York Times op-ed page is self-identified Muslim feminist Mona Eltahaway, agreeing earnestly with Sarkozy that the burqa in fact constitutes […]
Just a day after most US troops vacated Iraqi cities, signaling the beginning of the end of the American military presence in Iraq, American forces launched one of their largest offensive campaigns in Afghanistan. Approximately 4,000 marines partnered with helicopters and armored convoys made a major push into the Taliban dominated Helmand Province yesterday in […]
Israel should attain full membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by May 2010, according to reports following a meeting between Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria. By the end of the year, Israel will undergo a series of hearings regarding economic development before OECD releases a report assessing […]
Almost exactly a year ago, one lucky Russian family received a free brand new SUV from the government. What had they done to deserve such a gift? They managed to have a baby on Russia Day – June 12th. That much publicised campaign was only the tip of a creepy pro-natalist iceberg, including $11o00 cash […]
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolten intensified the call for an Israeli strike on Iran in an editorial today in the Washington Post. The post-election uprisings in Iran increased sentiment that regime change could result in a halt to the Iranian nuclear program. Bolten criticizes the new administration’s approach that would likely […]
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, another Israeli citizen received notice from the IDF to report immediately to military service. This time, the citizen in question resides in the United States and is obtaining his medical degree at Colombia University. Even though the student request deferment of his military service and offered to serve in […]
Amazingly enough, my hotel in Cape Town has had virtually no internet connectivity for three days. It is both liberating and frightening to feel this out of touch for so long. Observations from Cape Town: Amidst all of the generally pessimistic commentary one reads about South Africa, I suppose it is not surprising that we […]
Russia has announced that it is seeking to improve relations in the Arctic, especially with Canada. It seems that the Kremlin is changing from a realist approach to Arctic strategy to a more liberal institutionalist approach, with talk of cooperation, conferences, and summits. Sergey Petrov, the chargé d’affaires at the Russian embassy in Ottawa, stated […]
Is Europe suffering from a hope-defict? Dominique Moisi a visiting professor at Harvard thinks so and he outlines (in the Brussels beltway premier Newspaper the European Voice) that this may delay Europe’s revovery from economic crisis. Citizens of the US, on the other hand, he believes suffer from an excess of individual fear of how […]
Margaret Warner (The News Hour) is doing a good job of setting the scene for President Obama’s visit to Russia next week. Talking in Moscow with a cross-section of media, government spokesmen, activists and Kremlin-watchers, Warner’s reports this week paint a fairly nuanced picture. Stability but arbitrary authority. Economic growth (until last year) but great […]