Hamas representatives interrupted a speech by MK Silvan Shalom at the recent Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting in Ethiopia. The Hamas members attended the event under the guise of representatives for the Palestinians. Upon hearing about the presence of Hamas members, the Israeli delegation considered leaving the event, but decided to stay and deliver the speech. The United States […]
What do animal-rights related donkey races, Obama holding a White House Passover Seder, and learning Hebrew in Cairo have in common? Absolutely nothing aside from the fact that it’s Passover and therefore a slow news day. That said, PA President Mahmoud Abbas met with Egyptian Intelligence Chief, and potentially the next President, Omar Suleyman to discuss Palestinian […]
The Iranian and Kazakh presidents met Monday in the Kazakh capital of Astana and signed a series of mutually beneficial deals that will also pay dividends to other countries. President Nazarbayev said he supports Iran’s right to have nuclear energy but believed it should be developed in a transparent way so as to not worry […]
MINGORA: Pakistani Taliban are moving into a new area in northern Pakistan, clashing with villagers and police in a mountain valley, police and district officials said on Wednesday. Separately, a Pakistani Taliban commander said the Pakistani military and the United States were colluding in US drone aircraft attacks and the militants would take their war […]
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama’s new strategy is causing serious differences between the United States and Pakistan over how to fight the militants hiding in the Pak-Afghan region. US think-tanks and the media believe that the differences revolve around two major issues: India’s role in Afghanistan and the drone attacks at suspected terrorist targets inside […]
Linda Hearst comments on the emergent trend among Western journalists of predicting Dubai’s imminent demise. Her response? Any city that can emerge from essentially nothing to become what Dubai is today is not going anywhere, financial crisis or no.
Western governments and aid agencies are still skeptical of Zimbabwe, not least because Robert Mugabe is still involved in the country’s coalition government. Meanwhile Mugabe and his once-unfathomable partner in that new government, Morgan Tsvangirai, desperately want those western governments and agencies to give Zimbabwe much-needed aid and to end sacntions. Neither of these positions is irrational. […]
Happy Passover to all our readers celebrating the holiday. However, the inability to eat bread represents the least of the worries on many Israelis’ minds. With the recession still devastating the global economy, many local businesses delayed layoffs until after the end of the holiday, as is the custom in Israel as to avoid ruining the […]
With Iran still advancing its nuclear program, the Israeli government tested its ballistic missile interceptor, the Arrow 2. The recent test coupled the rocket with a new radar system and should successfully intercept an Iranian missile, according to the military after testing the system with a dummy missile fired from an Israeli aircraft. Another group of […]
It’s understandable that American leaders believe they have a stake in the EU, as each other’s main trading partners, leaders of the developed world, and the fact that the political project EU would never have existed without US support and encouragemnet. Therefore George Bush and now President Obama are probably mystified at the negative reaction to their declared […]
Rumors of 10% drop in March exports International Business Daily, a Chinese-language newspaper, cited an unidentified official who is expecting a decline in exports in March of at least 10 percent from a year earlier. Although double-digit, the decline is lower than the drop in exports in February of more than 25 percent. World Bank […]
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton opened the first ever joint meeting of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting and the Arctic Council by announcing that both she and President Barack Obama are determined to finally ratify the U.N. Law of the Sea Convention. Clinton stated that saving the Arctic “starts with the Law of the […]
In an interview with Middle East Progress, Robert Drumheller, vice president of structured finance for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation that works with the Palestinians, discusses the importance of a viable economy for the success of the peace process. Many analysts contend that many issues, such as the right of return, would no longer be relevant […]
WASHINGTON — Even as the Obama administration launches new drone attacks into Pakistan’s remote tribal areas, concerns are growing among U.S. intelligence and military officials that the strikes are bolstering the Islamic insurgency by prompting Islamist radicals to disperse into the country’s heartland. Al Qaida , Taliban and other militants who’ve been relocating to Pakistan’s […]
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan rejected on Tuesday a US proposal for joint operations in the tribal areas against terrorism and militancy, as differences of opinion between the two countries over various aspects of the war on terror came out into the open for the first time. Highly-informed sources said the move followed a collective decision reached between […]