Generally speaking, a delay in holding an African election is a portent of bad things to come. And this seeming truism might hold with regard to Cote d’Ivoir, where leaders have announced that the approaching elections, scheduled for November 30, will be delayed. The rationale behind the delay, however, seems reasonable and sound: Simply put, […]
Andy from the authoritative blog Siberianlight has created an aggregator of top news and blog stories about Russia. He insists it is better than Alltop, and because he has kindly included FPA Russia blog in his list, we’re reluctant to contradict him. Have a look for yourselves! http://www.russiannewsonline.com/ http://www.russiannewsonline.com/russia-blogs/ Speaking of inclusion and blatant self-congratulation, […]
For a party that claims “We are not shaken, we are unbreakable and we are indestructible,” the African National Congress sure is spending a lot of time disavowing being shaken, broken, or destroyed. And it is planning to spend an awful lot of time and resources fighting the right of the breakaway faction of the […]
All signs indicate that Robert Mugabe is winning in Zimbabwe. Give the old tyrant his due. Terror and violence and chaos are not the only tools in his arsenal. He also has shown himself to be a master of delay, both in playing out the elections over the course of this year and in terms […]
According to the third installment in Brookings’ Food, Fuel and Finance series (I love the alliteration!), an interview by Navtej Dhillon with Heba Handoussa, Egypt has the potential to benefit from the global economic downturn provided it plays to its strengths – lots of small businesses, cheap labor, and an economical option for Mediterranean travel. […]
Hizbullah's Secretary-General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah in a televised address on Tuesday on the occasion of the party's “Martyr's Day” called for settling the much talked about defensive strategy in Lebanon “so that we may know how to build our forces in face of challenges.” He called also for settling the issue of expanding the number […]
Exiled from her native South Africa for her political stances for more than three decades, the African singing voice of a generation, the embodiment of the Pan-African ideal, Miriam Makeba was many things in her rich, at times tragic life. Her passing, which came right after a performance in Italy on Sunday, has inspired memories […]
First off, I would like to thank all the veterans throughout the world who sacrificed for their respective homeland. Military men, women, and families have given up so much so we can live in peace and prosperity and for this we owe them our highest respect and gratitude. And at this very moment, soldiers, both […]
Katherine Zoepf goes inside a Saudi jihadi rehabilitation center, observing classes and speaking with men mid-reform-process. The centers receive considerable Saudi coin and also considerable skepticism, American and internal, and this piece outlines some of the arguments for and against.
Prominent British blogger Norm Geras has looked at the Zimbabwe power-sharing negotiations, and especially SADC's recent attempts to intervene, and has come away unimpressed: The power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe, for everything that was wrong with it in requiring a compromise between those who had won the recent elections and the architects of the country's decline […]
Exiledonline's intrepid Yasha Levine writes about an unusual protest by an anarchist group called ‘War’: On the night of November 7, a group of them set up a laser on top of a building across the river from the Russian White House ‚ that's the place where the prime minister carries out daily his business […]
The celebrations of Barack Obama's victory in the American Presidential elections were as intense and delirious and glorious in Kenya, the land of Obama's ancestry, as anyplace. Indeed, the results of Tuesday's elections set off a wave of euphoric celebration that were perhaps unparalelled in the country's post-independence history. G. Paschal Zacary argues in Foreign […]
Russia Blogs on Alltop Billed as a "digital magazine rack" of the Internet, Alltop “helps you explore your passions by collecting stories from ‘all the top’ sites on the web”. FPA Russia Blog now enters the rarefied salon of Russia watchers, joining the likes of Sean's Russia Blog, Timothy Post, English Russia, Siberian Light and […]
It's been in the news for a few weeks now, so I’m sure you haven't been able to escape the talk. For those of you who have been solely focused on the current US political situation, and I don't blame you, I have only one word: Syria. Last week, thousands of Syrians congregated in Damascus […]
Beijing joined other governments around the world in cushioning against economic slow, announcing its $586 billion package plan for infrastructure (roads, airports); tax deductions for exporters; increased investment in health, education, environmental protection, and technology; and more generous subsidies for farmers and lower-income individuals. Behind the announcement of this stimulus plan is Chinese apprehension over facing zero export growth. What this means […]