After a period of intense inter-party jousting, the two mainstream parties, the PPP and the PMLN, have come together again and made contact at the apex. On Saturday, President Asif Ali Zardari got Mr Nawaz Sharif over to dinner and discussed the political situation with him, vowing that he would move the country forward in […]
About a month ago, a 4,000 large contingent of American, Canadian, British, Danish, Australian, and Afghan soldiers made a heroic (yes, I’m watching and Saving Private Ryan right now, and these troops are just as valiant) effort in delivering a huge turbine to south Afghanistan's Kajaki Dam. Here is an update on those efforts which […]
I realized yesterday [don't ask why so late!] that Lebanese politics are provincial. You have the political figures and their allies, all day long in the media. If Hizballah has al Manar TV, Future movement has Future TV and Future News, AMAL has NBN [an old joke says NBN stands for: Nabih Berri News] and […]
Human rights activists in Saudi just completed a two-day hunger strike protesting the detention of hundreds of prisoners in the Kingdom without charges, especially eleven human rights activists, among them a former judge and former university professors. The hunger strikers abstained from food and drink in their homes to avoid breaking the Saudi law against […]
It is nearly impossible to conceive of a more intractable conflict than that which perpetually wracks the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The myriad Khartoum-inspired nightmares in the Sudan come close, as does the stateless chaos in Somalia. But for a textbook case of genocidal early colonialism, general colonial misrule, Big Man Cold War clientelism, […]
What were all those funnily dressed, heavily armed chaps doing in Red Square today? Depends who you ask. Left wingers and old people were celebrating the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, while Kremlin supporters were celebrating….a day in 1941 celebrating the anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. Granted, November 7th was always a confusing day to […]
Good morning everyone. Hey, has anyone of you been writing academic reports analyzing another nation's society and political system, while at the same time taking money from that country's government to do so? If you said yes, you may be Johns Hopkins University's Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, which is directed by the much respected S. Frederick […]
This is the first time and Iranian president has congratulated an American president-elect since at least the 1979 revolution. Mr. Ahmadinejad of course mentioned his wish list, including de-militarized U.S. foreign policy and justice for Palestine.
KARACHI, Nov 6 (IPS) – The most watched polls ever in the world had their share of attention in Pakistan, complete with news updates, TV talk shows, call-ins from Pakistanis living in the United States and speeches by President-elect Barack Hussein Obama. Chatter in tea-stalls and living-rooms continues to be dominated by the U.S. presidential […]
By now you surely have seen the headlines about the historic election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States. As an American, I’m thrilled to have Obama as our next President, and to know that the race and class barriers have been shattered by his victory. Naturally, his election will have […]
“Americans Chose Perestroika” was the headline splashed across Russia's leading tabloid, the Komsomolskaya Pravda, on November 5th. Indeed, the scenes of solidarity, jubilation and catharsis that I witnessed in downtown Washington DC around 11pm on November 4 could have come from a documentary about the fall of the Berlin Wall, or the immediate aftermath […]
The so-called Shikota Movement of ANC dissidents met this past weekend to continue the process of forming a new political party, the South African Democratic Congress, or Congress of the People. The end result was an announcement that the new party will launch officially on December 16, South Africa's Day or Reconciliation (and once the […]
It is quite clear that the misery of Zimbabweans has not provided much impetus to push the negotiations forward in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe has not much cared about the suffering of his citizenry over the course of the last decade and more. There is no reason to believe he would start now. And let there […]
Forgive the light posting of late. Between traveling a great deal lately and obsessing about the historic American presidential election there simply has been little time. Hopefully it is not too untoward to declare that I celebrate Barack Obama's epochal victory much as Nelson Mandela does.
Expectedly, reactions to the election of Sen. Barack Obama as the 44th US President were overwhelmingly positive across Europe. But in between the congratulatory lines dictated by diplomatic protocol shown the expectations European leaders have of this new President. Quentin Peel, International Affairs editor of the Financial Times believes these expectations might mean Obama is […]