Regions

The BBC's Julia Wheeler sounds an optimistic note on the Gulf economies in these tough times. All I have to say is, knock on wood.

Human Rights Watch released a report yesterday calling on the Jordanian government to address the widespread practice of torture in its prisons. (Link is to HRW press release; read the full 95-page report here or go to the LA Times summary here). Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East Director, says that the mechanisms in place […]

Lebanon seeks a legal ruling declaring hummus Lebanese and demanding Israel repay the country for decades of lost revenue for Lebanon by marketing hummus as an Israeli product. Apparently Greece once won a similar case against France over feta cheese. David Kenner at the FP thinks it won't win the government any points; we will […]

Whatever progress or lack threof has been made in Zimbabwe's politicl negotiatons, the country's economic crisis continues unabated. The inflation rate, cartoonish for years, is now estimated to be (and estimates are really al that are plausible when the numbers get this high this fast) an eye-poppingly incomprehensible 231-million percent. That is 231,000,000% for those of you […]

Amal Suleiman Afifi is now Egypt's first female marriage clerk. In response to the assertion that men may resign to protest her appointment, she said “there are many qualified women to take their places.”

Tzipi Livni may face new challenges in forming a governing coalition thanks to Ehud Olmert's comments on the necessity of certain concessions on the part of Israel. Olmert's frank admission that Israel will probably have to withdraw from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights pushed Kadima (Olmert and Livni's party) to the […]

The formation of a breakaway party of erstwhile African National Congress members comes ever closer to fruition. Former Defense Minister Mosiuoa “Terror” Lekota, who resigned from his post after Mbeki's forced resignation, has “dropped a bombshell” and “served his divorce papers” to the ANC. Lekota seems determined not only to sever his ties with the ANC […]

  For the second time in less than a month, China cut interest rates today, supporting efforts to strengthen domestic economic growth. The 0.27 percentage point cut brought the rate for one-year bank loans to 6.93 per cent and followed a reduction of the same size announced in mid-September.  China's consumer price inflation has fallenfrom a […]

… according to Deputy Secretary of State Negroponte. Is this going to be like the provincial elections, where they agree to not agree yet about the hard things, and then sign off on the decisions that were reached months ago? Since the contested presence and status of military contractors is such a sensitive issue, for […]

Dr. Qanta Ahmed, an American Muslim who spent some time practicing medicine in Saudi Arabia, answers questions for VOA on her new book about Saudi Arabia, In The Land of Invisible Women. She objects to Wahhabiism and calls it a “bastardization” of Islam, enumerating the injustices done to women in particular under the Saudi regime […]

Pakistan's new spy chief briefed lawmakers Wednesday in an unusual private session focused on the fledgling government's fight against Taliban and al-Qaida militants entrenched in the tribal belt along the Afghan border. The government called the special session of parliament as it sought political unity to stabilize this key U.S. ally in the war on […]

[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/y4XqaIWchQE” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /]The 2nd Presidential Debate and the 2nd time each candidate failed to inform the American public of the fight ahead or layout a clear strategy for victory for Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Here is the transcript and video. Regarding military force and strikes in Pakisani territory, Obama emphasized this as a […]

Rami Khouri at the Daily Star enumerates the reasons why Arab countries should be concerned about the downturn.

Mohja Kahf has a piece in Sunday's Washington Post on the wonderful things about being a Muslim woman, including the egalitarian practice of signing marriage contracts, the provisions Islam makes for women acquiring property when they get married, and the generally egalitarian spirit of God as articulated in Islam. It's important to remember that Islam […]

One of the unquestionable triumphs of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe before things fell apart was his education policies. The envy of Africa, Zimbabwe's educational system was an area that Mugabe chose to emphasize to counteract the malign neglect of the Ian Smith years. Thus it is doubly tragic that the education system has for all intents and […]