It appears official. South Africa's Parliament has chosen Kgalema Motlanthe as interim president to replace President Thabo Mbeki. Motlanthe, who spent a decade on Robben Island and who has a background in labor union politics will likely have as his main responsibility the healing of divisions, though the wounds might simply be too deep. The […]
I was lucky enough to attend the Foreign Policy Association sponsored 2008 World Leadership Forum yesterday in New York City and here is a short summary/analysis of what I saw and heard from some of the world's leading experts and leaders of various foreign policy issues, including our beloved Central Asian region. During yesterday's session […]
The chaos and violence in Somalia continues to intensify. Dozens died in the shelling of a public market in Mogadishu on Monday and more than 100 in total have been killed in scattered fighting in the capital in what observers are proclaiming to be the worst fighting in Somalia in months as Islamist insurgents seek […]
West African states have gotten mixed results in the latest corruption report card from Transparency International: Cape Verde, Ghana, Mali, Benin, Niger, Mauritania, Nigeria, Togo, and Liberia, improved their ranks, with Benin, Nigeria and Togo making significant gains. Falling this year were Senegal, Gabon, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and […]
Hamida Ghafour, Afghan-Canadian journalist, is skeptical about Sarah Palin's symbolic value for feminism not just in the United States but globally. The piece is a bit disjointed, but her point, namely that women around the world are fighting an uphill battle for their rights, and having an anti-women woman in the White House isn't going […]
… at least, for now. Iraq's Parliament arrived at a resolution to put off the resolution of the Kirkuk issue until later so the rest of the country can vote on time. (On time now meaning before January 31, 2009 – the squabbling over jurisdiction of Kirkuk will need to be resolved by March 2009). […]
Transparency International recently released their 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index. Iraq is in the bottom (most corrupt) 3 for the second year in a row – #178 of 180 countries. Qatar is the least corrupt Arab country, according to the table, at #28. (The US is #18). Correction: As the report is titled Corruption Perceptions Index, […]
Yesterday, Saudi Arabia's National Day, was marked by some unexpected commentary from the King and perhaps expected but still bold commentary from others. The King said: “Unfortunately, the image of Islam is being tarnished by none other than Muslims themselves,” the monarch declared. He spoke clearly and repeated the word “unfortunately” several times. “If we […]
A few various items today: A. Yesterday, and the day before, we discussed the meaning of a new CSTO deployment in Central Asia, with myself coming out on the side that it was both a political and strategic move for Russia and for the Central Asian states involved. Basically, Russia wants the CA states looking […]
John Nagl, co-author of the Counterinsurgency Field Manual, has an interview on the security climate in Iraq at the World Politics Review.
The New York Times has another installment of their ‘Generation Faithful‘ series on youth in the Middle East. This edition focuses on Dubai, a city that “has everything money can buy, but it does not have a unifying culture or identity.” Dubai in its current form is a young city; the UAE came into being […]
47% of percent of my graduating class entered the financial sector. Of those, 100% of the Russian speakers I knew, from all over the CIS, seemed to have joined Lehman Brothers. Not without a bit of old fashioned Soviet cronyism, mind you (you can take the Sovok out of the USSR…). Sergei, my first […]
Away from the political scene, but deeply influenced by it, there were recent incidents when people were injured and some lost their lives. It may not have caught the headlines outside the country, but these individuals were fighting over flags, flyer's and posters. Over symbols. Whenever I have a meeting or an interview I made […]
Yesterday's kidnapping of a dozen tourists and their Egyptian guides in southern Egypt raises three important questions whose answers have serious consequences: 1. Who did it and why? Al Jazeera English has compiled a helpful lift of attacks against tourists in Egypt since 1992. The attacks that were not isolated incidents were politically motivated, mostly […]