The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated two Venezuela-based supporters of Hizballah, Ghazi Nasr al Din and Fawzi Kan’an, along with two travel agencies owned and controlled by Kan’an. It is extremely troubling to see the Government of Venezuela employing and providing safe harbor to Hizballah facilitators and fundraisers. We will continue to expose […]
At H-SAfrica, the scholarly listserv on southern Africa, editor Peter Limb notes that there appears to be traction on the part of regional leaders becoming more vocal in their criticism of Robert Mugabe and his regime: There certainly are signs of stronger views from Africa leaders: In Kenya, PM Raila Odinga says the run-off is […]
In a debate at the University of the Witwatersrand on Tuesday night Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool drew a link between the recent wave of xenophobic violence and larger currents of intolerance in the country. “Xenophobia, racism, sexism, in fact all fundamentalism, all acts of intolerance belong to one family and if you are to […]
There seems to be new trouble brewing in the Baltics. Fresh on the heels of outlawing Soviet symbolism in what the BBC Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke called “the toughest bans on symbols from the Soviet past adopted in any of the 15 countries that emerged from the USSR”, Lithuania is now apparently in talks […]
–LA Times "Russia produced a sensational performance last night to join Croatia in the last eight of the European Championships.Sweden were shredded" –The Independent Russia outpassed and outclassed Sweden last nightTo have produced a performance this bewitching in a game they simply had to win to progress to the quarter-finals says much for […]
On most days I could probably just cut and paste one of my other assessments of Zimbabwe, replete with links to grim and unremitting stories, and not only would most people not notice, but the old narrative would more than likely hold. Following this campaign is endlessly frustrating and at times a bit soul sucking. […]
“Russia Silences Tabloid” By Carl Schreck The National (UAE) "The fall of The eXile, which launched the career of Matt Taibbi, a political correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine, marks the end of perhaps the world's most unique publishing project." "Irreverent mix of vicious humour, sharp political analysis and shameless hedonism" "11 years of scorched-earth Gonzo […]
Today's front page of BBC World News Online contains an excellent article summing up the complexity of Mexico's drug war. The reporters went into cartel-controlled territory to expose the topics that Alejandro and I have been covering: 1) the flow of US arms to Mexican cartels 2) the resulting violence of public officials and drug […]
Afghanistan has found itself all over the news so much lately that you’d think it was running for President of the United States. On that regard, when was the last time John McCain went to Afghanistan to assess the situation, we know he's been to Iraq on many occasions, and what about Barack Obama, has […]
It's a little unnerving to think that 17 years of Russian history can be distilled into one bad 90s Swedish pop song. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/HMKahowfB_E” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Yet the struggles between business and the state, between Putin and Khodorkovsky, between liberals and siloviki, between the democrats and the Kremlin, far from being epic ideological […]
On Monday, a preparatory meeting for the launch of the National Christian Forum joined Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun, Marada chief and former Minister Sleiman Franjieh, Tashnaq Secretary General Hovig Mekhtarian, and former Kataeb official Karim Pakradouni at Aoun's residence in Rabiyeh. The objective? "The aim was and will remain the compilation of […]
Still staying on the issue of Russia, Mark Dillen, head of an international public affairs consultancy and blog writer for FPA's 2008 Presidential Election and Public Diplomacy blogs, attended and discussed the World Affairs Council of Northern California's annual conference which featured a ‘Reading Russia’ series. Dillen discusses that most of the scholars present were […]
Three people were killed and four others wounded in armed clashes that raged well into the early morning hours Tuesday in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley between pro- and anti-government supporters. News reports said rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and machine gunfire were used in the fighting that took place in the villages of Taalbaya and Saadnayel. Al […]
“The owl of Minerva flies at dusk”, the philosopher Hegel, wearing only a false moustache and flapping his arms, liked to whisper conspiratorily to terrified passers-by. (No wonder his last words were: "Only one man had ever understood me, and he didn't understand me”. But I digress.) Just so, I am having a very difficult […]
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made a surprise visit to Lebanon on Monday to bolster the troubled country's new president, as rival political leaders still struggle to form a new government. Rice said she made the trip to “express the United States’ support for Lebanese democracy, for Lebanese sovereignty.” We support the democratically elected […]