By Manuel Langendorf In the absence of other alternatives, Islamists were elected by default. Political Islam is among the most controversially discussed issues in the Middle East and North Africa. While modern Islamist political thought traces its origin back to a rejection of European encroachment into the Muslim world – as the work of Jamal al-Din […]
General Vo Nguyen Giap, anti-imperialist hero and commander of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) during the struggle against French colonialism and America’s decade long war against his country died on October 4. He was 102. Giap was a self-taught military strategist who masterminded the sensational victory over French forces at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. […]
A Conversation with Somalia’s Chief Peace maker and Constitutional Framer “Do people actually live here?” I recall asking myself as I made the torturous journey through the streets of the bullet-riddled ruins of Mogadishu in the back of a noisy, slow and filled-to-capacity, open-top military utility truck. It is difficult to imagine a place on […]
Recent news from the information provided by Edward Snowden has placed the United States out of favour with Brazil when it was revealed that the U.S. has been spying on Brazil. Along with the U.S. allegation, Canada was also brought into the debate when it was alleged that Canadian intelligence agents have been sourcing private […]
The U.S.-India relationship is enveloped these days by grand rhetoric. But for a reality check on the state of bilateral affairs, look no further than the summit meeting between President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh two weeks ago. The get-together was designed to inject new energy into a partnership that just a few […]
The BNP’s chairperson, Begum Khaleda Zia has responded to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s populist political gambit. Her response is to form a 10-person caretaker government comprised of five members of Awami League and BNP. The catch: that each one of the five members of each party hail from the two seemingly successful caretaker governments, 1996 […]
Politics, electoral politics, is roaring back to the scene in Bangladesh. In a 20-minute televised speech, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh and the leader of the ruling Awami League Party Sheikh Hasina, invited her opposition to form a national unity government before the coming sure-to-be-strongly disputed parliamentary election that will decide the next course of […]
The Catalans are upset and, depending on whom you speak with, have been upset since being defeated by the Spanish monarchy in 1714. Now, almost three hundred years later, they are doing what many other ethnic groups throughout Europe aspire – holding a vote to become independent. Or at least show support to be independent because […]
The U.S. federal government shutdown’s dire consequences for research in Antarctica made the front page of The New York Times website today. On October 8, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it was canceling the U.S. Antarctic Research Program for 2013. The program has been placed on caretaker status, meaning that staff will be […]
There can be no denying the fact that U.S. President Barack Obama’s cancellation of his trip to Southeast Asia, October 6-12, where he was scheduled to attend to attend the APEC Economic Leaders meeting in Bali, Indonesia, then the East Asia Summit in Brunei, followed by visits to Malaysia and the Philippines, is extremely unfortunate. […]
Under the guidance of President Ólafur Grímsson, Iceland has strived to position itself as a new geopolitical center for the Arctic. While only a tiny portion of the country, the island of Grimsey, sits above the Arctic Circle, that hasn’t stopped it from claiming Arctic coastal statehood. With lots of shipping activity, plans to build […]
“There is no question that it is racism, and it’s absolutely deplorable,” declared Democratic strategist Maria Cardona on NPR’s “Tell Me More,” referring to a Dominican Constitutional Court’s ruling, on Sept. 23, 2013, that denaturalized four generations of Dominican citizens, virtually all of them of Haitian descent. “And I do think that the United States […]
Quick quiz. Which of the following are forbidden in Iran? Walking a dog in public Having a pet cat Twitter, Gmail, Facebook and YouTube Reading (or watching) Harry Potter Barbie Being gay Rocking a mullet Wearing jeans If you answered all of them, you would be almost correct. While skinny jeans have been officially banned […]
Sochi, a city whose flag features palm trees, the sun and rain drops, was far from a traditional choice for 2014 Winter Olympics. Yet there is an even more troubling geographical concern than why a country literally cold enough to freeze invading armies to death would choose a subtropical beach resort catering to aging apparatchiks […]
To say this documentary puts the Israelis in a bad light is a great understatement. It is hard, watching this film, to not want to ally oneself with the Palestinians portrayed in it. The documentary is about the erection of the wall Israel was building in 2002 that hems in the West Bank. We see […]