Jews have lived in the land of Israel for thousands of years. They faced several forced expulsions, the most recent lasting nearly 2,000 years. Even throughout that time, Jews lived in the Levant continuously, albeit in much reduced numbers. Two stories appeared this week in the press about archeological discoveries in Israel. In December 2012, […]
To coup or not to coup? Who cares? Whatever label it is being given, coup or revolution, what the Egyptian military accomplished less than one week ago is removing a government supposedly democratically elected. This comes on the heels of a previous removal of a long-standing dictator — Hosni Mubarak — just over two years […]
Editor’s Note: The following is a contributing guest piece by Muhammad Sahimi. Dr. Sahimi is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the NIOC Chair in Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Sahimi is a well-known analyst on Iran’s political developments and its […]
Recent events in Egypt have been tumultuous, to say the least. The country’s first elected president in history was deposed by the military three days after his first anniversary in office. The International Crisis Group’s description of current Egyptian politics gives the impression of a grand competition in short-sightedness. What happens next will depend on […]
This year’s session of the annual U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue, which brought Secretary of State John Kerry to New Delhi two weeks ago, produced few headlines. The gathering was preceded by low expectations as well as talk (here and here) about how bilateral affairs have plateaued in the years since the nuclear cooperation agreement between President George W. […]
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday Japan “cannot accept” China’s drill rig near a gas field disputed between the two countries, according to BBC News. The Chinese drill is the latest episode in the long-running series of conflicts over the disputed Pinnacle Islands. The drill is actually on the Chinese side of the territory, […]
The news hanging over the last month or so has been Nelson Mandela’s health. He has been in hospital in Pretoria for several weeks now, with conflicting reports on his condition. It seems that he is critical but stable, he may or may not be on life support, and he may or may not be […]
Perhaps Goethe put it best when he wrote that “the romance of politics is best used to numb and to quell the fears of the uninformed.” Maybe Mr. Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, is a romanticist in light of his recent comments warning of the “instability of war” if his ruling Cambodian People’s Party […]
Obama’s recent visit to Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania has some arguing “too little, too late”. They argue that while the U.S. was resting on its laurels, China has stolen a march over the United States with its narrow commercial approach, eschewing the Western goals of social and political development. To back their argument, they […]
I am wrapping up this latest southern Africa trip over the next couple of days. Almost a week in Green Point, Cape Town, followed by a final few days in Melville, Johannesburg, allows me to decompress, see friends, buy books, write and reflect on the cultures of privilege and privation in South Africa today. I’ll […]
A ship drops anchor in the Beaufort Sea, high in the Canadian Arctic. A group of scientists disembark to map the surrounding area and study the ice and flora and fauna. It may sound like 2013, but these events actually took place 100 years ago. In 1913, the Canadian Arctic Expedition (CAE) set off to […]
The 2008 economic crisis showed Americans two truths about immigration that was only openly known by immigrants to the United States. One issue was the fact that even with illegal immigration, there is a strong second generation of the children of immigrants and those who had come to the U.S. when they were very young […]
The PBS Newshour ran a story about the troubled garment industry in Bangladesh last night. However, unlike the mono-narrative run by the majority of news outlets the story laid out wasn’t about how things have gone irremediably wrong in Bangladesh. Instead, the story was about BRAC (formerly the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee) the world’s largest […]
“Viva Cristo Rey!” That rallying cry (which translates as “Long live Christ the King!”) was made by the Cristeros (soldiers of Christ) during the conflict in Mexico in the late 1920s. That war started a few years after the Mexican government outlawed religion in the 1917 constitution. The film begins in 1926 when Mexican President Calles […]
Credit: Jewish Telegraphic Agency On Monday, June 24, a new law that would regulate Bedouin settlement in Israel’s Negev region passed its first reading in the Knesset with a slim 43-40 margin. The bill, commonly referred to as the Prawer plan, provides a comprehensive solution to the issue of Bedouin villages in the Negev by […]