The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a global Jewish human rights organization that confronts anti-Semitism, hate and terrorism, promotes human rights and dignity and among other things, stands with Israel and defends the safety of Jews worldwide. For the past three years, the SWC has been putting together an annual list of the “Top Ten […]
Japan has appointed an Arctic Ambassador, a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states. Masuo Nishibayashi is already the Ambassador in charge of Cultural Exchange, so he will now fill two roles simultaneously. Nishibayashi joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983 and has spent most of his career in the Americas. He has […]
At first glance, the temperature on the Korean Peninsula appears to be tense but stable, and at a time when the United States is successfully concluding an annual military exercise with South Korea. Last week the U.S. publicly announced that strategic bombers — B-52s capable of launching nuclear weapons — would take part “in flight […]
On March 22, 2013, WVUM, the student radio of the University of Miami, invited me into its station in order to discuss the mess taking place in Cyprus. Despite talking for almost 15 minutes on the roots of the crisis in Cyprus and the ECB’s ultimatum, I could not resist continuing the discussion on Iran, […]
He was the original oligarch: a talented mathematician who had used his smarts and ruthlessness to amass an enormous fortune in the wreckage of the Soviet Union. Eventually, he became one of Russia’s most powerful men, a courtier to former president Boris Yeltsin. Boris Berezovsky went on to survive assassination attempts and even the wrath […]
This is the third in a 3-part series on Shahbagh, its history, its politics and the normative views it captures (and fails to capture). What recommends the Shahbagh movement for any praise whatsoever? Mainly that it registers in form the demands for justice for those killed during the Liberation War against Pakistan in `1971; justice […]
What could be worse than living in a North Korean labor camp? Apparently, not much. This documentary centers mainly on Shin Dong-Huyk, an inmate who escaped Camp 14 and who now lives in South Korea. The tale he tells is horrific: beatings, torture, hard labor and near starvation are all the norm. He began hard […]
Up until President Obama touched down in Tel Aviv earlier this week, the headlines roared for years about new tensions between the United States and Israel, not to mention the sour relationship between bout countries’ head of state. During the last U.S. election, Republicans and their sympathetic pundits branded the incumbent president as one of […]
“Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,” exclaims Shakespeare’s Henry V in his fervid St. Crispian’s day speech on the eve of the battle of Agincourt in 1415. In the observance of this month’s 10th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq there appears to be no danger of consigning this event to oblivion. Most […]
On Friday, March 15 Kenneth E. Bowers, Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahais of the United States, testified at a hearing of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC). The hearing featured testimony on the current state of religious freedom in Iran, and highlighted systematic human rights violations against Iran’s Bahai and Christian communities. […]
As foreign tourists flock to an apparently open and reforming Myanmar, ethnic conflict continues in the regions along its borders. One such conflict involves the Kachin, a Christian/Buddhist/animist people who have been fighting for greater autonomy and political rights for decades. A 17-year ceasefire between the government and the Kachin broke down in June 2011, […]
Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, called it quite. They both announced in a matter of days that they would retire from their respective positions at the end of their mandates. Based on the Treaties, both positions are renewable. […]
Although Tony Blair has “long since given up trying to persuade people [that the Iraq War] was the right decision,” he has found a convenient new way to justify it in time for the 10th anniversary of the invasion. According to Blair, since Saddam Hussein was “20 times worse” than Bashar al-Assad, it logically follows […]
Coming on the heels of a UCLA study reporting that new trans-Arctic routes could be open to shipping by mid-century, Huigen Yang, the Director Polar Research Institute of China, met with Iceland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Össur Skarphéðinsson, on March 15 to discuss northern shipping. Both countries stand to benefit if the Northern Sea Route is developed: China, […]
This week Benyamin Netanyahu built a coalition, securing himself a third term as Israeli Prime Minister. He will shortly become the longest serving Prime Minister of Israel since David Ben Gurion. While his retention of this top spot was all but assured going into the election, it was also widely assumed that he would […]