In a delightful series of articles from across the United States, Frankfurter Allgemeine's Washington correspondent Matthias Rub has been taking the pulse of the United States three months before the election. Rub shows that not all reporting from rural America has to be marred by popular stereotypes and old clichés. Starting from Washington D.C., Rub […]
The past few days have seen a number of press reports, issued by both Arab and Israeli media outlets, commenting on Hezbollah's military buildup and Israel's corresponding concern. While the replenishment and expansion of Hezbollah's artillery rocket arsenal has repeatedly been cited since the end of the 2006 conflict, perhaps the most important recent development […]
Transatlantic media coverage immediately after of the collapse of the World Trade Organization's Doha Round of trade talks in Geneva July 29 provided a wide range of different perspectives on the same story. Commentators blamed the failure variously on the United States, India, or China, or a combination of some or all of them, with […]
The Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Information Center (PIC) today featured a report and photos detailing weapons allegedly confiscated by Hamas-allied police in Gaza. The weapons, displayed during a press conference, were allegedly confiscated by police as part of security measures initiated last weekend. According to the PIC report, a police explosives expert stated that some of the […]
During Barack Obama's visit to Europe, several European media outlets took issue with the coverage of his trip by the U.S. media. But while American pundits were debating whether the U.S. media were too biased in favor of Obama, a number of European journalists found their American counterparts excessively cool toward him. "Obamania? Not in […]
Marco Vicenzio, Director of the Global Strategy Project in Washington, DC and Fellow of the Foreign Policy Association recently published an article titled "Diplomacy in word and deed' in the July 28 edition of the Boston Globe. He points out that the major objective of Obama's trip to Europe was to emphasize his ability to […]
While much of the European media is consumed with insatiable "Obamamania,' Christoph von Marschall, bureau chief of Berlin's daily Der Tagesspiegel, describes how the foreign media has been almost completely denied access to the candidate. He writes: "As a German correspondent in Washington, I am accustomed to the fact that American politicians spare little of […]
Al-Jazeera's website featured some video coverage of Hamas's security crackdown that followed a deadly car bombing in the Gaza Strip this past weekend. It can be viewed here: (link) Subsequently, this has been met with raids by Fatah-allied Palestinian police against Hamas elements in the West Bank. While Hamas-allied police forces in Gaza state that […]
A surly New York waiter seeks to promote his forthcoming book, “Waiter Rant,” by accusing the British of failing to leave proper tips in a blog run by the British daily, the Guardian. John Murray fingers a retired couple from Leeds in Yorkshire, whom he describes as “wonderful people” and “polite and well mannered.” He […]
A commentary in the left-of-center British daily, the Guardian, July 21 struck a salutary note of caution amid all the frenzy surrounding Barack Obama's tour of Europe. It warned that, while transatlantic relations are likely to improve under the next U.S. administration, Washington's demands on Europe will almost certainly increase -regardless of whether Obama or […]
Earlier this year a dramatic accident at an illegal street race in a Washington DC suburb killed eight people and sent five others to hospital. The reaction of local law enforcement? A crackdown on illegal street racing. In the Polish city of Lodz, police have taken precisely the opposite approach. They have co-opted illegal races, […]
Today's bulldozer attack in Jerusalem is the second of its kind in the West Bank this month. After the previous July 2nd attack, I wrote a post suggesting that this could be part of an emerging trend in the area, whereby groups/individuals may be employing low-tech and non-traditional forms of terrorism to counter the security […]
[kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/3PXHeKuBzPY” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] The animated film "Persepolis" was nominated for an Academy Award for best animated feature for 2007. And with good reason. The film centers on a young girl coming of age in a turbulent time in Iran. The overthrow of the shah, the subsequent takeover by the mullahs and the […]
The program “What's Next?” on Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV recently featured the first interview (accessible here) with the recently released Samir Quntar. In the interview, Quntar symbolically wears a Hezbollah-styled uniform with a Lebanese flag arm patch. He speaks about the kidnapping operation he took part in, as well as the military achievements of Hezbollah's resistance. […]
In something that resembled more of a rock concert than your traditional Hezbollah rally, the party's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah made a rare in-person appearance on stage this evening at a ceremony celebrating the return of Hezbollah's prisoners exchanged for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers. Nasrallah has typically appeared live to his audience televised […]