One cannot swing a virtual cat this morning without hitting an analysis of Obama’s Afghanistan speech. (I recommend reading Juan Cole, who has posts here, here, and here. Also, Patrick Frost of the Afghanistan Blog shares his thoughts.) In lieu of further commentary, I simply offer you Wednesday Morning Videos: 1) John Norton Moore on […]
The sum of the twelve largest population centers in Afghanistan is 5,649,162—and this is counting rural areas surrounding cities, not just the urban area itself. That total is 21% of the population of Afghanistan (28,150,000). Remind me again how ISAF and NATO forces are supposed to protect the population of Afghanistan by not protecting 80% […]
In 1988, the UN General Assembly expressed deep concern at the pandemic proportions of the AIDS virus, and noting that the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared 1 December 1988 World AIDS Day, the General Assembly thus drafted resolution 43/15. According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.4 million people living with HIV, including 2.1 […]
Things have been difficult for the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), pretty much from the start. The one thing the UN-backed court charged with holding the leadership of the Khmer Rouge responsible for their crimes had going for it was that its first defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, better known by his nom de […]
President Obama will address the country tonight from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and explain his decision to send 30,000 more tropps to Afghanistan over the next six months. I’m looking over my past blog posts on the subject of Afghanistan and I’d like to call attention to this one in which Gilles […]
I’m going to reserve final judgment until I see text of President Obama’s remarks, or the speech itself, but here are a few things to watch for tonight: 1) How many times Obama uses the word “India” or “Indian”—focusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan is fine, but leaving the elephant in the room (the Indo-Pak relationship) […]
After the 2005 London bombings, Thomas Friedman wrote an op-ed criticizing Muslim religious leaders for not condemning jihadist suicide attacks. He wrote: The Muslim village has been derelict in condemning the madness of jihadist attacks. When Salman Rushdie wrote a controversial novel involving the prophet Muhammad, he was sentenced to death by the leader of […]
The Economist‘s recent special report on Brazil emphasized the country’s remarkable achievements in the last decade and applauded what it deemed its “take-off.” The magazine’s political leanings were evident in its reluctance to give proper credit to the leftist Lula da Silva government, choosing instead to describe Lula as a lucky leader who had benefited […]
In late November 2008, 10 armed Pakistani men – little more than boys – went on a killing spree in the Indian city of Mumbai. Members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, or “Army of the Righteous,” the youths carried out the attacks in order to spur the “liberation” of Muslims living under Indian rule in Kashmir. Fareed Zakaria, […]
If you play poker you know that all the players have to ante up with a stake before each new deal. You have to “feed the kitty” – or you don’t play. Perhaps not coincidentally, parties that have an interest in a particular project, enterprise or, in the case of COP 15, addressing the looming […]
The Washington Post once again parades its profound ignorance of the European Union in an editorial reacting to the appointment of new EU leaders in Brussels. Starting with the ultra-hackneyed, apocryphal cliché about Henry Kissinger supposedly wanted a single telephone number for Europe (he didn’t), the Post announces that after eight years of labor, European […]
A lot of big things happened over the holiday break. Here are some of them: 1) The Kingdom of Buganda rejected a land law passed by the Ugandan parliament. The law gives tenants more rights to resist potential evictions by landlords. Read about it here. 2) The governments of Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia are blocking […]
1) Louis Uchitelle, in the New York Times, despairs about the lack of infrastructure superprojects. I’m in firm agreement. 2) Indian business practices are apparently not up to par, according to this piece on Indian-Americans returning to their home country. Money quote: “Some very simple practices that you often take for granted, such as being […]
Reuters reports fierce fighting instigated by insurgent groups in Somalia has caused the relocation of several expatriate workers, while aid agencies fear a continuing breakdown of security in the country. The workers were part of the UN World Food Programme and World Vision, among the last few international aid agencies still providing aid in war-torn […]
At a party last year, an acquaintance asked me why Hugo Chavez, the President of Venezuela, was so anti-Israel. How were Israel and Jews a threat to him? Since Chavez has been president, anti-Semitic behavior in Venezuela (not known as a hotbed of anti-Semitism) has increased noticeably with attacks on synagogues and against the tiny […]