If you’re going to write an op-ed about how Russia has turned away from the liberalization of the 90s, perhaps it would be wise to give a reason why that happened other than “Russians fully deserve Putin’s illiberal leadership …” I mean, really, this is a shockingly anti-Russian hit piece.
In the flood of commemorative comment on both sides of the Atlantic marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, one clear impression stands out. There is still no agreement on what the historic moment meant, or even why it happened. This is perhaps surprising, given that the Wall’s fall is one […]
There’s been a lot of hoopla recently about the question of whether or not Barack Obama will go to Copenhagen. He settled that yesterday by saying that he would go if he’s needed to finalize an agreement. This story from Reuters quotes the President: “If I am confident that all of the countries involved are […]
Twenty years ago, the Berlin Wall fell. And all was good throughout the land (not really). That it happened was a great human story—a pinnacle event of freedom (in its most sincere sense) that has brought millions of Europeans into a prosperous, liberal democratic order. The conventional wisdom, in this country at least, is that […]
Its official we have entered the holiday season, the Halloween costumes are safely tucked away until next years hauntings and the streets are quickly beginning to come to life with glittering lights. For most of us the lists are beginning as time of gift giving is quickly approaching. But as you begin your holiday shopping […]
1) Is Turkey leaving the West, or is media hype driving the narrative? 2) Al-Qaeda terror camps are becoming smaller and more localized, and are thus harder to hit. 3) The MRAP, seen as a key to the effort in Afghanistan, is being targeted—successfully—by the insurgency. 4) Property rights in Russia are weak.
World leaders gather in Berlin this week to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that iconic symbol of the Cold War. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is hosting current leaders like Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as well as past Cold Warriors George H.W. Bush and his counterpart, Mikhail Gorbachev. Prominent […]
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is on the verge of resigning his post—and with him will go many top Palestinian Authority officials. While it remains to be seen just what the fallout will be, it is certain to say that this will upend the status quo in the region. Abbas, the quintessential Palestinian moderate, has gotten […]
Reuters reports that the UN’s World Food Programme has resumed food aid to Bhutanese refugees in Nepal, a month after withdrawing rations due to financial difficulties stemming from the global financial crisis. The shortage of aid available caused food assistance to be halved by the World Food Program in October. Approximately 90,000 refugees of ethnic […]
Much news and commentary you hear about the State of Israel has to do with geopolitics and the Arab-Israeli conflict (see my colleague Ben Moscovitch’s blog on this site for a nice selection.) Settlements, will Abbas run or not, Iran’s plans to wipe Israel off the map, Israel’s thoughts about taking military action against Iran, the […]
A state news agency in China confirmed today that nine people have been executed for their role in the rioting that overtook the northern city of Urumqi in July. As reported earlier on this blog, the rioting had a long simmering ethnic component to it that pitted the majority Muslim Uighur population against the growing […]
Since the Israeli West Bank barrier went up in 2002, comparisons to the Berlin Wall have not been hard to find. Yesterday’s historic anniversary naturally invites a revisitation to the analogy. Legality is actually one of the most potent differences between the two cases. The Berlin Wall didn’t violate international law. In fact, the East […]
Last week, it was revealed that the supposed informant in the bribery case against the Ecuadorean officials deciding the $27 billion pollution case is a convicted felon. (Conspiring to traffic 275,000 pounds of marijuana, sic-ing his pit bull on a woman.) It doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s lying about the bribery charge — just that […]
Yesterday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivered a speech to the Atlantic Council to mark the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The speech focused on the administration’s new agenda for freedom and democracy promotion, seeking a renewed US-European partnership to combat global terrorism, human rights violations, climate change and the spread […]
In the 16th century, Niccolo Machiavelli wrote: You must understand, therefore, that there are two ways of fighting: by law or by force. The first way is natural to men, and the second to beasts. But as the first way often proves inadequate one must needs have recourse to the second. So a prince must […]