Hezbollah's media relations department stated today that the group would release a MOU with salafist groups this coming Monday at the Safir hotel in Beirut. Note that the most of the various salafist entities in Lebanon are not tied to jihadist terrorism (see here). This move by Hezbollah will likely be cause for concern within […]
The terrorist activity of the past week has been particularly violent, as well as illuminating. Wednesday's bombing in Tripoli, Lebanon saw at least 12 people dead and over 50 injured. The next day, 19 Shia pilgrims were killed and over 75 hurt a mere 50km south of Baghdad. These attacks, while inflicting similar damage, reflect […]
Now that the dust is settled we can reflect on the past week or so and see where we stand in this ongoing Georgian crisis. We have learned: – Georgia started the conflict. – Russia reacted in a more or less predictable manner. – The U.S. armed and trained Georgia and therefore can't feign surprise […]
The European media devoted heavy coverage to the relatively lenient prison sentence (five and half years) for terrorist offenses given to Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden's former driver, by a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay August 7. But while the European media has been virtually unanimous in denouncing Guantanamo and everything to do with […]
“A society in which adults are estranged from the world of children, and often from their own childhood, tends to hear children's speech only as a foreign language, or as a lie…. Children have been treated … as congenital fibbers, fakers and fantasisers.” – Beatrix Campbell, British journalist. Do we hear the voices of the […]
As Jurist notes, Georgia has filed a complaint against Russia at the ICJ, and Russia is seeking evidence of war crimes by Georgian forces.
The Center for Religious Freedom of the Hudson Institute, with the Institute for Gulf Affairs, published this year an extended brief titled, "2008 Update: Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance." The Introduction describes the Center for Religious Freedom as an institution that "promotes religious freedom as a component of U.S. foreign policy." It joined the Hudson […]
Many heard the buzz and outrage over China's now infamous lip singing little girl at the opening ceremony. The 7 year old, Yang Peiyi, had won a national song contest to sing at the Opening Ceremonies, was replaced by 9 year old Lin Miaoke, who was deemed as more attractive, and suitable for the world […]
I’d like to make a modest proposal to banish the word “need” from U.S. policy statements about other countries. We have fallen into the habit of telling other countries what they need to do as if authoritatively defining their need makes it so. Take, for example, this recent statement by Secretary Rice (AFP – […]
When Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili traveled to the Georgian-Abkhaz ceasefire line last year, he promised a crowd of Georgian refugees their return to Abkhazia within a year. But Saakashvili's promises to Georgian refugees rang hollow, even before the current crisis. A combined total of some 250,000 Georgians fled Abkhazia following the 1992-1994 war and the […]
How will the Georgian conflict involve and influence the U.S. Presidential election campaign? What efforts are governments undertaking in this conflict to influence international public opinion? This subject spans the topic headings of several categories of our “Foreign Policy Blogs” — but let's consider briefly the public information dimension. Against the backdrop of a real […]
According to public diplomacy expert Nicholas Cull, (see this review of his new book) the very act of listening is one of the primary functions of public diplomacy. As an example Cull cited the US Information Agency's research and analysis of foreign opinion, which the director shared with policy makers. More recently, former Undersecretary of State for […]
The U.N. backed tribunal for the Khmer Rouge included war crimes on the indictment for the notorious prison leader, Kaing Guek Eav, or “Duch.” Duch, who faces charges for crimes against humanity, had war crimes added to his list of charges stemming from atrocities during the reign of the regime from 1975 to 1979. Five […]
The Ocean of Renewables – I came across this fascinating “Salon.com” post recently, Exajoules of Hope, by Andrew Leonard. Leonard writes “How the World Works,” a regular “conversation about globalization.” In the piece, we learn that “A joule is one watt of power for one second. An exajoule is 10 to the 18th power joules. […]
As Russian tanks move deeper into Georgia in defiance of the ceasefire agreement The New York Times’ On This Day section reminds us that it was on this day in 1961 that Berlin was divided as East Germany sealed off the border between the city's eastern and western sectors. The original report from The New […]