Saeb Erekat, the longtime chief Palestinian negotiator, has cast doubts on the two-state solution. Erekat is, in my memory, the most senior Palestinian official to publicly argue that two states between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River are not plausible. Coming on the heels of the embarrassing failure (as of now) of the Obama administration […]
1) A photo essay from Der Spiegel: The west-east German border, then and now. 2) John Mearsheimer argues for the United States to leave Afghanistan—but that Obama won’t because of domestic political considerations. 3) Americans are overhwelmingly in favor of a ban on texting while driving (this wouldn’t be a problem if our infrastructure was […]
Considering that under his leadership, Fatah, the single most important political group in Palestinian history, has been reduced to a total joke, the peace process non-existent (to be fair, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu deserves a lot of credit on that front, as well), and corruption and cronyism as rife as ever … well, no, […]
There’s been a lot of worry in recent years over Russia’s ‘resurgence’ onto the world scene. The thinking went that Russia was suddenly a major power again because they renewed some bomber flights and sold weapons to places like Venezuela and Iran. Of course, this was all very sensationalist and had very little bearing in […]
The very least that everyone can admit about the Nobel Committee’s pick for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was that it is a gutsy pick. However, that may be the only thing that everyone can agree on. News that Barack Obama will be this year’s recipient of the world’s most distinguished humanitarian award led to […]
General Stanley McChrystal’s request for more troops is, of course, expected. Military commanders are always going to want more resources to utilize, regardless of whether they know how to use them or not (McChrystal’s insistence on a population-centric strategy in rural Afghanistan seems to make little sense). As reported in today’s New York Times, President […]
General Stanley McChrystal, the Obama Administration’s guy in South Asia, has warned that without more troops the war in Afghanistan “will likely fail”, reports the Washington Post. President Barack Obama, not surprisingly, is worried about becoming embroiled in an escalating situation, where victory only requires an ever-increasing number of ‘just a few more (thousands) troops”. […]
The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, speaking at a Brookings Institute Conference, said Tuesday that it was “very likely” that the recession had ended although he cautioned that it could be months before unemployment rates dropped significantly.
Today, the head of the Indonesian police, Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri, stated that there was no assassination plot against Obama, contradicting August 20th statements by Indonesian Center for Intelligence and National Security analyst Dynno Chressbon. Other analyst have been critical of Chressbon’s contention that Jihadis had planned to assassinate Obama at the National Airport, because […]
In an editorial within today’s Washington Post, Edward Schumacher-Matos presents a nice summary of what might be considered a waning in the power of Venezuelan President, Hugo Chávez. As Schumacher-Matos describes, on a number of fronts other South American nations have been acting counter to Chávez’s wishes. Ecuador, though considered an ally, has reached out […]
CNN is reporting that U.S. President Barack Obama will attend the 17th APEC summit in Singapore on November 14 and 15 of this year. No further travel details have yet been released.
American President Barack Obama’s first meeting with Filipino President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo , which is also his first meeting with a Southeast Asian head of state, was overshadowed in the American press by the domestic melodrama, known as “Gates-Gate” or the “Beer Summit”.
Who’s afraid of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s fondness of “mucho platos de arroz, gandoles y pernir—rice, beans and pork”? The Grand Old Party, apparently. I think that if there are questions about the influence of patitas de cerdo con garbanzo on her judicial philosophy during the confirmation hearings, it will be immensely entertaining for […]
A deal has been done between the Democrats in the House driving for a strong, aggressive, meaningful climate change and energy bill and those who are fearful for and/or protective of the special interests of the big utilities, the oil & gas industry, the auto manufacturers and some other heavy industries. The “discussion draft” of […]
One day after China’s top climate official, Li Gao, requested that his country’s export sector be exempt from greenhouse gas emissions reductions, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the possibility of levying a carbon tariff on countries that do not match US greenhouse gas emissions restrictions. Chu told a House science panel that such border […]