KONY 2012 Great, But Target These Two African Rebel Groups Next
March 16, 2012 3 min. read

Eighty million views in such a short period of time. What a world we live in. Fantastic video. Fantastic initiative. However, for those who follow conflict and terrorism in Central Africa like myself, we know Joseph Kony as only one rebel leader of many; the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) as only one rebel group of […]

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Perception is Reality: the Problem in Afghanistan Today
March 16, 2012 6 min. read

Perception is reality, here there and in Afghanistan; and for good reason, whatever the truth. After thirty years of near constant war the Afghan people might be forgiven for not being bothered to test their reality for truth, when often enough their lives are bought for cheap blood money and whatever passes for reality is […]

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Reports Spread about North Korea Helping Iran Test a Uranium Bomb
March 15, 2012 4 min. read

The following was taken from Jspace.com.  The article was written by Jspace Foreign Affairs Correspondent, Rob Lattin, who also blogs about Israeli and Middle Eastern foreign policy for Foreign Policy Blogs.  While US and Israeli leaders were talking tough on Iran at last week’s AIPAC Policy Conference, reports and rumors began swirling that Iran may very well […]

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The Hole Gets Deeper
March 15, 2012 6 min. read

The three-year feud between the Sri Lankan government and international rights groups came under global spotlight for the second time in a week on March 14 when in a report launched in Geneva, Amnesty International said dozens of people in Sri Lanka have been abducted and tortured by security forces since 2009, and hundreds are […]

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Azerbaijan: Blackmail Video Made Public, Possible Imminent Release of Political Prisoners
March 15, 2012 4 min. read

It was bound to happen, although I prayed that it wouldn’t. But at least one web site in Azerbaijan has now released the blackmail video involving well-known correspondent Khadija Ismayilova. In response, Khadija has issued a public statement, quoted in an RFE/RL article, saying that she will not be deterred: “If they meant to stop […]

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The Ashton-Juppé Gate: Why is France Out of Line?
March 14, 2012 5 min. read

These last several weeks Alain Juppé, French Foreign Minister, has been outspoken against the incompetence of the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and the European External Action Service (EEAS). The latest attack was a letter sent by Juppé to Ashton on March 9th, wherein the French minister lectured Ashton on the shortfalls of the EEAS. […]

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Wen to Bo: Stop with the Maoist rhetoric
March 14, 2012 3 min. read

Update 03/15/2012 9:00AM: Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported Thursday Bo Xilai would be replaced as Chongqing Communist Party leader by Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang. [end update] It appears Chongqing chief Bo Xilai’s political aspirations have been irrevocably scuppered by China’s head of government after attempts to distance himself from a recent scandal failed. Addressing […]

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Planting Seeds of Sustainable Development in Haiti
March 13, 2012 2 min. read

Growing suspicions that recently engulfed the credibility of humanitarian organizations working in Haiti could cause people to underestimate the significant initiative launched in Cap-Haitien by Hands on Haiti, Mothering Across Continent and STARS Alliance; however, their work in Northern Haiti this spring will be nothing short of extraordinary. Haiti proclaimed its independence 208 years ago, […]

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Tehran’s Damascus Axis
March 12, 2012 15 min. read
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Guest Contribution by Sheherezade Faramarzi Ms. Sheherezade Faramarzi is a Middle East-based journalist and analyst who has covered the region since 1978. The following piece was originally published in Al-Ahram Weekly Online. With Permission from Al-Ahram Weekly Online. “The end of Al-Assad’s regime will end Iran’s regional influence, so one can expect Tehran to play a full hand […]

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Sayonara
March 11, 2012 2 min. read

One year to the day after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami I am signing off on the Japan blog. The disaster-in-installments that was kicked off by the March 11 quake, the largest in Japanese history, was a primary focus of this blog, and Japan’s reaction shed light onto characteristics of Japanese society. The purpose […]

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Al-Qaeda Threat Grows in Yemen
March 11, 2012 7 min. read

Al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that seeks to establish the return of the Islamic Caliphate over the Muslim world is believed to have grown way beyond “containment security parameters,” posing a very real threat to Yemen’s national hegemony within in its own territories. As Yemenis rose against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the wake of Egyptian […]

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Force in Iran, Engagement with North Korea
March 8, 2012 4 min. read

Speaking at a Brookings Institution panel discussion in Washington, DC on Friday (March 2nd), ex-nuclear envoy Dr. Robert Gallucci startled audiences with the admission that he believes use of force may be the only method to ensure Iran’s nuclear program is irrevocably halted. “I have no confidence that any degree of sanctions will actually stop […]

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