May 15th is a complicated day in the Middle East, and this year was no different. While Israel marks its independence day, Palestinians mourn the Nakba, or catastrophe. In years past there have usually been protests of a relatively low intensity, a few marches and a few protestors, heavy on slogans and low on impact. […]
Conservative media pundit, Fox host and radio personality Glenn Beck will host a pro-Israel rally in Jerusalem this August to oppose an bifurcation of the city. Beck, a Mormon who just returned from a trip to Israel, said that the “center of our faith” is threatened by a division of the city, as proposed in […]
It’s going to be a big few days for Israel here in Washington D.C. On Sunday, President Barack Obama will address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, likely putting himself front-and-center on the peace process, the so-called Arab Spring and the occasionally tense relationship between the United States and Israel. The speech will come days […]
EU foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, is not unaccustomed to criticism. A fresh wave of critique was recently dished out by the Belgium foreign minister Steven Vanackere. Ashton was attacked for her “silence” on important issues. Vanackere added that Ashton’s silence would be filled by other players (Germany, France), who Belgium would be obliged to […]
The total number of Ayapeneco speakers remaining in Mexico: two. The men live some 500 meters apart in the tropical lowlands of Tabasco state. But Manuel Segovia, 75, and Isidro Velazquez, 69, don’t like one another and refuse to talk. The Syndey Morning Herald reports that there are 68 indigenous languages in Mexico; many of […]
As France and the world continues to absorb the developments surrounding IMF Director and shadow 2012 presidential frontrunner Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s arrest for sexual assault, Arret sur images, a French website, brings to light some damning evidence involving a previous instance of sexual violence that was little-reported in certain parts of the French media when it […]
As a new generation of Arabs in the Middle East continues to jolt the region into a new, tumultuous, and yet-to-be-defined era, Iran’s internal politics is undergoing its own transition that has recently become increasingly vocal. The assertion of independence in decision making on the part of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a theocratic system known for […]
Japan’s largest crisis is neither the ongoing disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant nor the recovery from the March 11 earthquake/tsunami. The Japanese will eventually overcome and move on from both these problems. The crisis Japan is facing is one of demographics. Japanese women are obsessed with fashion. I commented last week that […]
Thousands of Turks gathered in some 40 cities and towns around the country on Sunday, May 15th, to join marches organized on Facebook against state Internet censorship. The trigger for the protests was a decision by Turkey’s Internet regulator, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, or BTK, to introduce a selection of filters that Turkish […]
Port-au-Prince, Haiti – Power failure inside the Haitian parliament shortly before the inauguration did not deter President Michel Martelly from making history. In fact, the novice head of state was a fountain of smiles waving, spraying charisma to fans, reporters and dignitaries. President Martelly’s oath of office landed on the thunderous applauses of Legislators, national and […]
This year’s Palestinian Nakba Day, the holiday in which Palestinians mourn the creation of Israel, has been particularly active. Aside from the violence that has erupted in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, pro-Palestinian protestors from both Lebanon and Syria have confronted the Israeli northern border. A group of Palestinian refugee’s stormed and crossed the […]
It has been a little more than one year since the street protests which rocked Bangkok and resulted in at least 50 deaths took place in the heart of the Thai capital. After stalling for months since the unrest when he had announced a reconciliatory roadmap for the main political parties with elections to follow […]
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