Turkey as the ‘protecting power of the United States’ in Libya ‘Turkey has agreed to be our protecting power in Libya,’ Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, told reporters today, referring to the new role Ankara will play serving US interests in Tripoli. There were signs Turkey was effectively playing such a role when Turkish […]
Canada’s Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence has tabled an interim report (PDF) entitled, “Sovereignty and Security in Canada’s Arctic.” The 75-page paper discusses various aspects of Canadian Arctic policy, including domestic and international issues and multilateral regimes in the region. There are also several useful maps in the appendices, including one showing […]
Taylor Anderson from Richmond, Va., is the first known American victim of the March 11 tsunami. The tsunami hit the Tohoku region of Japan after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast. (See timeline.) Anderson, 24, taught English as an Assistant Language Teacher in Ishinomaki, Miyagi. She had moved to Japan in 2008 as a […]
Tel Aviv University, one of the strongest academic institutions in Israel, surpasses the top U.S. institutions in a key metric for universities — citations by other researchers. TAU Prof. Carlo Strenger writes in Haaretz: Tel Aviv University has been ranked number 11 worldwide in citations per faculty in 2010 – a truly staggering result. TAU […]
Former Israeli President Moshe Katsav, of Iranian descent, was convicted in December of rape and obstructing justice. He was sentenced today to seven years in jail. He has repeatedly denied any wrong doing, but was found guilty for rape, as well as molesting and sexually harassing several other women while serving as President. The Presidency […]
On March 19, 2011, the West led by France, the United Kingdom and the United States launched Operation Odyssey Dawn. In contrast to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, which violated International Law and public opinion, the military operation in Libya grounds its legitimacy in the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1973, “demanding an […]
Officials are still struggling to restore power at the Fukushima nuclear power plant 11 days after the worst earthquake in Japanese history and subsequent tsunami triggered an automatic shut down at the plant and destroyed backup generators, which caused a partial meltdown. As of this writing, an estimated 18,400 people have died in the 9.0-magnitude […]
The Following piece is written by a Yemeni-based journalist who writes for Foreign Policy Association, and due to serious security concerns, remains anonymous. After weeks of escalating violence and protests against Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime, Yemen is living its darkest hour. As the streets of Sana’a are turning red, tainted with the blood of anti-government […]
The Following piece is written by a Yemeni-based journalist who writes for Foreign Policy Association, and due to serious security concerns, remains anonymous. Following the resignations of several ministers and the Yemeni ambassador to the UN as a reaction to the deaths of a reported 52 civilians in the latest crackdown; the embattled President Ali […]
Is one of the unintended consequences of the work of western-based non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) that their influence means that the media gives too much attention to bad news out of Africa? That is the brunt of Karen Rothmyer’s article, “Hiding the Real Africa” in the latest Columbia Journalism Review. (By the way — when will […]
Happy Nowruz everyone! Today is what people in western culture and the Northern Hemisphere call the spring equinox, but in the east it is known as Nowruz (or as Persian New Year to some). In countries and cultures all across the Middle East and Central Asia, notably Iran, March 21 is Nowruz (or Nawroz in […]
On Saturday, 50 rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip into Israel. This was the most concentrated attack from Gaza since the Israeli invasion in late 2008. What is more surprising than the attack is the fact that Hamas has taken credit. Hamas typically denies involvement, at least directly, into such acts. Credit was taken […]
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