I want to wish all of my readers a happy holiday, Merry Christmas, and good tidings for the season. I also want to thank you for your readership, comments, and emails. I plan to post regularly next week, including the annual Year in Review post.
Sadly, Santa may not make it to Iraq this year. Nor will Iraq’s Christian community enjoy festive decorations, or the tradition of midnight Mass. Any and all public displays of the holiday have been scratched following Christian leadership’s decision to cancel Christmas celebrations. New al Qaeda threats directed at the tiny community, left reeling by a bloody siege on […]
First of all let me wish everyone out there in Blog Land a very Merry Christmas. Yours truly has finished all his shopping and wanted to leave a little stocking stuffer for his readers. The big story of the day is another roll up of a mossad asset in the Levant. It appears an Egyptian […]
Eight days ago, on December 16th, the Awami League government of Bangladesh arrested, detained and allegedly began to torture BNP leader Salauddin Qader Chowdhury. This is abhorrent news, no matter the turns of fortune in a man’s life, no matter the moral worth of a cause, no matter the government’s writ on the matter. That […]
It hasn’t passed notice in the news cycle, but Pakistan and China are working together on a cooperative agreement worth at least $20 billion. The deal, which also establishes plans for at least $15 billion in private investment, was worked out during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s visit to Pakistan, part of his tour of South […]
Hard to say Monday’s election results that keep Alexander Lukashenko in charge of Belarus for at least another four years were surprising. What have been surprising are the calls from heads of several former CIS countries voicing approval of the election results, which the OSCE called “bad,” “very bad,” and “non-transparent.” Most conspicuously, Georgian president […]
RUSSIA REPORT CARD: In 2010, did Russia make Honor Roll, or get detention? PHYS-ED: B We are pleased with Russia’s recent progress, particularly in soccer, where organisation and hard work were rewarded with the coveted World Cup prize. However, this victory was considerably tarnished by our poor performance at this year’s interscholastic Olympiad, particularly in […]
In an ideal world politicians who foment political violence in their countries should be brought to justice as swiftly as is feasible. But that last word, “feasible,” is a bit of a problem, at least in the real-life example of Kenya. The violence that wracked the country after the December 2007 elections left in its […]
Things in Cote d’Ivoire continue to get worse. Laurent Gbagbo is digging in and post-election violence has claimed dozens of lives with the toll continuing to climb. There are fears of another civil war breaking out in the country as sanctions appear to be accomplishing nothing. This one will not be resolved before the New […]
Overview 2010 was a year of ups and downs on the island, and in the US-Cuba relationship. Cuba watchers held their breath when US and Cuban officials met for discussions on migration and direct mail service, and when the two countries cooperated in the Haiti disaster relief effort. We began the year in a rush of optimistic […]
Because I’m feeling quote happy these days I’ll bludgeon you over the head again with a relatable quip– “Get busy living, or get busy dying.” The movie buffs amongst you will recognize those as the words of Andy Dufresne, the hopeful, wrongfully imprisoned banker in The Shawshank Redemption. It’s fair to say that Syria has […]
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