The government of Bangladesh has placed severe penalties against burning the national flag. The cabinet approved the move and the parliament will debate the prospect of 2 year prison terms and a 10,000 Taka fine levied against all such acts. This smacks of nationalism run amok. It is nearly incontestable that any instance in […]
Israel is a highly democratic country, where the minority non-Jewish population has significant rights and representation in the Knesset. But, the precise role and responsibility of these non-Jewish Arab members of the Knesset is hotly contested, with the issue taking center stage today. MK Hanin Zoabi was largely unheard of in the rest of the […]
Those Bolshevik posters depicting the Russian Orthodox Church as an integral pillar of dictatorship had to wait almost a century for vindication. Ironically, it may come from as surprising an ally as the European Court of Human Rights, to which the museum curators sentenced for hosting anti-religious art have applied to contest their convictions. For […]
The New York Times is reporting General Odierno said Tuesday that he anticipates an uptick in violence against US troops as they begin to depart the country. Intelligence reports have suggested that Iranian-backed Shi’a militias plan to turn up the heat against American soldiers to lay stake to claims that they’ve driven off occupying forces. […]
The New York Times just published a fascinating piece about a Iranian scientist named Shahram Amiri, who has sought refuge in the Pakistani Embassy’s Iran interest section in Washington D.C. The piece shows that there are at least two different versions of the story and clearly demonstrates the murky and cold waters that run over […]
Desmond Boylan/Reuters Negotiations at the end of July between Cuban President Raul Castro, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Havana Jaime Ortega, and Spain’s foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, yielded unusual results: Havana decided to release 52 of the individuals currently identified internationally as political prisoners—a full third of those currently held under that status. The website […]
By Sean Patrick Murphy http://globalfilm.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2010/07/12/the-stoning-of-soraya-m-2008/
I’ve not attended to Bangladesh’s climate change derived water crisis in some time. Whether I’ve been right or wrong, I’ve principally attended only to the political bearings that have supported the two main opposing parties. Happily, Sebastian Strangio a journalist writing for Foreign Policy Magazine has written up an excellent piece about climate change in […]
Two news stories today offer a disheartening look at the future of Arctic wildlife. First, the Scientific American blog reports that work by biologist Andrew Derocher of the University of Alberta demonstrates that polar bears could disappear from Hudson Bay in as little as ten years. Some of his other work shows a relatively more […]
Writing day in and day out about the collapse of this and the fall-out from that, it can be difficult to step back and assess where we are in Afghanistan’s broader narrative. I promise you that today, the soldiering attempt to seek some clarity in Afghanistan’s historical trajectory will break your heart. The photographs that […]
It often goes unremarked but politics is nothing more than the show of armed, military might sublimated through votes and caucuses. So it is somewhat odd that the majority of the coverage of Pakistani politics related to the so-called ‘War on Terror’ is principally concerned with terrorism and the growing insurgency of the Tehrik e- […]
The World Cup is done. I am writing this the day after from the OR Tambo International Airport where my first flight is already delayed, and I am looking at the possibility of a few nights in Addis Ababa if we cannot make up the time and get me to my connecting flight, which leaves […]
Popular from Press
