In honor of the momentous events occurring in nearby Kyrgyzstan, this weeks Afghan-related map will be of the regional variety. It is an ethnicity map of Central Asia. Click on the previous link or the map to get a larger version. The map’s legend is in French, but can still be followed. Here’s a great […]
While Medvedev and Obama were negotiating nuclear quotas and ways to protect the world from atomic terrorism, back home, some wondered whether they would have been better off talking adoption quotas and ways to protect Russian kids from their American foster parents. That’s because more adopted Russian children have died at the hands of their […]
It has been known for a while that people in Hazara are not going to accept the proposed name Pukhtoonkhwa and they made it clear, repeatedly, that the people of Hazara don’t consider themselves to be Pukhtoons, and residents of Hazara are interested in protecting their language, their culture, and their heritage and any attempt […]
Israelis tend to love vacationing in Sinai, a small peninsula situated in Egypt that was once occupied by Israel before its return as part of a peace deal. Sinai is somewhat like the Israeli beach town of Eilat — they’re both on the Red Sea and boast some of the world’s best scuba diving. But, that’s about […]
The African National Congress continues to meet with coalition partners the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), to try to smooth over some rough edges revealed in a series of techy exchanges last month. It sure seems as if the ANC and COSATU are in a permanent state of assessing the status of their […]
The 2010 Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty goes to………Akbar Ganji! (Photo taken from Cato Institute) Ganji is a well- known Iranian writer and journalist. He spent 6 years in an Iranian prison for being a vocal supporter of secular democracy in Iran and exposing government involvement in the assassination of individuals opposed to Iran’s theocratic […]
Sean Murphy of FPA’s Global Film Review blog has posted a review of an intriguing documentary called The Glass House. This documentary follows lives of four young Iranian women over an 18 month period at a center in Tehran called Omid e Mehr, where women living on the margins of Iranian society can come for […]
The Nuclear Security Summit has opened on a positive note. Ukraine has volunteered to get rid of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. The bold and applaudable decision by Ukraine is sure to help global non-proliferation efforts and bring optimism into the Summit. However, it is sad that Pakistan was given the opportunity to be the lead speaker and demand a nuclear deal from the […]
As news headlines on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict center on civilian casualties and the Obama administration’s efforts to reboot negotiations, some tragic stories are lost in the shuffle, even though they highlight some interesting nuances on regional politics. Over the last two weeks, a saga has unfolded to save the lives of the first conjoined twins […]
When it comes to Russia, Anne Applebaum suspects the worst at the best of times. She saw the nefarious hand of the Kremlin even behind her recent car breakdown. So if Applebaum, whose Polish foreign minister husband could easily have also been on that doomed plane, is lauding the way Russia has handled the aftermath […]
Sudan’s elections have apparently not gotten off to a good start. I’m just returning from a week in Washington, DC where I had remarkably scarce internet access. I’ll be back to full posting soon.
Two ministers from the rival groups of Hamas and Fatah met today in Gaza. Some of the points discussed included the persecution of Fatah and Hamas leader in the opposite group’s territories, as well as creating a supervisory police force for the upcoming elections. It is likely that the two opposing parties have moved because […]
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