Israeli Chutzpah with Biden
March 11, 2010 4 min. read

Update: It didn’t undermine them, it destroyed them. What shows more chutzpah- making the prime minister of an ally wait for an hour and a half for your arrival or insulting an ally’s vice president by announcing a new policy welcomed by that ally, before subsequently undermining it? Vice President Joe Biden is nearing completion […]

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Israel to Settlements: Till Death Do Us Part
March 10, 2010 2 min. read

It is amazing how fast the news stream from the Middle East. Less than a day after the Arab league approved another round of indirect talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, the indirect talks that were at the behest of the U.S. mediator in the region. Israel snubs the world and declares it will […]

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Iraqi Refugees in Syria,Trading Sex in Nightclubs
March 10, 2010 1 min. read

Foreign Policy magazine posted a very interesting feature about Iraqi refugees in Syria. An excerpt from a book by Deborah Amos describes the underground economy many Iraqis were forced into after Sadaam’s fall. The refugees are prohibited from working in many jobs in Syria, therefore, many women have turned to prostitution as their only means […]

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Top 5 List: Favorite States of the Iranian Government
March 10, 2010 4 min. read

If Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were to make a list of countries that he loves right now, I would imagine his list would be very similar to this: 5. Iraq: For stealing the spotlight away from Iran. This week, Iran and its nuclear program took the backseat as the American policy makers watched the Iraqi […]

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Ensuring greater political participation for women
March 10, 2010 5 min. read

In what could potentially be a significant step towards women’s empowerment in India, the Rajya Sabha* yesterday passed the ‘Women’s Reservation Bill’ with 186 votes. Also known as the Constitution (108th) Amendment Bill 2008, it seeks to reserve 33% of the seats in the national and state legislatures for women. The Manmohan Singh government had hoped to have it passed on March 8, International Women’s […]

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Starving the Rohingya, Corrupt Yudhoyono, and Jail for Rebels in the News
March 10, 2010 4 min. read

East Timor:  The would be assassins of Timornese President José Ramos-Horta and  Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão have been given sentences ranging from 16 to 24 years in prison.    This would-be junta rebels was mostly composed of disaffected police and military.   This blog detailed the events that preceded this trial in more detail, here. Indonesia: Another […]

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P.M. Promises to Maintain BNP Pro-People Policies
March 9, 2010 1 min. read

The Awami League government has promised that it will not halt any ‘pro-people’ public policy works that were initiated by the previous BNP led coalition government. Speaking to Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director General of the World Health Organization, the Prime Minister reaffirmed her commitment to social development in far-flung villages.  To cite just one […]

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P.M. Sheikh Hasina Ranked 6th Most Powerful Woman in Asia
March 9, 2010 1 min. read

The Awami League released the following after CNN rated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed as the sixth most powerful woman in Asia.  More important that the fact of her rating is the reasons she was rated as such.  “Awami League President & Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been rated as the sixth most powerful women […]

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Tocqueville on China
March 9, 2010 7 min. read

The American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington D.C. think tank, has a new project on its research agenda: Tocqueville On China, an intellectual experiment that channels the penetrating observations of the French political observer Alexis de Tocqueville in order to elucidate the current state of China’s civil society. According to the project’s mission statement, this […]

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Restarting Peace Talks, More Posturing
March 9, 2010 4 min. read

Vice President Biden has arrived in Israel with the express purpose of restarting peace talks. So far, Vice President Biden has assured Israelis of the unshakable ties between the U.S. and Israel and has remained positive at the prospect of indirect peace talks. Most news media outlets have reported that the Palestinian Chief Negotiator, Saeb […]

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The Okavango Delta
March 9, 2010 1 min. read

The (UK) Guardian has a spectacular slideshow from the Okavango Delta.

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Grenades in Rwanda
March 9, 2010 1 min. read

Texas in Africa (who is in Georgia) has a thoughtful, perceptive post on an alarming (and surprising) upsurge of violence, specifically a spate of grenade attacks, in Kigali.

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