Though it has yet to be confirmed, it appears Swedish diplomat Staffan di Mistura will replace Kai Eide as the top UN official in Afghanistan. Mistura has recently worked for the UN’s World Food Programme and as an official in Iraq. He served as director of fundraising and external relations for the U.N.’s office in […]
In an article published in The New Republic, respected American journalist Nicholas Schmidle shares some of his experiences and observations about the over all paranoia and hysteria that has been increasingly visible across Pakistan’s electronic media. Specifically, Mr. Schmidle describes his awkward interaction with Shireen Mazari. Mazari had no information about Mr. Schmidle’s background, but […]
Story Updated Below Stunning news from Angola on the eve of the kickoff of the Africa Cup of Nations. Gunmen, almost certainly rebels, opened fire with machine guns on a bus carrying Togo’s national football team to the province of Cabinda from its training ground in the Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville). The bus driver is […]
Some say that Venezuelan democracy is under assault, with Hugo Chávez and his cronies consolidating power. The populace may vote, but there is strong pressure to support the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PVUV in Spanish), and a penalty for those who support the opposition (e.g. being black-listed from government jobs). On the other hand, […]
I wonder what Hezbollah Chief Hassan Nasrallah has to say about this. An ongoing feud between Israeli and Lebanese chefs ratcheted up another notch this week, with a new world record broken outside of Jerusalem for the creation of the largest tub of hummus. The dish, created in Abu Gosh in Israel, comes months after […]
Finally after seven months of a senate hold on his ambassadorial confirmation, veteran diplomat Thomas Shannon goes to Brasilia to smooth out the rougher edges of U.S.-Brazil relations and steer these two nations toward greater cooperation on such pending issues as energy and climate change, bilateral commerce, the Iran nuclear program, the G-20 deliberations, and […]
For those of you unfamiliar with Stratfor.com, it’s one of the most compelling forecasting organizations in the U.S. today on international issues. Founded by George Friedman, who features heavily in this year’s Great Decisions Television series, their predictions are not always right, but always thought-provoking. Here is a video dispatch on what’s to come for […]
Operation Cast Lead -the Israeli strike on the the Gaza Strip one year ago- continues to dominate Israeli foreign relations, particularly with the United Nations. Some of Israel’s air strikes damaged UN facilities, including schools and a UN Relief and Works Agency facility. Israeli officials said Hamas terrorists were harbored in some of these compounds. […]
This week was the Russian Orthodox Christmas. Twenty years after Communism and somewhat at odds with the newfound Christian ardour of Russia’s elites, it’s not a big stand alone holiday, falling relatively quietly in the middle of the 10 day vacation starting with the big Soviet milestone of New Year’s. Yet at the same time, […]
Those interested in East Asian economic and political issues have just lost one of their greatest resources: The Feer Eastern Economic Review (FEER). December brought the terminal edition of FEER, a once flagship journal on East Asian economics and politics that, according to its 1946 mission statement, sought to “analyze and interpret financial, commercial and […]
Philippines: Due to political pressure, the Arroyo administration has been forced to take serious action over November 2009’s Election Massacre. A suspect from the Ampatuan political clan was charged: “Andal Ampatuan Jr., the prime suspect in the massacre of 57 people in Maguindanao, southern Philippines on Nov. 23…” The government has also set up a […]
The fallacy of composition is the proposition that the causal relations that hold at the individual level also hold at a collective or aggregate social level. Allow me to play with this fallacy, for nothing helps one to comprehend the problems of the many than to see the problems of the few. Credit card bills […]
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