By most accounts Jacob Zuma is quite popular and is doing a good job — a much better job, it must be admitted, than many of his detractors expected when he took office back in May. But the biggest issue surrounding Zuma — let’s call it his tendency toward putting himself into situations where malfeasance […]
I’d almost think my previous post was an unfinished affair, where neither party in love understood anything substantially valuable or interesting about the other. There was much more left to be said; much left to do. Pursuant to that, I think anyone who wants to know something tangible about the grey haze and temperature of […]
Photograph and copyright, Brendan Corr, copyright 2006 Foreign Policy The photograph above is one piece from a photo essay published in Foreign Policy Magazine more than three years ago. The work, as a whole, is no less a moving document today as the day it was first birthed into the world. The ship breaking industry […]
Putin, according to Forbes, which has named the Russian Prime Minister the third most powerful man on Earth, towering not only above Oprah (45) and Google CEOs Brin and Page (5) but also, conspicuously, above his own president (Medvedev, 43). Forbes goes on to declare Putin the ‘anti-Obama’, who ‘might as well be known as […]
The Indian government has put all its nuclear sites on high alert following reports of David Headley’s visits to those states and other intelligence reports. The Press Trust of India, quoting a senior home ministry official reports, “the step is precautionary in nature. The states have been asked to increase the vigil and patrolling to […]
As debate swirls on the ramifications and reality of a unilateral declaration of independence by the Palestinians, speculation and analysis revolves around how the United States should react to the move. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly expressed support for a Palestinian state through negotiations, and not unilateral declarations. He said: “We support the creation of a Palestinian […]
Last week, it was reported that an American submarine, the USS Texas (SSN 775), surfaced near the North Pole in mid-October. The submarine, part of the Virginia class, was the first ship in its kind to do so. It was taking part in an ICEX, or ice exercise. After surfacing, the submarine stayed moored to the […]
Continuing with the theme of the troubled relationship between Iran and Saudi Arabia, especially over Yemen, here is an Al Jazeera report examining how Yemenis are reacting to foreign interference in their country’s civil war: [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/ybK4-DveFQ8″ width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] On Sunday, Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, criticized the Saudi government […]
How is it that Venezuela, awash in energy resources, experiences blackouts? Although it is a global leader in oil production, most of the country’s power comes from hydroelectric dams, including one of the word’s largest, Guri. Unfortunately a combination of drought and failing infrastructure has severely reduced capacity for power-generation. A NYT article gives a […]
There have been growing signals, some blatant, that the Obama administration is looking for a way out of Afghanistan, even as they are still in the process of deciding on a new strategy, which is likely to involve the deployment of thousands more American and NATO troops. It of course is prudent for the US […]
The day’s news about the promise to make a promise a year out on Climate Change is frustrating, to say the least. This tactic of kicking the ball toward the goal post has just one problem: there is no goal post that all 192 countries convening in Denmark will agree upon. In fact, it is […]
APEC – Gregory Clark, over at Japan Times, argues that APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) is an obsolete framework that was never very affective in the first place. If one agrees with him or not, he gives a good background on the history of various political-economic groupings in East-Southeast Asian region since the Cold War. Obama’s […]
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