The 100-days benchmark for assessing presidential leadership is pretty silly even as it becomes increasingly common. In the United States there is at least a bit of historical salience given Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “Hundred Days” of frenzied New Deal activity. In May, when I was a fellow at Keele University’s David Bruce Centre for American […]
– U.S. Senator Jim Webb (Dem. VA) recently met with the Burmese Junta and Aung San Suu Kyi and successfully secured the relief of the John Yettah, the Americans whose odd actions initiated the latest Aung San Suu Kyi trial and conviction. If the Obama Administration really wants to take take proactive and pragmatic steps […]
The verbal sparring between Hizballah and Israel has been intensifying as of late, and it seems that every week brings a new threatening exchange between the two regional rivals. According to Danny Ayalon, Israel’s deputy foreign minister: “If, God forbid, one hair falls off the head of any Israeli representative abroad, or of even an […]
Rosslyn Jordan, who used to cover domestic topics for NBC (milk prices fluctuation, traffic lights not working etc), filed a report about Pakistan on Al Jazeera, and later followed up by vaguely answering couple of superficial questions from the anchor. Rosslyn Jordan, as for as I know, knows nothing about Pakistan. She has never traveled […]
Figures of the second quarter released by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics provide a promising indication that the economic conditions in the country are rebounding. The Gross Domestic Product in the second quarter rose 1-percent, after dropping 1.4-percent and 3.2-percent in the previous two quarters. Moreover, the Consumer Price Index rose 1.1-percent, primarily due […]
As discussed in my previous post, Iranian Women: Voices to be Heard, women have played a prominent role in the pre-election campaigning and the post-election protests. All four candidates made promises to women in the election campaign, including Ahmadinejad, who spoke of empowering women. It looks like this is one election promise that Ahmadinejad is […]
There is no denying that Iran has one of the best literary heritages. From Rumi to Hafez to Omer Khayyam to Saadi, Iran has had its share of great poets. Though the most influential poet remains Ferdowsi, known for writing the Persian epic, the Shahnameh (known in English as The Book of Kings). This article […]
Afghanistan continues to find its way onto American news cycles and like most news, it’s of the bad and bloody variety. The US military is on the verge of releasing its latest strategic review of the conflict and how the US expects to go forward, with the hottest topic (more troops?) being avoided. The Taliban […]
The Israeli government began issuing two different tourist visas at the border, with one granting entrance to mainland Israel and the other to Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, according to a new post on the U.S. consulate website. Previously, upon entering Israel at a border crossing, a traveller would receive a general visa for Israel and could […]
A recent New York Times article rightfully praised the bus rapid transit system now widely used in Bogotá. Known as Transmilenio, it has been credited in part for the transformation of the Colombian capital, which has become increasingly organized and safe during the past decade. It is estimated that 7,000 fewer buses are now on […]
Apparently never. The answer comes from applying the “rational actor” game theory to this question. Game theory is a branch of applied mathematics, often used in the social sciences, to study how people will behave in strategic situations– a situation in which an individual’s success in making decisions depends on the decisions of others (think […]
In her last major stop on her whirlwind Africa tour (all respect, Cape Verde) Hillary Clinton in Liberia weighed in on the controversy surrounding President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the recommendation of her country’s Truth and Reconciliation that she (and other politicians) not be allowed to hold office after their current terms expire. Clinton put […]
Popular from Press
