Almost exactly a year ago, one lucky Russian family received a free brand new SUV from the government. What had they done to deserve such a gift? They managed to have a baby on Russia Day – June 12th. That much publicised campaign was only the tip of a creepy pro-natalist iceberg, including $11o00 cash […]
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolten intensified the call for an Israeli strike on Iran in an editorial today in the Washington Post. The post-election uprisings in Iran increased sentiment that regime change could result in a halt to the Iranian nuclear program. Bolten criticizes the new administration’s approach that would likely […]
As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, another Israeli citizen received notice from the IDF to report immediately to military service. This time, the citizen in question resides in the United States and is obtaining his medical degree at Colombia University. Even though the student request deferment of his military service and offered to serve in […]
Amazingly enough, my hotel in Cape Town has had virtually no internet connectivity for three days. It is both liberating and frightening to feel this out of touch for so long. Observations from Cape Town: Amidst all of the generally pessimistic commentary one reads about South Africa, I suppose it is not surprising that we […]
Russia has announced that it is seeking to improve relations in the Arctic, especially with Canada. It seems that the Kremlin is changing from a realist approach to Arctic strategy to a more liberal institutionalist approach, with talk of cooperation, conferences, and summits. Sergey Petrov, the chargé d’affaires at the Russian embassy in Ottawa, stated […]
Is Europe suffering from a hope-defict? Dominique Moisi a visiting professor at Harvard thinks so and he outlines (in the Brussels beltway premier Newspaper the European Voice) that this may delay Europe’s revovery from economic crisis. Citizens of the US, on the other hand, he believes suffer from an excess of individual fear of how […]
Margaret Warner (The News Hour) is doing a good job of setting the scene for President Obama’s visit to Russia next week. Talking in Moscow with a cross-section of media, government spokesmen, activists and Kremlin-watchers, Warner’s reports this week paint a fairly nuanced picture. Stability but arbitrary authority. Economic growth (until last year) but great […]
And, unsurprisingly, they are not pleased. Even more unsuprisingly, it is not Al Qaeda in Iraq or Al Qaeda from a cave in Pakistan that responded but Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and for Islamic Maghreb we can read Former French Colonies, particularly Algeria, and the country of origin for a good number of […]
Israel mandates 3 years military service for males (and 2 years for women) from all its citizens starting at the age of 18. After fulfilling their duty, citizens must spend approximately 1 month a year serving int he IDF reserves. However, many Israelis avoid military service through a variety of ways, most prominently by claiming […]
After intense diplomatic pressure by the United States, including a letter from President Obama, the Kyrgyz Republic has decided to allow US troops to use the Manas air base as a transit stop for the mission in Afghanistan. The US will have to pay $60 million dollars a year, up from $17 million it has […]
The Israeli navy intercepted a ship carrying aid to the Gaza Strip today, as the activists aboard the Gaza-bound boat accused the IDF of threatening to fire upon them. The small ferry boat left Cyprus declaring that its docking port as Egypt’s Port Said. The Israeli government denied claims that it threatened the boat, however […]
Support for the militant terror group Hamas dropped nearly 10-percent from last year, according to a new study conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Centre. In the West Bank and Gaza Strip, approval of the group dropped from 27.7-percent to 18.8-percent. The organization explains the plummet in support for the group due to the […]
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