Two headlines from today: ‘Israel unlikely to attack Iran this year’ AND ‘US general: Israel might choose strike Iran.’ Moral of the story: even the Pentagon has no idea. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates does not believe that Israel will launch an attack, a notion that reveals his disagreement with the generals. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad heightened his […]
I was not as bemused as some who stumbled across Treehugger‘s April 1st story on China’s plans to build a green city, by veteran contributor and colleague of mine, Alex Pasternack. Knowing well that wit is Pasternack’s forte, today is April Fool’s Day, and the Center for Urban Misuse does not exist, I drank in […]
With the installation of the new government in Israel, one statesmen appears to be getting all the attention, and its not Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The appointment of Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman to Foreign Minister led to international criticisms and domestic concern that one of the most polarizing local political figures would become the […]
WASHINGTON – The Obama administration plans to seek as much as $3 billion over the next five years to train and equip Pakistan’s military, and is considering sending 10,000 more troops to battle the Taliban in Afghanistan, defense officials said Wednesday. The money would include $500 million in an additional war budget request for the […]
When ‘death’ and ‘newspapers’ are mentioned in the same sentence these days, it is usually to describe the demise of a media company. In Russia, alas, the meaning is more often than not deadly literal. The London Times reported that local journalist “Sergei Protazanov, who was disabled and had a prosthetic arm, died after doctors […]
ISLAMABAD – The son of a poor potato farmer who once worked as a fitness instructor has grown into one of the most powerful militant leaders along the Pakistan-Afghan border, his rise fueled by alliances with al-Qaida and fellow Pakistani militants. A day after Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud threatened to attack the White House, […]
The State Department sent out a press release today detailing the upcoming first-ever joint session of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting and the Arctic Council. The meeting will be held on April 6 in Baltimore, Maryland, marking the start of the 32nd Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM). The ATCM will take place during the fiftieth […]
As President Obama tours Europe trying to get support for his iniatitives, especially in Afghanistan – one commentator says the most successful method of getting what the US wants from Europe is to ignore it and wait for it to come around to your policy. According to Stephen Sestanovich writing in this month’s Foreign Policy […]
Legendary Middle East historian Bernard Lewis penned an oped today in the Wall Street Journal describes the inadequacies of the Israeli electoral process. Lewis commends the democracy as, in and of itself, an accomplishment due to the failures of this type of system in the rest of the region. However, he still encourages electoral reform. He […]
In some ways the run-up to the South African election has all of the characteristics of an internecine squabble turned public. The Congress of the People has its origins in the ruling African National Congress, so it is no surprise that the very fact of that dissidence and the still-ongoing defections from the ANC to […]
KABUL, March 31 — The reclusive commander of the Pakistani Taliban said Tuesday that his fighters had carried out Monday’s bold assault on a police academy in eastern Pakistan and boasted that he was planning a terrorist attack in Washington that would astonish the world. Baitullah Mehsud, an Islamist leader from the South Waziristan tribal […]
With a ‘hello‘ between US Envoy Richard Holbrooke and an Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister garnering the most media attention, the International Conference on Afghanistan was underway at The Hague in Netherlands. This major conference features a geopolitical who’s who of actors influenced by the conflict, including representatives from Pakistan, Iran (wow, I didn’t know they […]
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