Hardly had the implications of Obama’s new approach to the war in Afghanistan sunk in that the carping began in Pakistan. The words that most stuck in the establishment’s craw were those that warned our generals that they could no longer expect a blank cheque from the Americans. Thus far, the Pentagon has been underwriting […]
The State Department intends on pursuing a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, an inter-governmental working group dedicated to human rights. Notably, the council often criticizes Israel for human rights violations, thereby drawing critiques from pro-Israel advocates. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman released the following statement, noting his interest in altering the […]
WASHINGTON: The attack on a police academy in Lahore indicates that religious terrorism, once confined to Pakistan’s tribal belt, now threatens political stability nationwide, The Washington Post observed on Tuesday. ‘The precisely orchestrated assault … was also a likely sign that militant groups in Punjab, once tolerated and even supported by the Pakistani state to […]
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif denied in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that he has had links with religious hardliners. He said the accusations were propaganda unleashed by General Pervez Musharraf, who deposed him in a coup in 1999. Although members of the PML-N sometimes characterise the war on terror as […]
It should be clear by now that we are at war with ourselves as the enemy within grows more audacious by the day. Yet there are educated people in this country who continue to blame American foreign policy and the ever-potent ‘foreign hand’ for the wave of terrorism sweeping the country. This argument is deeply […]
“In Pikalevo, something unusual for modern Russia is happening: the people are taking a stand against the government and its economic policies, blaming them as much as the factory-owners for their plight”. So states today’s BBC report by Richard Galpin, which chronicles recent industrial unrest stemming from the shut down of factories that serve as […]
New Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with The Atlantic on his first day in office, declaring the need for the United States to prevent a nuclear Iran. Netanyahu did not reject President Barack Obama’s attempts to use diplomacy with Iran, instead focusing on the eventual outcome of a nuclear-free Iran as the only important […]
On Sunday, the Afghan Supreme Court ruled in favor of extending the legality of Hamid Karzi’s term as president all the way until new elections, which are set to occur in late August. This is obviously a delicate matter as the country’s young constitution states that Karzai’s legitimate rule should end in May and opposition […]
Australian approval for Valin-Fortescue deal Australian authorities approved $438 million Chinese investment in Fortescue Metals Group, Australia’s third-largest iron ore miner. China’s state-owned Hunan Valin Iron and Steel Group received approval to take up to 17.55 percent of Fortescue. The Australian decision was relatively unexpected as a similar Chinese mining investment bid was blocked on […]
Overview Last week, the Russian Security Council released details of how it will conduct its Arctic policy through 2020 and beyond in a document entitled, “The fundamentals of Russian state policy in the Arctic up to 2020 and beyond.” (original document here, in Russian). Developing the Arctic is one of the Kremlin’s priorities, which is […]
The latest op-ed from left-wing journalist Amira Hass describes the need to dismiss democracy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in order to secure the future of the peace process. She claims that the Palestinian Authority must first establish a sovereign state, accomplished partially by a strong government not weakened by small or extreme […]
Even before the next government officially takes over, the ideologically divided Likud-led cabinet appears fragile and faces the threat of withdrawal of one coalition partner. Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu supposedly promised his greatest inter-party challenger, Silvan Shalom, the post of Foreign Minister in the event that Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, tapped to head the […]
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