Juan Camilo Mourino, Mexican Interior Minister, has been killed in a plane crash in Mexico City. Mourino was not only the second most important politician in the country, but also a close ally and advisor of President Felipe Calderon. Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, a former high-ranking official at the Unit of Special Investigations on Organized […]
Please, vote. Look up your polling place here.
… to voice their opposition as Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party holds its annual conference. Opposition groups denied a permit to hold another, contemporaneous conference in Cairo took their gathering online. You can check out the blog at anti-NDP.blogspot.com (Arabic).
In honor of Election Day here in America, how about we remind the two presidential candidates of a tremendously volatile and challenging issue they will all of a sudden be responsible for; Afghanistan/Pakistan democracy and stability. President-elect Obama or McCain will face quite the number of tests, and defeating the Taliban and Al Qaeda, bringing […]
The Brookings Institution's Middle East Youth Initiative is following the developments of the global economic whatever-we-are-calling it in a series called Food, Fuel and Finance: How Will the Middle East Weather the Global Economic Crisis? Slipping Oil Prices: is the Oil-Rich Middle East Prepared?, the first installment, offers a brief history of oil revenues over […]
During the past two weeks my mid-term exams at Georgetown University have consumed nearly all my time. After several papers, I’ve nearly finished my mid-terms with only one more to go in Economics for Latin American Studies… That said, I should be back on track writing frequently for the Mexico blog, along with Alejandro. In […]
A major consideration behind Congressional attempts to condition or reduce Egyptian military aid is the concern that Egypt is preparing for aggressive military action towards Israel. The late Tom Lantos led the initiative in Congress. He had this to say in June 2004 during a subcommittee meeting of the House Committee on International Relations: Cairo […]
Just last Thursday, Kazakhstan's thriving capitol, Astana, hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's Heads of Government Council meeting. I could not find many reports about what was accomplished at the meeting besides the official statement from the group's website, which was drier than a drought in the Sahara's. The official statement reported that the group's members […]
Who says Russia has no soft power? Well, Robert Amsterdam, for one. He has argued that the Russian invasion of Georgia illustrated its woeful loss of any sort of diplomatic legitimacy. Outside of polite society, it has been a point beaten to death by such brownshirted bloggers as la Russophobe: “Russia's need to rely on […]
Hizbullah's General Conference ended speculations regarding keeping its Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in his current position, following a Fatwa (religious decree) by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei allowing him to maintain his top post. The Kuwaiti daily al–Rai said that the conference is mulling naming senior Hizbullah commander Mustapha Shehadeh to succeed the late […]
Cote D’Ivoire is supposed to have a long-awaited presidential election this year. Elections are, of course, a crucial marker on the way to true liberal democracy in Africa and anywehere. But human rights observers have increasingly expressed concerns that rushing to have an election just for the sake of having an election might prove to […]
On 11/5, Secretary Rice will start a four-day trip to Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Palestine. I guess she's decided the term “lame duck” won't apply to her. Although, I know that I expect to hear about nothing but the presidential election over those four days; we’ll see whether that's the case for her.
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