Kyrgyzstan's capital of Bishkek, which just last week hosted a Commonwealth of Independent States CIS summit, was the site of a meeting between US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher and President Bakiyev and a following news conference. Boucher stated that the two sides discussed security and energy relations and issues. Specifically, the US sponsored […]
Foreign Policy magazine had several heavyweights in the field make their recommendations for the next administration's cabinet. Frequent mentions include Robert Gates, to stay in his current position, Indra Nooyi, Susan Rice, and Richard Holbrooke (different contributors assigned those three to different positions). The funniest “Dream Team” pick? Sarah Palin for Ambassador to Russia.
From The Times of London: Negotiations to save Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal descended into farce yesterday when the party of the Prime Minister-designate Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted a regional summit aimed at saving last month's "historic" deal after its leader was denied a passport. “Farce” is just about the perfect word. It boggles the imagination.
ISLAMABAD: An unusual parliamentary debate designed to forge a Pakistani policy on how to fight the Taliban and Al Qaeda has exposed deep ambivalence about the militants, even as their reach extends to suicide attacks in the capital. Calls for dialogue with the Taliban, peppered with opposition to fighting what is perceived as an American […]
The ways the world's leading newspapers have covered NATO's efforts in Afghanistan and the situation on the ground there have morphed several times in recent years. After taking a backseat to the War in Iraq for nearly 4 years, the Afghan conflict came back into the mainstream about a year ago, mainly with statements that […]
Even those of us who follow Zimbabwe cannot really fathom the nature of the country's hyperinflation, which makes money worthless even as the government simply prints more money with higher denomination notes. This report from IRIN tries to make sense of a day in the life of Zimbabweans dealing with the country's worthless currency.
Times of London reports that terrorists and child pornographers overlap in the recesses of the internet, using some of the same tactics to transmit incrimination information without being caught. Quote: The realisation that there might be something in common between violent Muslim fanatics known for their supposed piety and sexual deviants who prey on children […]
Mona Makram Ebeid, former member of Parliament and now distinguished lecturer at the American University of Cairo, describes her experience at the Democratic National Convention in Al Ahram. In sum: To conclude, the convention, as much as I enjoyed being there, was more about a sensation — euphoria — than a speech tackling the country's […]
How does one reconcile the governmental promotion of atheism in a society with strongly entrenched religious beliefs and customs? The Chinese communist government has tried to square this circle for years now, and the Xinjiang Province's Uighur Muslim majority has proven its greatest challenge. Edward Wong of the New York Times explores this societal conflict […]
WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda, which has mutated over the years, is now a loose network without a hierarchy, made up of groups that are global, fluid and unpredictable, former federal minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao told the US Institute of Peace on Friday. He said Al Qaeda's appeal is "inspirational" and it does not operate an […]
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will conclude negotiations on the Economic Stabilisation Programme this week in Abu Dhabi, a senior official in the Finance Ministry told Daily Times on Sunday. The official said negotiations on the micro-economic programme would enable Pakistan to seek lending from the IMF without further negotiations if Pakistan […]
IN the sixty-second year of independence the political dilemma facing the people of Pakistan is the same as it was in the first year ‚ in whom the executive authority of the state vests and who actually exercises it? It became an issue serious enough in the lifetime of Mr Jinnah to have persuaded him […]
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