Sean McCormack, State Dept. spokesman, declines to confirm both the possibility of alternatives to a SOFA and the intelligence demonstrating Iran's meddling. He “is right in the middle of the spectrum, which says that we are continuing to work on the SOFA.”
In Saudi Arabia, women and men disagree over whether a law banning men from working in lingerie stores should be enforced. Sawt al Nisaa, a women's advocacy group, is poised to begin a boycott of lingerie stores who refuse to enforce teh law, which was designed to bring more women into the workforce. Market forces […]
Whenever my girlfriend goes home to her native Milan, it does wonders for her Russian. Wading through the swarm of Slav fashion slaves on Via Montenapoleone packs more listening comprehension than did her entire grad school course. Last week, she went shopping with her older sister, who wanted to celebrate a recent promotion by […]
“Every blog has the commentariat it deserves”, observed sad young literary man and post-Soviet film critic Konstantin Gessen. For a long time, this axiom was clearly borne out by many cryptic, subtly menacing, and downright bizarre comments on this blog (eg. “Wasn't easier (sic) to get rid of Saakashvili by buying him a stove made […]
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has issued a decree paving the way for the establishment of diplomatic ties with Lebanon and the opening of an embassy, the official SANA news agency said on Tuesday. The decree provides for “the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Syrian Arab Republic and the Lebanese republic and the creation of […]
The African National Congress has acted swiftly against the breakaway factions, led by Mosiuoa Lekota, by suspending Lekota and Lekota's former deputy, Mluleki George and threatening further disciplinary action. Lekota is purporting to be shocked and wronged, but that seems disingenuous. He effectively walked away from the party and promised that he was going to […]
The new campus of the American University in Cairo is experiencing some growing pains as students and teachers complain of unfinished buildings and incomplete facilities. All this is to be expected as a major institution relocates its entire operation. A decade from now I anticipate a fully functioning university attracting Arab students from all over […]
Iraq and the US have yet to reach consensus on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). Maliki's summary of the sticking point is as follows: On Saturday, Maliki outlined a somewhat different position. “If Iraqi and American soldiers move in an operation that is pre-agreed by both sides, then they have immunity unless [an American] […]
On October 6, Federal Judge Ricardo Urbina ordered the release of 17 Uighurs imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, arguing that the US government had no evidence and no right to hold them as ‘enemy combatants.’ The Bush administration has already stated that these 17 prisoners are not a security threat and conceded that they do not […]
Lahem al Nasser, a frequent commentator on Islamic finance, has an opinion piece in Al Sharq al Awsat (English) contending that, had the West followed Islamic banking restrictions, the current banking crisis would not have been. The Economist's briefing of several weeks ago asserted something similar. The two perspectives diverge on the relative merits of […]
The threats started about a year ago, telling Haroon Bacha to stop singing or else. "There were letters, there were phone calls, there were text messages," Mr. Bacha said, sitting upright on a floor in Brooklyn, surrounded by smoke from Pakistani cigarettes. "They used to come very frequently back home, just telling me to stop […]
The BBC interviews a Palestinian woman who recently completed training to become a suicide bomber. According to MSNBC's correspondent, female suicide bombers in Iraq are sort of old news.
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