Royal Dutch Shell has temporarily halted production at its biggest offshore oilfield, the Bonga installation, in Nigeria. The stoppage comes in response to an attack from the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). Nigeria might represent the quintessential example of the so-called oil or resource curse. By all rights Nigeria ought to […]
Getting health care and health care policy right is a continual battle for developed countries, as one hears cases of doctor and medical mishaps all to frequently, but one thing we have come to count on, at least here in the US, is that the blood transfusions we receive are clean and safe. A new […]
The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated two Venezuela-based supporters of Hizballah, Ghazi Nasr al Din and Fawzi Kan’an, along with two travel agencies owned and controlled by Kan’an. It is extremely troubling to see the Government of Venezuela employing and providing safe harbor to Hizballah facilitators and fundraisers. We will continue to expose […]
There seems to be new trouble brewing in the Baltics. Fresh on the heels of outlawing Soviet symbolism in what the BBC Russian affairs analyst Steven Eke called “the toughest bans on symbols from the Soviet past adopted in any of the 15 countries that emerged from the USSR”, Lithuania is now apparently in talks […]
At H-SAfrica, the scholarly listserv on southern Africa, editor Peter Limb notes that there appears to be traction on the part of regional leaders becoming more vocal in their criticism of Robert Mugabe and his regime: There certainly are signs of stronger views from Africa leaders: In Kenya, PM Raila Odinga says the run-off is […]
In a debate at the University of the Witwatersrand on Tuesday night Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool drew a link between the recent wave of xenophobic violence and larger currents of intolerance in the country. “Xenophobia, racism, sexism, in fact all fundamentalism, all acts of intolerance belong to one family and if you are to […]
On most days I could probably just cut and paste one of my other assessments of Zimbabwe, replete with links to grim and unremitting stories, and not only would most people not notice, but the old narrative would more than likely hold. Following this campaign is endlessly frustrating and at times a bit soul sucking. […]
“Russia Silences Tabloid” By Carl Schreck The National (UAE) "The fall of The eXile, which launched the career of Matt Taibbi, a political correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine, marks the end of perhaps the world's most unique publishing project." "Irreverent mix of vicious humour, sharp political analysis and shameless hedonism" "11 years of scorched-earth Gonzo […]
Today's front page of BBC World News Online contains an excellent article summing up the complexity of Mexico's drug war. The reporters went into cartel-controlled territory to expose the topics that Alejandro and I have been covering: 1) the flow of US arms to Mexican cartels 2) the resulting violence of public officials and drug […]
Afghanistan has found itself all over the news so much lately that you’d think it was running for President of the United States. On that regard, when was the last time John McCain went to Afghanistan to assess the situation, we know he's been to Iraq on many occasions, and what about Barack Obama, has […]
It's a little unnerving to think that 17 years of Russian history can be distilled into one bad 90s Swedish pop song. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/HMKahowfB_E” width=”425″ height=”350″ wmode=”transparent” /] Yet the struggles between business and the state, between Putin and Khodorkovsky, between liberals and siloviki, between the democrats and the Kremlin, far from being epic ideological […]
On Monday, a preparatory meeting for the launch of the National Christian Forum joined Free Patriotic Movement leader General Michel Aoun, Marada chief and former Minister Sleiman Franjieh, Tashnaq Secretary General Hovig Mekhtarian, and former Kataeb official Karim Pakradouni at Aoun's residence in Rabiyeh. The objective? "The aim was and will remain the compilation of […]
Popular from Press
