The revolution which swept away a dynasty and altered political Islam for the rest of our lives turned 29 today, marked by celebrations in the Iranian capital of Tehran. (Ahmadinejad speaks in front of a giant mural. ABACA via Middle East Times) During the celebrations, Ahmadinejad struck what will inevitably be called “a defiant note.” […]
Charles R. Stith, a former US ambassador to Tanzania and director of the African Presidential Archives and Research Center at Boston University, has an op-ed piece in today's Boston Globe endorsing the Millennium Challenge Initiative as a way to help develop Africa. He argues that partisan squabbling over the amount of funding to provide the […]
There can be little doubt that the past year has been the most trying in Thabo Mbeki's oft-tumultuous presidency. Tonight he gave his State of the Union address before parliament. He certainly had plenty of fodder from which to work: The electricity crisis, crime, poverty, the daunting prospect of hosting the 2010 World Cup, and […]
Take your pick on Kenya: Grim pessimism or cautious optimism? By my nature I try to steer clear of Afro-pessimism, so I’ll side with the latter, well aware that the former always has a case to make in contemporary Africa.
Robert Mugabe is going to face a surprise challenge in the upcoming election that he called recently (to great outcry from the opposition and observers of the country's politics). Simba Makoni, a former finance minister whom Mugabe forced out of office in 2002, appears to have the support of many dissidents within ZANU-PF as well […]
Seymour Hersh has an in-depth look at the Israeli attack of Syria last year, which some claim was an attack on some kind of nuclear facility. Hersh is always worth a read. Here is a teaser. Sometime after midnight on September 6, 2007, at least four low-flying Israeli Air Force fighters crossed into Syrian airspace […]
US soldiers have killed three members of a family in Tikrit, after US officials said that the troops were fired on before entering the house. However, The New York Times is reporting that an AP correspondent quoted a relative as alleging that the US soldiers kicked open the door of the house and began firing […]
We've all read that Beijing is bringing its A-game for the upcoming Olympic games. As a major milestone and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show face as a key international player, the country is busying itself with strategic preparations to deliver an effective and meaningful sale this summer.The number 8, when pronounced in Mandarin (ba), rhymes with […]
[Christoper Padilla by Al Diaz for the Miami Herald] In 2000, under the direction of the Clinton Administration, the US found itself at a critical juncture for decision: further integrate China into the global economy, or throw away decades spent building a trusting relationship? Now, with the deepening bilateral trade deficit, the US finds itself […]
Jamestown has two new pieces on Yemen out today, one by one of America's foremost experts on terrorism, and another by the sharpest young Yemeni scholar out there. The latter, by Gregory Johnsen, analyzes al-Qaeda's new strategy in their attacks. Over the past six months, al-Qaeda in Yemen's strategy has become increasingly clear. It aims […]
The Chronicle Review of the Chronicle of Higher Education has a lengthy feature on Chinua Achebe and his now fifty-year-old classic Things Fall Apart.
The big story out of Iraq this weekend was the admission by the United States that it had killed nine civilians accidentally in an airstrike targeting Al-Qaeda forces in Iskanadariya. The Guardian's piece is quite descriptive, saying that an Iraqi officer described the victims as Sunni members of the Al-Ghrir tribe. What's interesting is the […]
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