The leaders of Britain’s government have been facing an increasingly skeptical citizenry in terms of the nation’s troop presence in Afghanistan, but they are fighting to keep morale and support for what they still believe is ‘the biggest source of threat to our national security’. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Foreign Minister David Miliband made […]
Putin, according to Forbes, which has named the Russian Prime Minister the third most powerful man on Earth, towering not only above Oprah (45) and Google CEOs Brin and Page (5) but also, conspicuously, above his own president (Medvedev, 43). Forbes goes on to declare Putin the ‘anti-Obama’, who ‘might as well be known as […]
There have been growing signals, some blatant, that the Obama administration is looking for a way out of Afghanistan, even as they are still in the process of deciding on a new strategy, which is likely to involve the deployment of thousands more American and NATO troops. It of course is prudent for the US […]
According to the Jamestown Foundation, on October 29, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev promoted his son, Maksim Bakiyev, to lead the Central Agency on Development, Investment, and Innovation. This agency controls all foreign funds entering the country, along with control of major national hydroelectric and gold companies. Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s network of clients is growing stronger, to […]
The Russian government may not have a stellar judicial record, as Khodorkovsky can confirm. Yet the fact that he is alive at all he owes to his country’s even worse democratic record. You see, whereas “a recent survey shows around two thirds of Russians support the death penalty”, Medvedev and the Kremlin apparat are committed […]
Happy Veteran’s Day! In honor of all American vets, and the foreign vets who have fought by our side in many wars, especially in Afghanistan, I would like to highlight President Obama’s Ft. Hood Memorial speech. Obama’s Memorial speech was one of his best and he really touched on why/how special the US military has […]
Don’t get me wrong: I cried as much as anyone when I watched the BBC 9 o’clock newscast from November 9, 1989. In fact, it was precisely the raw human solidarity behind those unforgettable scenes that exposed the farcical, hypocritical and self-serving nature of the official commemorations marking the fall of the wall tonight. Merkel, […]
The Global South, it seems. According to a BBC poll published on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, “opinion about the disintegration of the Soviet Union is sharply divided. Europeans overwhelmingly say it was a good thing: 79% in Germany, 76% in Britain and 74% in France feel that way. But outside […]
Inside sources in the Obama administration have let it be known that an Afghan strategy has been chosen, but we won’t officially hear about until the week of November 16, after Obama is back from his Asia tour (where he will meet with another dictator). Until we hear more I’ll have you enjoy some ex-football […]
My last post chronicled the large numbers of people (45% of Russians and up to 62% of Ukrainians) made worse off by the fall of the USSR. But what about the rest? One man who certainly did not figure among them was Misha, the hero of a vivid, at times zany, groteque and poignant fictionalised […]
I would just like to highlight this amazing story: A British Army explosives specialist who became a legend by risking his life to defuse more than 60 Taliban roadside bombs was killed in Afghanistan during his final mission before he took leave, the Times of London reported Tuesday. The specialist’s name was Staff Sergeant Olaf […]
After twenty years of post-Communism, it’s time to ask: cui bono? According to a sweeping Pew Research Center poll of Eastern Europeans released yesterday, “the prevailing view in Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary is that people were better off economically under communism. Only in the Czech Republic and Poland do pluralities believe that […]
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