Since last week’s release of the latest IAEA report on Iran’s nuke program, I have seen a schism between those who believe the report is noteworthy and those who think it is simply more of the same from the Agency. I fall firmly into the former camp. As I noted in my previous post, the […]
It is almost impossible to watch this documentary and not be moved to tears. It is a story about a Jewish woman, Arna Mer-Khamis, who created a children’s home and art center in the Palestinian refugee camp of Jenin. Even in her advanced age, Arna was a firebrand who railed against the occupation by Israelis. […]
The Republican presidential candidates didn’t exactly cover themselves with glory last night, which is perhaps not surprising, given that President Obama’s handling of foreign policy seems generally unassailable (even if he has not always explained and promoted his policies as well as he might, as some critics have complained). Gingrich and Romney expressed a position […]
Last month Secretary of State Hillary Clinton proclaimed, in an article for the Foreign Policy Magazine, ‘America’s Pacific Century’! This week, President Obama will be laying the foundation through a series of multilateral meetings involving Pacific Rim countries. He will start with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Hawaii (Nov 12th-13th), and continue at […]
I loved Robin Wright’s new book, Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion in the Islamic World. (And thanks to The Clash for inspiring the title!) The book couldn’t be more timely given current events. It is a smart, provocative and compelling read, and I recommend it for anyone who is interested in what happened across […]
Tomorrow (November 12) is World Pneumonia Day. Although it seems that there’s a commemorative event almost every day to increase awareness about various illnesses or health issues, pneumonia is one that the world should remember and take action on. Pneumonia is currently the number one killer of children worldwide, more than HIV/AIDS, malaria, and measles […]
The U.S. is taking time off today to honor veterans. The Veterans Day holiday is a time to give thanks and to pause and recognize the contributions of the more than 23 million veterans who served our country. The day is also observed all over the world by our allies as Armistice Day and Remembrance […]
The Keystone XL Pipeline extension proposed by TransCanada is current in planning limbo after the November 10 decision by the Obama administration not to make a decision on going ahead with or killing it. If and when built, it would bring crude from Alberta, Canada’s oils sands to the Gulf Coast of the US. The […]
Mark Hibbs, the former long-time Europe correspondent for Nucleonics Week and all-round specialist on global nuclear commerce, comments today on the IAEA’s Iran report. He notes that the agency has been unable to ferret out the line of command connecting Iran’s nuclear weapons program with the country’s political leadership, and speculates that the program may […]
Last week, Victor Bout, the infamous Russian arms dealer, was convicted by a New York grand jury on four counts of conspiracy to sell weapons to Colombian rebels. But, that is just the tip of the iceberg for this so called “merchant of death.” A former member of the Soviet Military and Intelligence Services, Bout […]
Further to the point I made in yesterday’s post regarding the changed tone in the most recent Iran safeguards report, Reuters has run a piece today which expands a bit on the Amano versus ElBaradei contrast regarding Iran. Describing the differences in style between the two IAEA DGs, Fredrik Dahl and Sylvia Westall write that […]
In May 2010, Israel raided a flotilla of aid ships determined to breach the maritime blockade of Gaza which activists claim violates international law by imposing collective punishment on the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. Nine activists were killed in the raid, which created a major international incident for Israel and Turkey, where the […]
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