Analysis: Russia’s decision to block a resolution condemning Assad regime is both morally repugnant and diplomatically short-sighted. The “river of history” cannot be stopped, and Syrians and the Arab world at large will remember Moscow’s stance.
Category: Geopolitics
Abd al-Hadi Rafa Ghanim is one of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners exchanged for Israeli solider Gilad Shalit, who’d been held hostage for five years by Hamas. Ghanim makes no apologies for the 16 murders he committed, but has no interest in further v
The lynchpin at the center of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, Mohsen Fakrizadeh has drawn comparisons to both Robert Oppenheimer and Pakistan’s Abdul Qadeer Khan. U.N. inspectors would love to meet the elusive scientist. Others want him dead.
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China In Africa, A Risky Business
Analysis: Two recent kidnappings of Chinese workers – one in Sudan and the other in Egypt – have shown China that doing business in Africa comes at a price. But with their cultural insularity and tendency to carry cash, are Chinese businessmen exposing th
In Port Said, Egypt, more than 70 people were killed after violence erupted at the end of a Wednesday night soccer match. But some are already asking whether the authorities, trying to reassert control after the Arab spring movement, may have played a rol
Analysis: Longstanding diplomatic and business ties with Damascus, and memories of the West’s about-face on Libya are among the key reasons Russia won’t give in on a UN resolution on Syria. But from Moscow, there’s also Vladimir
As embattled Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh looks to be finally relinquishing power, the nation must struggle to avoid the longstanding tribal and regional divisions. For charismatic opposition leader Yassin Said Numan, it has been his life’
Desperate for all the help they can get, backers of French President Nicolas Sarkozy are welcoming a recent show of support from German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Sarkozy is trailing his socialist rival, François Hollande, ahead of France’s May election.
Mani, a photojournalist with Le Monde, was in Homs, Syria on Jan. 26 when he finds out about a massacre of a local family. Rebels lead him past enemy territory to see the bodies of the victims, including several young children. This is his account.
Two decades after its own civil war, Algeria was relatively calm as the revolutions of the past year rolled across most of its North Africa neighbors. But with legislative elections slated this spring, both pro-democracy and pro-Islamist parties are deman
In a new book called “My Father, Kim Jong Il and Me,” Japanese journalist Yoji Gomi offers a rare glimpse into North Korea’s ultra-secret halls of power. The book is based on lengthy interviews and e-mails with Kim Jong Nam, the late Kim
As the New Year vacation closes and presidential election nears, Russia’s attention is turning to the planned anti-Putin demonstration on Feb. 4. But with protesters spanning the spectrum from extreme left to Neo-Nazis, some wonder if opposition unity is
Analysis: Elections are scheduled this year in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Venezuela. In Mexico, the centrist PRI is favored to regain control of the government. In Venezuela, Chávez is looking to hang on to power – health permitting.
Israel is home to roughly 100,000 Falashas, black Jews of Ethiopian descent. They have no government representation and say they’re treated like second-class citizens. Led by a hitherto unknown man named Molat Araro, the Falashas are finally starting to s
The Kirchners – first Néstor and then his wife, Cristina Fernández – have occupied Argentina’s Casa Rosada presidential palace since 2003. Could son Maximo, a rising political star, keep the family in power beyond 2016, when Cristina’s second term ends?
The French Senate passed a controversial law this week that makes it a crime to deny that Armenians were victims of a Turkish genocide. Turkey’s Prime Minister Erdogan had angry words for France, but a closer look shows Ankara may have another st
Op-Ed: South American neighbors Chile and Peru have both failed to equitably distribute their new-found wealth. Leaders must offer more than hollow promises, or unrest like the protests over Chilean education and Peruvian mining is bound to intensify.
To mark the anniversary of the day that sparked the Arab spring’s most momentous revolution, a reporter visits the homes of those Egyptians who didn’t live to see it through. The remains of their lives are both painful memories for their
Judge Garzón rose to prominence for ordering the arrest of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Now, the famed judge is the defendant after a right-wing Spanish attorney accused the crusading magistrate of illegally opening national wounds from the Franco E
Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov outlines to Kommersant his presidential program, titled a “Real Future.” He wants to cut the presidential term to four years, privatize industry and foster a free press. Are they just words?
Analysis: European leaders accuse Hungary of violating E.U. laws and putting democratic principles at risk. Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban made a special visit to the European Parliament last week. But his conciliatory tone doesn’t mean he
Analysis: The big winner of last week’s elections in Kazakhstan was never in doubt – the president’s party Nur Otan. But due to a recent change in the law, for the first time the parliament is required to have at least one other party represented
After a bitter Socialist primary campaign won by Francois Hollande, Martine Aubry, the party leader and primary runner-up has put all her weight behind her former rival. And If Hollande unseats Nicolas Sarkozy for the Presidency, Aubry may be headed for t
Op-Ed: The killing of French troops by an Afghan soldier has much of France, including President Sarkozy, questioning the country’s continued presence in Afghanistan. A broader hostility to foreigners may also weigh on President Obama’s
Essay: The world probably won’t end in 2012, as some apocalyptic theorists predict. But things still look a bit scary, even from the relatively stable confines of Latin America, as an ever-interconnected global map sizzles with conflict.
By now, the world knows Captain Schettino, accused of steering the Costa Concordia liner into shallow waters, then abandoning the passengers of his sinking ship. But there is another Captain, Gregorio De Falco, who desperately tried to order Schettino to
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would veto any UN Security Council resolution targeting Syrian President Assad’s regime, especially any military strikes. It is the latest sign of deep-seated Russian tensions with the West over Syria. An
For the first time in modern history, Russia is turning to foreign weapons manufacturers to boost its military arsenal. Russia’s armed forces have already signed contracts with Italy and France.
Essay: As the death toll climbs in Italy’s cruise ship disaster, Concordia captain Francesco Schettino must answer charges that he abandoned his post in the hour of greatest need. It’s a tale as old as the sea itself, where courage or fe
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Egypt’s Africa Problem
Analysis: While everyone from Chinese to Turks is busy profiting from Africa’s newfound economic growth, Egypt has been slow to capitalize on opportunities on its own continent. It’s a question of both initiative and identity for a count
The small Baltic nation was caught between Soviet and Nazi ambitions, and Estonian members of SS units are remembered by some for staving off the Red Army. But others can’t forget that some 1,000 Estonian Jews, 250 Roma and 7,000 Christians were
Along the river Evros, at the Turkish border, the Greek town of Nea Vyssa has become the first point of arrival for immigrants coming from all points east. Nowhere can you see better both the hopes and futility of the waves of immigration that continue to
Panic was unleashed aboard the Costa Concordia after it ran aground Friday night off the tiny Italian island of Giglio. Claudio Masia, 49, had his entire family to rescue, from his two children to his elderly parents. In the end, he couldn’t quit
“Tunisia Has Not Become Islamist…” So declares newly installed President of the Republic Moncef Marzouki, a longtime opposition leader, now considered the secularist counterweight to the majority Islamist party, Ennahda.
Op-Ed: As the winter presidential campaign sets to heat up, Vladimir Putin has laid out a campaign platform that is intended to neither inspire nor enrage. So lacking in ambition, his list of promises even includes goals that have already been achieved.
Essay: A writer tries to imagine the mentality inside the Egyptian interior ministry, after a new crackdown has reasserted some control of the state’s security apparatus. That protesters again paid the ultimate price may be of secondary concern i
A R A B I C A ارابيكا EGYPTIAN JUSTICE Despite a revolution that culminated on February 11, 2011 when President Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power, Egypt’s unresolved past continues to haunt the present. Deposed dictator Hosni Mubarak returned to court as the prosecution presented its case against him. A group of lawyers have […]
Questions about controversial foreign exchange transactions cost Philipp Hildebrand his job as president of the Swiss National Bank. Swiss leaders are eager to put the affair behind them. But the damage to the country’s financial credibility may already b
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A New Threat Of Civil War In Nigeria
Op-ed: Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is also one of the continent’s most promising. But it has become synonymous with danger. The oil giant, which has already proven its ability to sink into terrible ethnic and religious wars, appears once agai
Analysis: In some way, one full year after the Jan. 25 revolution began, the same standoff is at play between a military-led establishment and a grassroots popular movement. And controlling the message, and the media, is as central as ever to each camp.