Mexico’s top drug kingpin manages to break out of jail again, likely with the complicity of junior officers. It’s hardly surprising when he is so unbelievably rich, and they are paid so little.
Category: Geopolitics
Can bug by-products help satisfy the world’s growing appetite for animal proteins? The French founders of Ynsect think so.
Under cover of darkness, right-wing militias felled a massive Lenin statue in Sloviansk. Now there’s talk of selling it to finance reconstruction in the war-damaged city.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had held one of the toughest lines against Tehran. He describes the quest for “efficient compromises for complex issues.”
After a devastating leak and allegations of working with oppressive regimes, the Milan technology firm’s founder responds to the critics.
PARIS — With celebrations from the streets to social media, Iranians have broadly welcomed Tuesday’s deal between their country and the six major world powers to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of international economic sanctions. Still, there are differing views about how the accord will actually affect the lives of the […]
Athens must make some painful changes to survive and preserve its Eurozone membership. But the monetary pact needs to be fundamentally changed.
Belarus will hold presidential elections in October, and President Alexander Lukashenko will face Tatiana Karatkevich, the first-ever female candidate. That is, of course, unless the all-powerful ruler changes his mind.
A timeline of a standoff that long seemed destined to continue, or worse.
Venezuela, facing economic turmoil and the challenge of upcoming legislative elections, is inflaming a centuries-old border dispute with Guyana.
PARIS — After a marathon 15-hour meeting, Greece and the 18 other Eurozone members finally reached an agreement to avoid a “Grexit.” The Greeks will keep the euro and receive financial support in exchange for implementing a stringent program of reforms by Wednesday at the latest. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras welcomed the deal which […]
QAMISHLI — Syrian President Bashar al-Assad“s smiling face beams down from a large billboard on the central artery of Qamishli, a city in northeast Syria. But further down the road towards the city’s eastern suburbs, what looks imposingly over the avenue is a portrait of a triumphant-looking Abdullah Ocalan, the anointed leader of Turkey’s Kurdish […]
MOSCOW — Alexander Prokhanov loves to play the bad guy. But he’s no character actor. He is editor-in-chief, since its founding in 1993, of Zavtra (Tomorrow), a Russian ultra-nationalist newspaper that is fiercely anti-Western and anti-American, as well as clearly anti-Semitic and homophobic. In his mess of an office, Prokhanov, 77, invites us to sit […]
From Facebook to Google, Baidu to VKontakte, the world’s biggest technology companies talk about their singular dedication to their users. Yet the road to becoming a global tech titan is inevitably lined with hard choices and conflicts of interest. Here are five prominent controversies where companies are accused of ceding to questionable demands of the […]
From Athens’ corrupt and radical politicians to the staid bankers and diplomats of Brussels, all are to blame for the crisis in Greece. An un-lesson for modern politics.
ANKARA — Turkey is still struggling to form a coalition government weeks after the Parliamentary elections that denied an outright majority to the ruling AKP party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But in the meantime, another pressing question has been raised in the halls of Ankara: Will Turkey enter Syria to create a so-called “buffer […]
Kommersant has learned that a former professor arrested last week in the Donbass region by Ukraine has been named as a Russian FSB agent.
Locals in the city of Palmyra speak out as ISIS threatens the treasured ancient ruins of their city, after destroying its notorious Assad regime prison that scarred so many.
This week we shine the spotlight on Indonesia: FLYING “ARMY AIR” An investigation into a military plane crash that killed 141 people near Medan on June 30 is ongoing, with new details sparking controversy. The C-130 Hercules that took off from Seowondo Air Force base in Sumatra was carrying several civilian passengers who may have […]
TEL AVIV — A whole lot of money is involved in the current Palestinian political struggles, with some suggesting that the ability to bring in the bucks is a non-official competition for the title to be the next president of the Palestinian authority. And no better way to judge that than to measure how notable […]
From Hungary to Switzerland, fortifications are rising in the heart of Europe, where the once-heralded borderless zone is being diminished by the day.
Amid all the talk of debt, defaults and deadlines, it is not easy to understand just what is actually going on in Greece. After yesterday’s momentous referendum, we shine the spotlight on five key points to offer a way out not only for Greece and the Eurozone, but for the rest of us on information […]
MAJDAL AL-SHAMS — Anger is boiling over in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, where local Syrian Druze on Monday attacked an ambulance and killed a wounded Syrian opposition fighter seeking medical treatment from the Israeli military. The fighter was a member of the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) in Quneitra and the Golan, according to that group’s Facebook page. The RCC is a coalition of different armed factions in Syria, many of which are hardline Islamist groups. The Druze, an offshoot sect of Shia Islam, are spread across the map of the Middle East, particularly in Syria, Lebanon and Israel. In the […]
PARIS — The Eurozone is going through the most serious crisis of its short history. It will emerge from it either stronger — but this requires exceptional leadership from European leaders who, so far, have shown none — or deeply weakened. If the latter is the case, we will look back in history and say […]
Greek voters have refused a bailout deal of billions of euros in exchange for more austerity measures, with a final result of 61.3% to 38.7%. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis announced he will step down in a blog post Monday morning due to pressure from Greece’s European partners, and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has vowed to […]
PARIS — France rolled out the proverbial red carpet this past week for Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, offering what one diplomatic source described as “presidential treatment.” The welcome contrasts with the second-fiddle status Li is used to back in China, where he is more often than not overshadowed by President Xi Jinping, with whom […]
Since ascending to the papacy two years ago, Pope Francis has been quietly and not-so-quietly leaving his mark on the world, pursuing a number of ambitious foreign policy goals. His nine-day trip to Latin America that begins Sunday will be mostly focused on pastoral issues. But from Cuba to Vietnam, the Middle East and environmental […]
After doing business with both Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and China, Brazil’s space program is going back to where it started: NASA.
The Confederation of Independent Football Associations (CONIFA) recently organized its first-ever European soccer championship. Could it be a credible alternative to the scandal-plagued FIFA?
In the wake of two devastating terror attacks, the fight for LGBT rights in a country that still criminalizes homosexuality has become even tougher.
As the conflict between Assad’s military and Syrian opposition forces escalates around the southern city of Daraa, religious minorities fear persecution from all sides.
Categories
Who Is The Real Alexis Tsipras?
Those who know him best say Greek Prime Minister Tsipras is driven by three contradictory strands. Profile of a leader battling his ‘inner troika.’
At 6 a.m. on Feb. 18, 2001, the roar of the engines from 12 Russian-built SU-27s ripped through Vietnamese airspace. Within minutes, burning phosphorus, shrapnel and delayed-reaction mines were falling on Vietnam’s main naval base. Operation Dragon Strike had begun. An hour later, a Chinese M-17 troop transport helicopter fired warning shots while six fiberglass […]
Greece, confronted by its creditors, and Iran, facing a showdown over the nuclear dossier, may have less to lose from the failure to reach an agreement than their counterparts.
MELBOURNE — For nearly an hour the audience sits in silence as Feryal Ali Gauhar paces the stage, delivering a solo performance that spans three continents and tells the story of various women; mothers and daughters, the wealthy elite and domestic maids. All the characters in the play are based on real-life stories and have a common theme of gender-based violence and control at the hands of men. “It’s a very immediate medium,” she later explains. “For most women in the audience it is an experience that is close to them. The debate begins really on the journey home with […]
Seifeddine Rezgui, perpetrator of last Friday’s attack in Sousse, often prayed at the “God’s Mercy” mosque in Kairouan, Tunisia. A look inside.
MISRATA — It’s a strange city where 15-year-old kids can be seen jumping behind the wheel of semi-wrecked cars, where the scenery they pass is made mostly of building facades blackened by mortar shells. In Misrata, the screeches of tires at the roundabout resemble the piercing sound of war sirens. The Libyan revolution here is […]
A decade after Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, many sites have been reduced to ruins. Others are now symbols of Hamas’ mission to build a new state.
The number of Brazilians living and working in the United States is growing fast, yet neither government has taken the steps necessary to mobilize this community.
Too many nations and peoples with too many grievances. A wealth divide that grows deeper. A new (new) world order is needed, with the U.S. and China firmly in charge.