Where were we when we last discussed the soap opera that is soccer’s governing body (and veritable global behemoth), FIFA? Ah yes, President Sepp Blatter — who, given the power of his position and the popularity of the sport, is arguably as influential as the Pope — claimed he was going to clean up the sport for good if re-elected on …
Africa
Schengen Revision: The Backstory To Tightening Europe’s Borders
Mystery solved–of sorts. As noted in a recent Global Spin post on moves to revise the Schengen treaty, alterations now being suggested by European Union officials are curious in two ways. First, they don’t really create any new powers for Schengen member states to re-establish border controls in the face of urgent situations; the …
Signs of Fatigue and Unease as Europe Struggles with Libyan and Syrian Crises
Despite intensified NATO bombings and important gains made by the rebels who are fighting loyalists of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on Tuesday, it seems increasingly clear that the clock is ticking on the international community’s involvement in Libya’s civil war — and that doubts about the outcomes of other Arab Spring uprisings …
Abyei: The Flashpoint of a Sudanese Maelstrom
By mid-January, the world heaved a massive sigh of relief when a hotly anticipated referendum over the secession of southern Sudan passed with minimal violence. In July, South Sudan is set to formally become an independent state, sundering in half Africa’s biggest country. But as more high-profile conflicts raged in the Ivory Coast, …
Arrested Suspects Increase Speculation Of Al Qaeda Involvement In Marrakech Bombing
A full week after a bomb devastated a popular tourist café in Marrakech killing 16 people and injuring 21 others, Moroccan authorities announced the arrest of three suspects in the attack. Yet despite the information released in the wake of those detentions, it’s still uncertain whether the strike was the work of local extremists …
French National Soccer Rocked By Accusations Of Racist Quotas
In the wake of its 1998 World Cup win, France’s victorious national soccer team was a source of French pride beyond its success in bagging the country’s first world crown. It was also celebrated for its black, blanc, beur make-up: the mix of black, white, and ethnic Arab stars who in the space of a month gelled as a peerless …
In the Country Where the War on Terror Began, bin Laden’s Death offers Cold Comfort
On the corner of Moi and Haile Selassie Avenues in downtown Nairobi, a small, grassy garden favored by office workers on a lunch break, where a takeaway stand sells quarter chickens for 120 Kenyan shillings ($1.40), marks the start of the war on terror. It was here, at 10.30am on August 7, 1998, that Osama bin Laden first made good on …
In Libya’s West, Battles Rage Along the Tunisian Border
The battle for Libya spilled across the border on Friday as forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi clashed with Tunisian troops after chasing rebel fighters through the mountainous border areas. They also fired shells into the Tunisian town of Dahiba, wounding one resident. The fighting erupted nearly a week after the rebel forces had …
Why Americans Care More Than Brits Do About the Royal Wedding
A quick glance at the news from the real world and it’s not hard to see why the media-consuming public of the United States appears willing to lose itself in the fantastic miasma created by saturation coverage of the Disney-for-adults spectacle of a British royal wedding.
There’s nothing new about the decline of the erstwhile empire …
An Ally in Gitmo: the Story of Sufian bin Qumu
On Battleland, Mark Thompson rightly says that the leaked tranche of documents detailing interrogations with detainees in Guantanamo Bay contains “no bombshells.” We’ve known for a while that methods of interrogation deployed there were suspect, if not in violation of international conventions, and that dozens of inmates were seized and …
Is Gaddafi Trying to Start a Tribal War?
After being pounded for weeks by mortar and rocket fire, the city of Misratah experienced a brief lull earlier this weekend as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi allegedly withdrew from the war-ravaged port. The government’s deputy foreign minister, Khalid Kaim, claimed operations had been suspended so that tribal leaders could negotiate a …
Bernard-Henri Lévy: France’s Libya Warmonger-in-Chief
French media celebrity (and one time philosopher) Bernard-Henri Lévy has been called many things over the years by his equally large and outspoken armies of detractors and supporters. “Curveball”, however, was never among them. It might be time to consider adding that name to the list. Because Lévy was essential to French President …
McCain Visits Rebels In Libya And Calls For Increased Support
Is Sen. John McCain’s visit Friday morning to the Benghazi strong-hold of Libya’s rebel forces a sign of creeping escalation in the conflict with strongman Muammar Gaddafi that may lead to eventual troop deployment by Western nations? Impossible to know at this point, of course, but events coinciding with McCain’s visit to …
