There’s been much speculation about whether Egyptian-style uprisings might spread south across the Sahara into Africa, particularly to the seat of the continent’s most notorious despot, Robert Mugabe. Mugabe’s regime has been particularly paranoid about the possibility, arresting 46 people for watching news reports of the rebellions in …
Democracy
Washing Away a Call to Protest in Beijing
Any hint of “jasmine revolution” in Beijing was swept away Sunday, first by legions of police, then by trucks spraying water onto a shopping street in the center of the Chinese capital. There was no sign of protest, and once again the turnout was largely security forces, foreign reporters and curious tourists.
Anonymous organizers …
Africa’s Feeble Response to Libya
Why has Africa’s response to the Libyan regime’s shooting of protesters – and hiring of African mercenaries to actually pull the triggers – been so weak? So far, the continent’s reaction amounts to this: the African Union has condemned “the disproportionate use of force against civilians,” which pretty much implies that cracking down on …
Online and on the Streets, China Still Fears Its Own”Jasmine Revolution”
The call to meet with the police came at about 5 p.m. on Friday. I suggested that as it was getting late, perhaps we could meet next week. The caller declined, and instead she gave me a rapid-fire review of China’s reporting rules, namely that reporters must get subjects’ permission before conducting interviews. The reason for the …
A Message to Gaddafi’s Loyalists
The international community is finally beginning to coalesce around something like a strategy for Libya. The Obama Administration is talking about sanctions, there’s a move to freeze the Gaddafi family’s international assets, and proposals to blockade Tripoli.
These are all excellent ideas, and need immediate action. But they won’t …
How America Overestimates China’s Rise
Here are my quick two cents from a trip back to the U.S. from China. Two years ago when I was last here, I felt like the smart, educated people I talked to underestimated China’s rise. Yes, the Olympics had shown the world that Beijing was a big city full of modern buildings and amazingly talented athletes. But there was still this …
Winds of Libyan Change Envelop British Government in Stench
Tony Blair’s 2004 meeting with Muammar Gaddafi was momentous by any standards. Blair’s arrival in Libya marked the first visit to the country by a British prime minister since 1943, and proceeded against protests by some relatives of the Lockerbie dead. His purpose was to encourage Gaddafi’s perceived desire “to make common cause with us …
Algeria Rescinds Emergency Powers–But Isn’t Bending To Popular Unrest
Was the lifting Thursday of Algeria’s 19-year state of emergency a sign the country’s corrupt, authoritarian regime is responding to the growing public unrest that brought down the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt—and now looks set to topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi? Without any doubt. Yet it would be naïve to interpret the repealing …
What to Expect When Sarah Palin Goes to India
Sarah Palin is going to India next month to speak at the 10th annual India Today Conclave, a high profile talk shop of “global thought leaders” hosted in the Indian capital by one of the country’s leading magazines (its cover design is conspicuously similar to another newsweekly with a red border). Palin will be speaking alongside …
Could the Arab Spring Have Removed Saddam?
In early 2003, some weeks before the start of the Iraq war, I had a conversation about nonviolent protest with my friend Na’il, in Baghdad. Although he was assigned by Saddam Hussein’s information ministry to monitor my movements, Na’il was no fan of the Iraqi dictator. Whenever we were alone, he spoke candidly about his desire to leave …
No News Isn’t Good News
Travel broadens the mind—unless your destination is a news-free bubble.
In London I supplement a daily fix of print, online and broadcast news by talking to primary sources including politicians and their back-room teams, in person, on the phone, by email and via Twitter and Facebook. During the past week I’ve been in California, a …
That Venezuela Rumor: Why Gaddafi Could Flee to Chavez
The big rumor wafting out of the bloody unrest in Libya over the weekend – that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had taken refuge in Venezuela – had become so widespread that when Gaddafi appeared on state television on Tuesday, one of his first messages was: “I am here in Tripoli and not in Venezuela.”
The global media had been …