The embattled regime of Bashar Assad is losing foreign friends fast, but not the will to punish its enemies at home. The Syrian government has been circling the wagons, making hollow promises for reform while keeping up a sustained, brutal campaign against the country’s opposition. According to some counts, over 2,000 people have …
Tokyo Prepares to Lift Some Evacuation Areas
Residents living in one of the evacuation areas surrounding the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant may see a measure of normalcy return to their neighborhoods next month. On Tuesday, Goshi Hosono, the official overseeing Tokyo’s response to the nuclear crisis, said that the so-called “emergency preparation evacuation zone” …
After Silence, Dissident Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei Speaks to State Media
Ai Weiwei, the Chinese contemporary artist who was detained for nearly three months earlier this year, has begun to speak out once again on Twitter. And after a period of silence following his June release, he has given his first lengthy interview, to the English-language edition of the Communist Party’s Global Times tabloid. Ai’s …
Massive Protests Raise the Question: Should Israel be More European or American?
Back in February when Egyptians took to the streets to overthrow longtime Israel’s longtime friend and ally Hosni Mubarak, many Israelis fretted over what ill wind the “Arab Spring” would bring. Would a more democratic Egyptian government veer away from the U.S.-Israel axis and ally with Hamas? Would it abrogate the Camp David treaty …
Babylon’s Burning (Again!): Top 10 British Riot Songs of the Early ’80s
London’s streets have burned before, and not only during the Great Fire of 1666 or the Luftwaffe’s 1940 “Blitz”. The late 1970s saw England’s economy mired in recession, mass unemployment leaving youth alienated, angry and without hope. The streets burned with a continuous series of clashes between angry young people and authorities, …
The Alan Gross Affair: The U.S. and Cuba Begin Their Dysfunctional Diplomatic Dance
Corrected Aug. 10 2011
Now that Cuba’s highest court has upheld the 15-year prison sentence for U.S. development worker Alan Gross, the key question is whether President Raúl Castro will free him as a humanitarian gesture. Castro has hinted he’s willing to do that. But there are other important questions to consider: Does Castro …
What the London Riots Spell for the British Prime Minister
by Nick Assinder/London
After three nights of violence, arson and looting that have left parts of London looking like a war zone, Prime Minister David Cameron has one pressing question to answer from citizens looking to him for reassurance and action: Who controls Britain’s streets?
Throughout Monday night and the early hours …
No Gloating from India Over U.S. Downgrade
Indian businesses are worried, even if they’re not quite ready to admit it. That was the subtext of the statement issued yesterday by Nasscom, the industry’s main trade group, after the big American downgrade announced on Monday. “The economic crisis in the US, unfolding over the last few days, does not have any major bearing on the …
The Riots of Paris and London: A Tale of Two Cities
With the violence that broke out in London Saturday having spread to other English cities during a third straight night of rioting Monday, it’s tempting (and probably portentous) from the comfort of Paris to offer up lessons learned from the nearly three weeks of upheaval that rocked French towns in 2005. Yet while there seem to be …
Amid Chinese Barbs on U.S. Debt, Some Grumbles at Home
As state-run Chinese media outlets continue to blast the U.S. government for the profligacy that led to last week’s credit downgrade, Chinese citizens have begun to weigh in as well. Online, many comments reflect the line of the state press, that the U.S. penchant for irresponsible borrowing and spending led the world’s sole …
U.S. Global Influence Tanks with the Economy
You say you want a revolution? Not now, mate, can’t you see we’re busy?
“It’s the economy, stupid,” was the focal message around which Bill Clinton organized his against-the-odds 1992 campaign victory over President George H.W. Bush. The incumbent had presided over the soft landing of the collapsing Soviet empire and driven Saddam …
Dispatch from Mogadishu: Looking for Militants in Somalia’s War-Torn Capital
All war is chaos, but after 20 years of fighting Mogadishu resembles perfect anarchy. The streets are surfaced with decades of compacted garbage and to drive them is to be tossed about like a small boat on a rough sea. The buildings still standing are pock-marked with hundreds — generally thousands — of holes from bullets, …
After Downgrade, Chinese Press Blasts U.S. Borrowing
Official Chinese media have lashed out at American debt following rating agency Standard & Poor’s decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating. “The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone,” Xinhua, the …