News that Fidel Castro has resigned from the Central Committee of Cuba’s Communist Party isn’t very surprising — slowed by chronic health problems, the 84-year-old has effectively been out of political life since passing over the reins to his brother Raul in 2006. He now looks more familiar to us in a loose track suit than his once …
French Movie Goers Shun French Films: France’s New Cultural Exception?
French films may still be popular with cultural polyglots in New York, London, and other cosmopolitan capitals–and, of course, remain a staple of the global art house circuit. But there’s one crowd that the cream of le cinéma français is no longer thrilling, charming, or luring to theaters with trademark marathon dialogue, …
Global Briefing, April 19, 2011: Surprise, Surprise!
Rapprochement — The Economist notes the sudden silence on the notoriously deadly India-Bangladesh border. The neighbors still disagree on matters of trade, transportation and territory, but the drop in violence is good step forward, they say. Read TIME’s take on the border, here.
Revolving Doors— French strike craft pummeling …
Obama Wades Back Into the Mideast Peace Process With Little Chance of Success
It might have once seemed safe to assume that facing a difficult reelection year, President Barack Obama would avoid any temptation to wade back into the perilous business of Middle East peacemaking. After all, his previous effort was blown out of the water by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to yield on the question …
Al Jazeera Correspondent Slams Chinese Coverage of Arab Uprisings
In recent years China has greatly expanded the global voice of its state-run media. The goal is to boost China’s image abroad and to counter the influence of Western media outlets, which some people believe are overly critical of China. In doing so China has looked to the Qatar-based Al Jazeera network as a model of how non-Western media …
Does Pakistan Really Want a Stable Afghanistan?
In recent weeks, ties between Islamabad and Washington have grown more strained than a cup of sickly sweet South Asian chai. A prolonged kerfuffle over Raymond Davis, the American CIA agent who gunned down two Pakistani men allegedly pursuing him in Lahore, sparked protests across the country and triggered a diplomatic crisis that, while …
Why Three Cups of Tea are Not Enough
I will be the first to admit that I was an early adopter of Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea. When it first came out I reviewed it for TIME, and named it one of the 10 best books of 2006. I gave it out as Christmas presents, and encouraged my mother to read it in her book club. By no stretch of the imagination was it a work of great …
Another Sunday, Another Crackdown in Beijing
For Beijing police, Sunday is hardly a day of rest. In February an online call for Sunday protests in major Chinese cities including the capital touched off a widespread detentions. This month a Beijing church has twice attempted to hold Sunday services outdoors, and both times its members were confronted by security personnel. While the …
Global Briefing, April 18, 2011: Bad Advice and Salty Humor
Colonial Legacies — Does Sarkozy’s push for military action in Ivory Coast and Libya constitute a return to the bad old days Françafrique? asks the New York Times.
Truth or Truthiness — The American television show 60 Minutes says they’ve found inconsistencies in Greg Mortenson’s AfPak memoir, Three Cups of Tea. The …
Cluster Bombs Fall on Misratah While Obama Calls for Regime Change
The New York Times and international NGO Human Rights Watch both confirm that forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi shelled the city of Misratah with cluster bombs, munitions banned by much of the international community. Times reporter C.J. Chivers, currently in Misratah, no stranger to warzones and author of a recent book on the history of …
In France, A Risky Business May Get Riskier
Given French society’s reputation of unbridled sexual attitudes and libertine habits, it’s probably not surprising that a new proposal to combat prostitution is provoking considerable push-back. On the face of it, the initiative appears to be generating heat by sending two pillars of French life clashing in conflict: France’s …
Couch Potato Briefing: U.S. Civil War Special Edition
In a slight departure from our usual international fare, this week’s installment of rental movies to watch over the weekend is all about the U.S. Civil War — the country marked the 150th anniversary of the war’s eruption on April 12.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghOECZiycEk&feature=related]
Glory
There is no more …
Party Time In Havana: Cuba’s Bay of Pigs Generation Hopes To Get It Right
Fifty years ago this weekend, the Cuban Revolution had its crystallizing moment: the defeat of the Bay of Pigs invasion. On April 17, 1961, a small army of 1,500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles stormed Cuba’s southern coast, only to be routed in three days by the forces of the island’s leader, Fidel Castro. It was an embarrassing debacle …