After Gaddafi— The strongman’s departure is not necessarily the end of the Libyan crisis, writes Aryn Baker in a dispatch from Tripoli. “Unless it is done right,” she says, “it might be just the beginning.”
Dictator Dilemmas — In an essay for AJE, Dani Rodrik mulls the ethics of advising the likes of Gaddafi and his sons. We …
By some measures the most powerful politician in Israel is Avigdor Lieberman, the foreign minister who on Wednesday was informed he faces indictment for money laundering. Benjamin Netanyahu may be prime minister, but Lieberman holds the power to collapse his coalition government and force new elections. All he has to do is withdraw the …
When China’s railway minister was sacked in February amid allegations of widespread corruption, one immediate question was what effect it would have on his effort to build a world-class high-speed train system. The answer, it emerged this week, is that China’s sleek, white bullet trains are going to ease up on the throttle. Sheng …
It’s increasingly looking like the only factor capable of resolving the international community’s dilemma in Libya is also the one element to that will never cooperate in finding a solution: Libyan strongman Muammar Gaddafi himself. Because as the meetings, summits, and declarations of coalition partners come and go, it becomes …
As I was preparing to leave Tripoli, I had a conversation with an Algerian British journalist who had just been released from detention by Libyan forces for reporting in the east of the country. He was angry that he had been picked up for doing his job, but didn’t let it color his reporting on the situation. As I had been gleaning …
War Crimes — The case against alleged WWII criminal John Demjanjuk could be derailed by a once-secret FBI report claiming the ID card used to prove he was a Nazi guard was actually forged, writes Tristana Moore from Berlin.
‘Moscow to Mecca’ — North Caucasus, a territory which stretches from the Black Sea to the Caspian, is in …
Yep, just what the world needs—another international summit. On Thursday, leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa convened under the palm trees of China’s Hainan Island for the third BRICS summit. The acronym was coined back in 2001 by an economist at Goldman Sachs to describe the bright emerging economies of Brazil, …
One year ago today, an earthquake hit the northeastern edge of the Tibetan plateau, leveling a small, majority-Tibetan town. The magnitude-6.9 temblor shook buildings from the hills and pulled monasteries and mud-brick homes to the ground. The first images from the scene showed crimson-robed monks digging though the rubble by hand. They …
Is it another sign of Washington’s withering clout in Latin America? Or does it indicate the rule of law’s rising stature in the region? Or will it just let Venezuelan officials who are allegedly in the pockets of drug lords off the hook? When it comes to Colombia’s final decision to extradite alleged narco-kingpin Walid Makled to …
Update: The U.N. reported on April 14 that 34 people were killed during the raid on Camp Ashraf last week.
Was ever there a stranger lot than the Mujahedin-e-Khalk Organization? Today its military arm stands braced for the worst in Camp Ashraf, a dusty military base tucked into a corner of a once-welcoming host nation, Iraq, that …
The decision by Egypt’s current rulers to drag former President Hosni Mubarak and his sons into court next week to investigate allegations of corruption and abuses of power is certainly a crowd-pleaser: The demand for action against the leading lights of the ancien regime had been the key demand of the tens of thousands of protestors who …
Bahrain, Divided — A crackdown by the ruling Sunni government on Shi’ite protesters is eroding the social fabric of the island kingdom, finds Karen Leigh in Manama. “It’s like there’s an invisible shield between us,” one man says.
He’s No Chicken —China blogger ‘Peking Duck,’ also known as Richard Burger, blasts the Global …
As Britain counts down the days to the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, there comes a reminder from the tiny kingdom of Swaziland in southern Africa of how not to be a monarch. On Tuesday, Swazi King Mswati III, the last absolute sovereign in Africa, unleashed his security forces on pro-democracy demonstrators. Police …
