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 …
wikileaks
Global Briefing, April 13, 2011: Kung Pao Kangeroo
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 …
India, Pakistan and Cricket Diplomacy
There is one cricket tradition on the Subcontinent that, unlike those dapper white v-neck sweaters, has endured into the 21st century: cricket diplomacy. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to attend tomorrow’s semi-final match in the Cricket World …
Endgame in Yemen: As Saleh sinks, what should the U.S. do?
Over dinner in Sana’a late last year, a European diplomat told me that President Ali Abdallah Saleh’s 32-year-old regime was unlikely to be toppled anytime soon. He offered four key reasons: “The army are with him and the tribes are with him—which means the people will never rise against him. And of course, the U.S. is with …
One More Scandal: Indian Prime Minister Reckons With New Wikileaks Charges
Wikileaks has revived one of the most sordid episodes in India’s recent history — in which members of the opposition waved bundles of cash on the floor of Parliament — and forced Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to answer, yet again, for charges of corruption within his party.
The cable in question, from July 17, 2008, was sent by …
Global Briefing Mar. 15, 2011: Blasts, Booms and Busts
Nuclear Fallout — Hannah Beech reflects on how Japan copes with tragedy; Krista Mahr meets tsunami survivors; Bill Powell has the latest on the situation unfolding at Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
Prelude to a Proxy War? — With Saudi troops deployed in majority Shi’ite Bahrain, Iran issues a stern condemnation.
Requesting …
New Wikileaks Cables Reveal India Foreign Policy Tensions
The Indian newspaper The Hindu has published an absorbing, multi-story Wikileaks package today about 5,100 diplomatic cables covering everything from India-Pakistan relations after the November 2008 terror attacks to the end of the Sri Lankan civil war and influence-peddling in Nepal. There are also some revealing behind-the-scenes …
Harvard-Educated Facebook Activist Detained in Azerbaijan
The ripples of the Arab revolutions have reached the Caspian Sea. Inspired by youth-led uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, activists in the oil-rich, former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan used Facebook to announce Azerbaijan’s own “day of rage” on March 11. It’s unclear how many people will heed the call, but, as in other authoritarian …