Formula 1 Racers, and Protestors, Get Ready for Bahrain’s Big Day
Despite concerns about security, Sunday’s race will go on. But given the country’s abysmal human rights record, should it?
Articles from Contributor
Civilian Massacres and Koran Burnings: A Tale of Two Misdeeds in Afghanistan
When mullah Abdul Rahim Shah Ghaa thinks back to the day in February when a couple of Afghan employees at a U.S.-run detention center outside Kabul yanked five partly burned Korans out of a trash incinerator, he shudders with …
Bahrain’s attacks on protesting athletes shatters chances for Olympic glory
Nobody likes to be the one to say “serves you right” and certainly I am against the idea of punishing a nation for the failures of a few, but when Bahrain lost out to Japan yesterday in the Olympic qualifying finals for …
Few Good Options For Syria, But Arming The Rebels May Be The Worst
Frustration with a lack of movement in the ongoing conflict, many countries are pushing for military intervention. Why that could backfire
Eyewitness from Homs: An Alawite Refugee Warns of Sectarian War in Syria
Up until a few months ago, Hassan Ali, a 29-year old fabric merchant in the Syrian city of Homs, rarely gave politics much thought. His life was pretty good under the reign of President Bashar Assad, and he saw no reason to rock …
Pakistan’s Sesame Street: Can an Urdu Elmo Aid a Blighted Nation?
For a 3-year-old who has yet to master the use of the personal pronoun, Elmo is a whiz at foreign languages. Already fluent in Chinese, German, Hindi, Spanish and Arabic, among others, the fluffy red icon has just picked up Urdu, …
TIME Exclusive: Q&A with Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar
Since she was appointed as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister in July of 2011, Hina Rabbani Khar has had to deal with the fallout from the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May, a deterioration in relations with …
Pakistan Still Propping Up the Taliban, Alleges Secret NATO Report
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister must have really regretted getting on that flight to Kabul this morning. About the time Hina Rabbani Khar was winging her way over the Hindu Kush for a friendly visit to repair relations between the …
Prime Minister’s Supreme Court Appearance Pushes Pakistan Back from the Brink
Of late, Pakistani politicians could best be described as roulette players, betting the bank on singular gambits designed to win big political concessions, or at least the momentary attention of a rabid electronic media. But on …
A Dam Shame: What a Stalled Hydropower Project Says About Failures in Afghanistan
To be filed under: You have got to be kidding me.
One of US Aid’s biggest projects in Afghanistan, the $128 million rehabilitation of a key hydroelectric power plant launched in 2002, might never reach its potential wattage. …
Will Hizballah’s Support for Syria Lead To Its Downfall?
World leaders are often obliged to walk a thin line between national interest and the projection of a state’s moral values. The Arab Spring effectively put an end to the West’s balancing act as Europe and the U.S. were forced …
Bombs Explode in Afghanistan, While Seats Go Empty in Bonn
When Afghan President Hamid Karzai, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, along with some 100 high-level Afghan and International delegations, met in Bonn for a conference on Afghanistan’s …
Disappearing Dissent: How Bahrain Buried Its Revolution
Every dictator worth his epaulets knows that the best way to nip a revolution in the bud is to have his opponents “disappear.” No body to mourn, no martyrs raised, and of course the ever-useful plausible deniability. But in Bahrain, with its tightly packed population of 230,000 citizens more than 1,200,000 living on a small sandy …