Conflict

Africa’s Feeble Response to Libya

Why has Africa’s response to the Libyan regime’s shooting of protesters – and hiring of African mercenaries to actually pull the triggers – been so weak? So far, the continent’s reaction amounts to this: the African Union has condemned “the disproportionate use of force against civilians,” which pretty much implies that cracking down on …

Ambassadors Blast Sarkozy’s Foreign Policy Monopoly

Torn between backing long-time dictator allies and supporting the surging popular revolts seeking to bring those regimes down, few Western governments have sparkled in their tormented responses to protests sweeping the Arab world. But few nations have appeared as dumbly frozen in those headlights as France—where the government of …

Winds of Libyan Change Envelop British Government in Stench

Tony Blair’s 2004 meeting with Muammar Gaddafi was momentous by any standards. Blair’s arrival in Libya marked the first visit to the country by a British prime minister since 1943, and proceeded against protests by some relatives of the Lockerbie dead. His purpose was to encourage Gaddafi’s perceived desire “to make common cause with us …

Algeria Rescinds Emergency Powers–But Isn’t Bending To Popular Unrest

Was the lifting Thursday of Algeria’s 19-year state of emergency a sign the country’s corrupt, authoritarian regime is responding to the growing public unrest that brought down the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt—and now looks set to topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi? Without any doubt. Yet it would be naïve to interpret the repealing …

In Liberia, a Peace Activist Becomes a Mayor

This terrific video comes via TIME’s Multimedia Director Craig Duff, who offers the following introduction:

If peacemakers are indeed blessed, as a famous sermon once said, then Etweda Cooper can think big. As a founder of the Liberian Women’s Initiative, Cooper – who is better known as ‘Sugars’ Cooper – led demonstrations and …

Can Facebook Rescue the Palestinian Authority?

Israel’s deputy foreign minister meant it as a put-down a couple of months ago when he said the Palestinian Authority was on its way to establishing a “Facebook state.” At the time a flurry of governments, many of them South American, were giving a calculated boost to Palestinian aspirations by upgrading PA diplomatic missions …

South African Airways: Flying High?

South African Airways is once again scrambling to contain the damage after yet another crew member was arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling. Nonnie Nyoba, 44, who had worked for the airline for 12 years, was arrested in Sao Paulo on Feb. 15 as she prepared to board an SAA flight to South Africa after Brazilian customs officers seized …

No News Isn’t Good News

Travel broadens the mind—unless your destination is a news-free bubble.

In London I supplement a daily fix of print, online and broadcast news by talking to primary sources including politicians and their back-room teams, in person, on the phone, by email and via Twitter and Facebook. During the past week I’ve been in California, a …

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