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 …
Middle East
The Good Life During Wartime: Israel ranks 7th in Global Happiness
Talk all you like about the “troubled Middle East” but yet another survey is out showing Israelis, at least, quite like their lives. Israel ranks 7th in the entire world in the new Gallup Global Wellbeing report, which covers more than 150 countries. Residents were asked questions based on the splendidly named Cantril Self-Anchoring …
Is Gaddafi Trying to Start a Tribal War?
After being pounded for weeks by mortar and rocket fire, the city of Misratah experienced a brief lull earlier this weekend as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi allegedly withdrew from the war-ravaged port. The government’s deputy foreign minister, Khalid Kaim, claimed operations had been suspended so that tribal leaders could negotiate a …
Bernard-Henri Lévy: France’s Libya Warmonger-in-Chief
French media celebrity (and one time philosopher) Bernard-Henri Lévy has been called many things over the years by his equally large and outspoken armies of detractors and supporters. “Curveball”, however, was never among them. It might be time to consider adding that name to the list. Because Lévy was essential to French President …
McCain Visits Rebels In Libya And Calls For Increased Support
Is Sen. John McCain’s visit Friday morning to the Benghazi strong-hold of Libya’s rebel forces a sign of creeping escalation in the conflict with strongman Muammar Gaddafi that may lead to eventual troop deployment by Western nations? Impossible to know at this point, of course, but events coinciding with McCain’s visit to …
In Libya’s Forgotten West, Rebels Gain Ground
According to reports, rebel forces fighting the regime of Muammar Gaddafi seized a strategic Libyan border crossing with Tunisia in the country’s remote, rugged west. Tunisia’s state news agency reported that at least 13 officers formerly serving the Gaddafi regime fled across the Tunisian border to the town of Dehiba, as rebels took …
In Little Iran, There’s No Mistaking the Stakes
You really could be in Iran, traveling the roads of Lebanon’s south. The billboards of the martyrs look newer, the young men honored by them having perished not in the 1980s, when Iran and Iraq fought to the death, but just five years ago, when Israel launched an assault on the stronghold of Hizballah, the Lebanese Shiite militia …
In Memoriam: Chris Hondros
War photographers are the bravest people I know. In many years of covering conflict, from Kashmir to Palestine to Iraq, I’ve had the honor to befriend and work with some of the finest, and bravest, of the breed. Few were in the league of Chris Hondros. I am heart-broken by the news that he and Tim Hetherington, another photographer, have …
U.K. and France Try to Boost Libyan Rebels, But Risk Rupturing NATO
As troops loyal to Col. Muammar Gaddafi continue to pound the rebel-held city of Misratah — leading to hundreds of civilian casualties — British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced April 19 that the U.K. and France were dispatching a joint squad of military advisers to Benghazi, stronghold of the Libyan rebels in the …
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 …
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 …
Will Israel’s Controversial Foreign Minister Be Forced Out?
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 …