If a U.S.-led ban on importing oil from Iran — recently adopted by the European Union — is making officials in Tehran sweat, it’s hard to tell. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed Jan. 26 that the West had more to …
Middle East
One Year After the Revolution, Mixed Emotions at Tahrir Square
TIME’s Abigail Hauslohner and Craig Duff went to Cairo’s Tahrir Square Jan. 25 and spoke with many demonstrators who fear the continued preeminence of the country’s military will sabotage Egyptian hopes for true democracy. Others, particularly supporters of Islamist parties that now dominate Egypt’s newly-convened parliament, were more optimistic.
Why Were Six Americans Barred from Leaving Egypt?
Egypt has banned at least six Americans, including the son of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, from leaving the country. It’s the latest in a series of embarrassing blows dealt to the Obama Administration, which is also …
Will Israel Attack Iran? (And If It Does, Can It Really Stop Tehran’s Nuclear Program?)
In the effort to stir global action against the Iranian nuclear program, Israel has played its hand brilliantly. Having twice sent fighter-bombers to erase nuclear reactors in hostile states — to Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007 …
Egyptians Mark First Anniversary of Their Revolution
One year after protesters massed in Tahrir Square, tens of thousands mark their revolution’s anniversary
Must Reads from Around the World: Jan. 25, 2012
Daring Raid — U.S. Special Forces swooped into Somalia on Wednesday, and rescued two hostages, including an American woman, who had been kidnapped by pirates. The New York Times pieces together the details, noting that it …
Human Rights Under Threat: Five Not-So-Usual Suspects
Human Rights Watch this week released its 2012 World Report. The 676-page write-up covers some of the biggest stories of the year, including China’s crackdown on dissent, ongoing attacks on civilians in the Democratic Republic …
French Draft Law On Armenian Genocide Rocks Franco-Turkish Relations
Anyone who hoped that calm and harmony might somehow prevail after the passage of a French bill criminalizing denial of the 1915 genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was mightily disappointed Monday night. Adoption of that …
Global Briefing, Jan. 24, 2012: POTUS, Problems and Progressive Politics
POTUS Probs — Hot on the heels of Fareed Zakaria’s TIME cover analysis of the U.S. president’s international agenda, Foreign Policy‘s Rosa Brooks delves into whether there’s an emerging Obama doctrine. The conclusion: “President …
Amid New Sanctions, Obama Confronts the Challenges of Diplomacy with Iran
Despite the deafening racket of the mass-media drums of war, neither President Obama nor the Pentagon has an appetite for a confrontation with Iran that could unleash havoc across the Middle East and would at best simply delay …
Global Briefing, Jan. 23 2012: Syria, Sendai and Sarkozy
Juvenile Injustice — The Guardian examines accusations that Israel’s military justice system mistreats Palestinian children. The special report, based on interviews and affidavits given by minors to an international human …
Global Briefing, Jan. 18, 2012; Intervention, Inaction, Independence, Iran — and Iceland’s Funnyman Mayor
“It’s Time to Think Seriously About Intervening in Syria”— CFR fellow Steven A. Cook argues in the Atlantic the West must reconsider the assumption Bashar al-Assad’s regime will fall on its own. Meanwhile, the Guardian‘s Middle …
War with Iran: A Conflict Obama Hopes to Avoid May Be Imposed on Him
It’s unlikely that President Barack Obama intends to go to the polls in November with the United States engaged in a hot war with Iran, but there is a growing danger that events could conspire to make the decision for him. The …