It was no way to treat the lady who plays The Lady. Michelle Yeoh, known to worldwide audiences as the Chinese spy who loved James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies and the gravity-defying martial artist Yu Shu Lien in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has been working with French director Luc Besson on a biopic of Burmese pro-democracy …
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How to Avoid a War in the South China Sea
Recent months have seen a spike in tensions between China and some of its neighbors, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines, over the South China Sea. And while the dispute with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands has calmed since last year, the unease remains, as evidenced by Japan’s wary reaction to the presence of Chinese warships …
Libya Clashes Escalate But a Diplomatic Compromise Looms
As NATO’s war in Libya entered its 100th day on Monday, an end to the conflict may be in sight — but not necessarily a decisive one. Military and diplomatic signs point increasingly towards some measure of compromise by both sides in shaping an outcome that neither the regime nor the rebels would have countenanced when their …
Reality Checking Obama on Afghanistan: Five Questions on Ending the War
First, credit where it’s due: President Barack Obama has burst the spin bubble by telling Americans that the U.S. military has largely achieved that which can be achieved militarily in Afghanistan, and by admitting that the Taliban will be part of Afghanistan’s political future. He’s also ditched the notion of a “conditions-based …
What’s Next for Released Artist Ai Weiwei?
After reports emerged last night that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei had emerged from nearly three months of detention, his friends and supporters waited for a characteristic declaration that the news was true. A tweet perhaps, for his 88,000 followers? But his Twitter account remained dormant, the last message posted on April 3, the day …
Enfeebling Ahmadinejad: Iran’s President Downsized for Challenging the Ayatullah
How do you say “lame duck” in Farsi? (According to Google’s translation service, the answer would be: علیل وناتوان) And in a twist worthy of Game of Thrones, less than two years after his disputed reelection and the brutal crackdown on opponents that followed, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been reduced to a علیل …
Controversial Artist Ai Weiwei Freed on Bail After Three Months Detention
UPDATE: News outlets including the New York Times confirm that Ai Weiwei has been released.
Ai Weiwei, the Chinese contemporary artist and outspoken government critic who has been held by police in Beijing since April 3, was released on bail on Wednesday, according to a report by China’s state-run Xinhua news service. Police …
Bullets, Golf Balls and China Dogs: Rory McIlroy Returns to a Divided Northern Ireland
They have much in common, the boy wonder of the golfing world who returned to his native Ulster on June 21 and the lads who that same night fought running street battles in an enclave of Belfast called Short Strand. The population of Northern Ireland at 1.7 million is smaller than many cities and drawn from a narrower gene pool; all but …
Why the Muslim Brotherhood Are Egypt’s Best Democrats
After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, many Western commentators were surprised by the ease with which Iraq’s religious movements adapted to multiparty democracy. The Shi’ite groups, in particular, were quick to organize into political parties, set up grass-roots organizations across the country and form practical coalitions ahead of …
NATO’s Libya Bombing Error Won’t Help a Flagging War Effort
The reason there’s a well-worn military euphemism – “collateral damage” – to describe incidents like Sunday morning’s air strike in which NATO admits it may have inadvertently killed Libyan civilians in a residential area of Tripoli is that they’re an inevitable consequence of waging war from the air. It happens so frequently in …
How Will China Respond to its Lead Poisoning Epidemic?
In recent years protests over environmental hazards, including lead poisoning from poorly regulated factories, have erupted across China. While those demonstrations have grabbed attention here, it’s been difficult to measure the extent of the problem. Now a report from Human Rights Watch provides a fuller degree of insight into the scope …
On Mideast Peace, Europeans Hold Obama to His Words
When it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there’s sometimes a certain disconnect between what President Obama says and what he does. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proven adept at widening that gap, and ensuring that he’s not pressured to meet Obama’s expectations. But America’s European allies appear …
Violent Migrant Protests in Guangdong: The Latest in a Wave of Chinese Social Unrest
Take a map of China, and begin pressing thumbtacks into it for each spasm of violence: an eruption of ethnic Mongol anger against majority Han citizens in the northern region of Inner Mongolia a few weeks ago; bomb blasts set off last month by disgruntled citizens in eastern Jiangxi province and northwestern Gansu province; and …