Because what’s Obama going to do, after all – impose sanctions and stop importing oil? Saudi Arabia’s decision to send troops to Bahrain to help the monarchs next door crush a democratic rebellion is a barely disguised slap in the face to the Obama Administration, and further evidence of Washington’s diminished influence over Middle East …
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Unable to Defeat Gaddafi, Libyan Rebels Turn to the West
The problem with the West imposing a “no-fly zone” over Libya — and the problem of Libya’s revolution itself — was highlighted in Monday’s bizarre request by the rebel leadership for Western powers to assassinate Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. That demand, which rebel leaders in Benghazi said their representatives had made when meeting on …
Want To Help Quake-hit Japan? Be Careful Where You Send Your Money
Natural disasters set off a wave of charitable giving from all over the world: but just as inevitably, they bring out all manner of fraudsters looking to cash in on global sympathy.
How do you tell if the charity soliciting your dollars for Japan is on the level? The FBI has a timely press release with useful ways to avoid dodgy …
Global Briefing, Mar. 14, 2011: New Friends, Old Foes and Fresh Sorrow
Sorrow and Survival — In a moving dispatch from Sendai, Hannah Beech and Krista Mahr show, in words and pictures, the human toll of Friday’s quake; Michael Schuman assesses the economic outlook; NewsFeed has the latest on the nuke situation.
Let’s Do Lunch — In the latest installment of the FT’s series, Alec Russell has a drink …
The Couch Potato Briefing: Quakes, Panzers, and Snoops
Global spin’s weekend selection of five rental movies to bring you up to speed on the past week’s events. Prepared by Tony Karon and Ishaan Tharoor
Red Dawn
No movie did better in turning American Cold War paranoia into a box office bingo than 1984’s Red Dawn – made for just $4 million, …
Global Briefing, Mar. 11. 2011: Earthquake, Rebellions and Extremists
Killer Quake — A massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit Japan Thursday. Lucy Birmingham reports from Tokyo, Eben Harrell explains why people are worried about Japan’s nuclear plants and Emily Rauhala details how Japan is a pioneer in disaster preparation.
The Gaddafis Strike Back: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi speaks exclusively with TIME’s …
Libya’s Regime Seems Unlikely to Collapse Soon: What’s the West to Do?
A week ago, Western capitals were debating whether to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to help rebel forces give Colonel Gaddafi the final heave-ho. Today’s conversation is more likely to be over how to save the rebellion’s gains, broker a cease-fire and secure some form of political solution to the conflict.
U.S. Director of National …
Global Briefing, Mar. 10, 2011: Broadcasters, Bordeaux and Big Change Afoot
Tibetan Transition — The Dalai Lama announced today that he will relinquish his political role. TIME’s Hannah Beech explains what’s next for the leader and his people.
Libya’s Long Haul — As Gaddafi settles in, rebel forces realize they need help from overseas, writes Andrew Lee Butters in a dispatch from Benghazi; in Tripoli, …
Saif House? Not Any More as Gaddafi’s London Pad Is Overrun by Squatters
“I remember once seeing a photo of Muammar Gaddafi’s master bedroom,” wrote the Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland in the foreword to Dictators’ Homes, a book by cultural commentator Peter York that conclusively demonstrated the link between megalomania and a penchant for leopard skin and other big cat motifs. “It was in TIME or …
Libya’s Revolution, Online
Facebook and Twitter may be playing less of a role in the Libyan uprising right now than more traditional implements of revolution such as the Kalashnikov assault rifle and the RPG-7 rocket launcher, but the Interim Transitional National Council in the rebel capital of Benghazi today introduced itself to the world via a new …
The Logic of Talking and Fighting in Libya
Wait a minute: One minute Libya’s rebels are telling us that Gaddafi is offering to negotiate the terms of his ouster; the next we learn that the rebel offensive is losing momentum and taking a fearsome pounding from regime planes, tanks and artillery in Zawiya and Ras Lanuf. So was the claim that Gaddafi is ready to talk — and reports …
International Women’s Day: A View From A Broad in London
U.S. TV producer Caryn Mandabach first got the idea for the TV series Nurse Jackie when she visited her goddaughter, who was working as a nurse in hospital in a tough New York neighborhood. On the subway, Mandabach found herself riding next to a woman balancing a basket on her head. The basket began to shudder and a serpent appeared at …
Echoes of Spain in Libya’s Civil War?
Addressing the rag-tag citizens’ army on the barricades of Madrid in 1936 preparing to face the fascist army massed to storm the city, Dolores Ibarruri — the revolutionary better known as La Pasionaria — laid out the creed of those who would give their lives to defend Spanish democracy: “It is better to die on our feet than to live on …