I read Fareed Zakaria’s cover story this week about the decline of the U.S. first from the perspective of an American, but I couldn’t help thinking about what it had to say about China. China is of course seen as the leading rival to American dominance. He quotes Harvard historian Niall Ferguson on the background of how this came to …
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Is the Obama Administration Losing its Fear of Islamists?
Has President Barack Obama, as the old saying goes, stopped worrying and learned to love the Muslim Brotherhood? Not exactly. But the Washington Post reports Friday on the first green shoots of what may turn out to be a maturing of the United States’ response to Islamist movements in the Middle East. In light of the possibility that …
Couch Potato Briefing: Five Movies that Explain the Week’s Events
Compiled by Tony Karon and Ishaan Tharoor
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9pl7IWPx5E&feature=fvst]
Downfall
The movie to watch apropos Libya this week is one you’ve seen before. Well, not the whole movie, but the scene of Hitler berating his generals as they break the news to him that the Red Army is closing in on …
Why Are Some U.S. Politicians Trying to Remove an Iranian ‘Cult’ From the Terror List?
The two leading figures of Iran’s opposition Green Movement – presidential candidates Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi are under arrest as the regime cracks down on any effort to emulate the Arab world’s democracy rebellions. But Iran’s opposition may be in store for another blow – this time, at the hands of those in Washington …
Prince Harming: Links with Gaddafi Spell Trouble for the Queen’s Son
There are, it seems, three ways to endanger your job if you’re a public figure: you can call into a radio show to denigrate your boss as a clown, you can claim an affection for Hitler, or you can be linked to the Gaddafis. Howard Davies, the head of Britain’s prestigious London School of Economics, has just tendered his resignation over …
Clinton Applauds Al Jazeera, Rolls Eyes at U.S. Media
When addressing the U.S. Foreign Policy Priorities Committee on March 2, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argued for more funding for her department on the grounds that the U.S. is losing an “information war” around the world. Once-hallowed media institutions like Voice of America are a shadow of their former selves, while …
New Info Campaign Tells French Citizens How To Be Burqa Vigilantes
It’s not exactly “wear a burqa, go to jail”, but the French state has begun a sloganeering information campaign aimed at dissuading a crime that has fueled growing public concern. As part of that effort, the government is reminding Muslim women who wear the full-body veil that they’ll soon be legally prohibited of being seen in …
Global Briefing, Mar. 3, 2011: Ten Stories to Start Your Day
Two Cities— Ian Lee tours Tripoli, a city that feels like an “oasis,” even as violence swirls around it; Andrew Lee Butters chronicles life in Benghazi, the rebel town left to rot.
Frenemies — Wired‘s Spencer Ackerman is skeptical about the U.S. military’s plan to net jihadis via social networks Facebook.
Traffic Cops …
An ‘Interim’ Peace Deal? Israel’s Netanyahu Tries to Reheat a Souffle
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be forgiven for feeling just a wee bit lonely, right now. Events in the Middle East are increasingly passing him by, leaving him on the sidelines as the region’s history is being remade. And on Wednesday, one of Israel’s most senior veteran diplomats, Ilan Baruch, resigned from the …
In Yemen, the chum’s in the water, and the sharks are circling
It’s been a topsy-turvy day in Sana’a. First, a Yemeni official said President Ali Abdallah Saleh had ‘initially accepted” a 5-point plan proposed by the opposition parties — which included the demand that he step down by the end of the year. Then the official called my colleague Oliver Holmes and said the plan’s provisions had been …
Global Briefing, Mar. 2, 2011: Ten Stories to Start Your Day
Another Assassination: TIME’s Aryn Baker links the killing of Pakistan’s minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, to the country’s controversial blasphemy laws.
Taking Tripoli — Abigail Hauslohner visits a resistance camp in “Free Libya,” where a rag-tag group of volunteers are readying for battle; Tony Karon considers the …
Strong Obstacles Remain to Western Military Intervention in Libya
An international community that in 2005 at the United Nations adopted the “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) protocol might seem obliged to intervene directly in Libya. R2P, after all, holds that if a state is unable to protect its citizens from genocide or other mass atrocities, the international community has a responsibility to …
Global Briefing, Mar. 1, 2011: Ten Stories to Start Your Day
The Latest on Libya — TIME writers ponder the possibility of American military intervention, wonder who is in charge and muster some thoughts on Gaddafi’s clothing.
Secret Service — The New Yorker asks if the Times was right to stay mum on Raymond David’s CIA ties.
Child Brides — The Economists ‘daily chart’ shows, quite …