The European debt crisis has reached its chiche moment—or what should be its chiche moment. That’s chiche, the French for “I dare you”, “I’m calling your bluff”, or even “make my day”—something often used in situations that somehow seem too formidable or fearsome to simply give in to without an audacious (albeit …
How the Middle East Conflict Could Look Like “Seinfeld”
Some days reality defies improvement. Tuesday may have been such a day in Jerusalem, where the actor Jason Alexander of “Seinfeld” fame paid a call on Shimon Peres, the president of Israel. Alexander was visiting the Holy Land as part of a pro-peace delegation from a grassroots group called OneVoice, dedicated to finding a two-state …
Rage Against the Machine: British MPs Set a Global Trend for Rebellion
It wasn’t quite Tahrir Square or Zuccotti Park, but the Oct. 24 uprising that saw 81 Conservative MPs defy their party leadership to support a rebel motion calling for a referendum on U.K. membership of the European Union may well signal the end of politics as we know it. That’s not because of the ostensible cause of the rebellion—a …
What Occupy Wall Street Can Learn from Occupy Tel Aviv
The tents seem to be everywhere now — Wall Street, London, Hong Kong, Madrid — but very little really comes close to what happened in Israel this summer: thousands camping out, hundreds of thousands marching, a society transformed. “It’s all part of the same thing. It’s people saying, ‘We want to be in charge,'” says Stav Shaffir, …
As Tunisia Counts its Votes, Can the West Stop Worrying and Learn to Love the Islamists?
Tunisia’s election and Libya’s celebration of the overthrow of Col. Muammar Gaddafi won’t have made for a happy weekend among those fevered heads in Washington who believe the West is locked in an existential struggle with political Islam: If anything, the Islamist tones of the Libyan celebrations, coupled with the Islamist victory …
Turkey’s Earthquake: Social Media to the Rescue
The following is a guest post from TIME’s Turkey correspondent Pelin Turgut.
The last devastating earthquake Turkey experienced was in 1999, back when it was still largely an analogue world, email was in its infancy and Mark Zuckerberg was just another high school dreamer. As a reporter I had to lug a satellite phone around to …
A Novel Response to the World’s Worst Famine: War.
In September, Somalis kidnappers kill a British tourist and his wife; later they kidnap a disabled French tourist, who subsequently dies; then in October they abduct two Spanish aid workers. In reply Kenya, whose economy depends heavily on tourism, sends hundreds of troops into southern Somalia in pursuit of an al-Qaeda affiliate, …
From Headline News to Banned Search Topic—China’s Take on Occupy Wall Street
China’s state-controlled media seem to enjoy giving a good lecture—particularly when the target is a meddlesome Western government that gives its own sermons on China’s human rights record. So when the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protests laid bare American disaffection with the country’s imbalanced financial system, China’s …
New Zealand Wins Rugby’s World Cup–And Order In The Universe Is Restored
New Zealand may have gotten a serious case of the Bleus, but that didn’t prevent its beloved All Blacks from sending the entire country into joyous delirium Sunday by winning rugby’s World Cup final over an unexpectedly combative French side, 8-7. The victory not only handed the host Kiwis their first global title since …
Couch Potato Briefing: The Fall of the Dictator
Following the Oct. 20 killing of ousted Libyan tyrant Muammar Gaddafi, who was cornered in a sewer ditch by rebels blocking his escape from the town of Sirt, this week’s Couch Potato is all about dictators and — in most cases — their demise.
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The Great Dictator
Charlie …
Iraq’s Government, Not Obama, Called Time on the U.S. Troop Presence
President Barack Obama’s announcement on Friday that all 40,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq will leave the country by New Year’s Eve will, inevitably, draw howls of derision from GOP presidential hopefuls — this is, after all, early election season. But the decision to leave Iraq by that date was not actually taken by President Obama …
Baaaad Behavior: What the Kidnapping of a Goat Says About the Switzerland’s Elections
The kidnapping of two goats may seem to have little relevance to politics. But then you realize the four-legged victims belong to the far-right Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which has built up massive support by scapegoating immigrants.
Zottel, the SVP’s official mascot, has come to symbolize the party’s anti-immigrant stance, and …
Tunisian Elections: From Yesterday’s Most Wanted to Tomorrow’s Leaders
“No one will dare propose himself as a dictator. No one. The best institution we have now is the street,” says Mohamed Ali Harrath. The description could easily fit Libya, feverishly celebrating the death of Muammar Gaddafi, or Egypt, gearing up for parliamentary elections in November, the first since Hosni Mubarak’s ouster. But Harrath …