The charge that a relative of a Roma clan leader killed a Bulgarian teenager sparked anti-Gypsy demonstrations across the country last weekend. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in at least 20 towns and cities, including the capital, Sofia. “A total of 168 have been arrested for violation of public order, the majority — …
After a U.N. Moment of Truth, Obama Will Struggle to Restore a Broken Mideast Peace Process
Perhaps nobody told President Barack Obama that last week’s United Nations showdown over Palestinian statehood was the proverbial “Emperor’s New Clothes” moment for his Mideast peace effort. U.S. officials are, this week, once again trying to herd the Palestinians back into the same unconditional talks that President Mahmoud Abbas …
Floods in South Asia: How to Help the Poor Help Themselves
With at least 5.5 million people affected by flooding in Pakistan and 2 million in India, monsoon floods on the Subcontinent sometimes seem like a grim annual ritual. But on a recent visit to Bihar, I found some surprising evidence that there are simple ways to reduce the vulnerability of even the poorest communities.
Rameshesh, a …
Can China Drive the U.S. Out of the West Pacific?
On TIME’s Battleland blog, the latest Command Post video dispatch discusses the U.S.’s ability to maintain its strategic preeminence over the West Pacific, particularly in the face of China’s rapidly modernizing fleet. Beijing’s new capabilities for power projection will vex U.S. admirals and Washington policy wonks for decades to come.
Why Haiti Does Not Need an Army
Even in the wake of a catastrophic earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people – or perhaps because of that disaster – nationalism reared its head during Haiti’s presidential election campaign last year. Many candidates, including the eventual winner, Michel Martelly, sensed that Haitians had grown weary of U.N. …
Burma: Could a Small, Peaceful Protest Signal Real Reform?
Four years ago, as columns of burgundy-robed monks marched peacefully through Burma’s commercial capital Rangoon, security forces opened fire, slaughtering at least 31 people, arresting thousands more and extinguishing hopes that the ruling junta was receptive to political reform. On September 26, dozens of Burmese again gathered …
China Strikes Back After Taiwan Weapons Deal
China will likely suspend some military ties with the U.S. following the Obama administration’s approval of a $5.85 billion package of upgrades for Taiwan’s aging fleet of F-16 fighter jets and pilot training, a senior U.S. State Department official said Monday. (A transcript of the official’s briefing was posted on the State …
Exclusive: TIME Meets Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the international statesman of the moment. Greeted as a rock star in Egypt and other countries transformed by the Arab Spring, the Turkish Premier looms like a colossus over the Middle East. In recent weeks, he has been one of the most vocal world leaders to back the Palestinian …
Saudi Women Get the Vote, but Real Power Is Elusive
On Sunday, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah granted women the right to vote and run in the next set of municipal elections, scheduled for 2015. That’s good news. But not as good as you might think.
Saudi Arabia is perhaps the most sex-segregated place on earth, a country where women can do little without a male chaperon and are not …
Entrepreneur Launches Rival to Challenge His Own Airline
Sure, Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his family are on track to make £70 million from their 38% stake in easyJet this year. And, yes, Haji-Ioannou was knighted for his “entrepreneurship” in founding the discount airline in 1995. But that doesn’t seem to have stopped the Greek-Cypriot billionaire from launching a rival …
The Dalai Lama Promises To Clarify His Succession—When He’s Around 90
All will be clear when the Dalai Lama is around 90 years old. That was the message from the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader over the weekend, as he convened a conference of various Tibetan Buddhist sects in the Indian hill station of Dharamsala. Although the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, 76, is in good health, the issue of what will …
Historic Win By French Left Further Darken Sarkozy’s 2012 Re-Election Hopes
With just seven months to go before general elections, France’s unpopular President Nicolas Sarkozy has gotten another signal of just how difficult his effort to retain the Elysée will be. That reminder came in voting on Sunday, when French leftists took control of the upper house of parliament for the first time since France’s …
Back from the UN, Mild-Mannered Abbas Hailed as Man of Steel
The man who lives in Yasser Arafat’s shadow returned from New York to a reception that suggested a measure of newfound respect from a Palestinian public that likes its leaders to show some steel.
Abu Mazen, as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is known here, always had the respect of the population that elected him in …