Washington insists that the U.S. officials who met with representatives of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Tunisia last week were not negotiating; they simply went to deliver one message: “Gaddafi must go.” There’s no reason to doubt that this demand was the center-piece of what the Americans told Gaddafi’s emissaries, since Obama …
The Dead Sea: Deader Than Ever
There is dead and there is dying. The Dead Sea manages both.
It’s dead because the water in it contains way, way too much salt — eight times as much as the oceans — for virtually any living thing to survive. With a shoreline at the lowest land point on the globe — 1,388 ft. (423 m) below sea level — and no outlet, millennia of …
My Meeting With an Alleged ISI Agent
In June 2009, I traveled to Islamabad to do some research for a story about Kashmir. It was a routine reporting trip, in which I did the rounds of various think-tank experts, officials, politicians and other sources well known to any journalist writing about the region.
While I was there, I got a request: Ghulam Nabi Fai, head of …
End of a Dynasty: Yao Ming Retires and China Wonders Who’s Next?
It isn’t just because he’s 2.26 m tall. Yao Ming, the towering center who played for the Houston Rockets basketball team, is the world’s most famous living Chinese. And while he may not have reached the lofty heights of other great NBA centers because of the chronic injuries that ultimately ended his career on July 20—the …
Extrajudicial Murders Are a Blot on Noynoy Aquino’s Year in Power in the Philippines
Philippine President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III crested into office last year on a mandate for change. A scion of the country’s most famous political family, he benefited from not only the aura of his parents’ legacy, but his own reputation of earnestness, honesty and incorruptibility. His approval ratings remain high after …
Syria: Schisms and Rancor Shape the Contours of a Bloody Conflict
In her most recent TIME article, Rania Abouzeid explains why the chance of a nonviolent resolution to political conflict in Syria is increasingly unlikely: even as embattled President Bashar Assad holds nominal talks with minor opposition groups, tanks remain in the street and his troops continue to mow down unarmed protestors. In the …
Will Egypt’s Military Hijack its Revolution?
Turkey, with its pluralistic democracy and booming economy under the stewardship of a moderate Islamist party, is hailed as the model for post-Mubarak Egypt by many leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. But the latest initiatives by the 25-man military junta that has ruled since February’s ouster of President Hosni Mubarak suggests that …
Six Things to Watch from Hillary Clinton’s India Tour
President Obama grabbed hearts and headlines with his state visit to India last fall, and there was a lot of talk about bringing the two countries closer together. It’s “a defining partnership of the 21st century” between “natural allies” who have committed themselves to a “strategic dialogue.” What does it all mean? …
Who Will Chip in to Help Six Million Hungry North Koreans?
It’s safe to say that prioritizing — at least in a way the rest of the world can relate to — has never been one of the hallmarks of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. While the nation’s International Olympic Committee was lobbying last week to co-host the 2018 Winter Olympics with the South, North Korean citizens were scouring the …
In China’s Far West, Ethnic Strife Continues
The heat of the summer in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang has been punctuated once again by mass violence. In the oasis city of Hotan, authorities say rioters from the Uighur ethnic group attacked and set fire to a police station on Monday, killing four people including a paramilitary officer, a security guard and two …
From the Magazine: Red State — Why China’s Leaders Are Reviving Maoism
Twelve-year-old Chen Le is a typical Chinese kid. He loves flying paper airplanes, plays Ping-Pong and dreams of becoming a scientist. And he aims one day to join the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) so, as Chen puts it, “I can puff out my chest and say I am a party member.” The public school that Chen attends in China’s southwestern …
Strauss-Kahn Still Casting Shadows Over French Socialist Presidential Primaries
With expectations high that New York prosecutors may drop their sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn prior to their looming Aug. 1 court date, the former International Monetary Fund chief is apparently trying to resume something closer to the normal life he led before his May 14 arrest. On July 15, Strauss-Kahn and wife …
Call Scotland Yard: Britain’s Prime Minister Is in Deep Trouble
David Cameron presented himself to British voters as the candidate of change. He certainly hasn’t let them down. The Prime Minister can claim personal responsibility for triggering a series of unexpected and convulsive changes to public life in Britain that have left Britons, in the words of one habitually understated government …