That the U.S. has been talking to the Taliban has been known for some time now — Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged as much two weeks ago. A political agreement with the Taliban remains the key to securing a U.S. departure from Afghanistan, because the idea that the Afghan security forces will be able to hold the line against …
More Signs That Libya’s Conflict is Heading for a Political Solution
The news that France has begun supplying arms to Libyan rebels is likely to deepen discord within the NATO alliance, which is in charge of the 103-day Western military campaign, but has refrained from giving direct support to the rebels given that the mission was authorized by a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at protecting …
Closer to Closure, but Closer to Crisis? Lebanon’s Special Tribunal Names Names
Who killed Rafik Hariri? Today Lebanon got one step closer to answering a question that has plagued this war-wracked nation ever since the 2005 Valentine’s Day truck bombing that killed the country’s prime minister in downtown Beirut. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the UN-backed body investigating the assassination, delivered …
Facebook Revolution in Israel Takes the Form of Cottage Cheese
When Tahrir Square was going full steam, I spent an afternoon asking Israelis their thoughts on the matter in a sleek shopping mall in Ra’anana, north of Tel Aviv. The first question was whether, watching the events in Cairo, they felt inspired? I should have said “sympathetic,” because several people thought they were being asked if …
Why Even A Possible $5 Billion Tax Bill Won’t Keep Vodafone Out of India
At a dinner with reporters last night in New Delhi, Andy Halford, the chief financial officer of Vodafone, the British mobile phone giant, said that Vodafone “could potentially get an annual dividend of as much as $5.5 billion from its 45 percent stake in U.S. venture Verizon Wireless.” Here’s the Bloomberg story, which sent the …
Chavez’s Health Postpones a Summit: Will He Return For Venezuela’s Bicentennial?
It’s hard to imagine Hugo Chávez missing July 5. El cinco de julio was going to be a confluence of everything the socialist Venezuelan President lives for politically: It’s Venezuela’s bicentennial, a chance for Chávez to revel in the aura of his Bolivarian Revolution’s namesake, 19th-century South American independence …
A Rock and Roll Jihad: Pakistani Pop Goes Global
Many musicians have declared that Rock & Roll will save the world. Few, it seems, have as much resting on that gamble as Pakistani rocker Salman Ahmad, founder of South Asia’s hottest rock band, Junoon. Ahmad, who goes by the nickname Sufi Sal, has struggled for year to showcase his peculiar brand of Sufi-inflected rock outside of …
Turkey Inspires Islamists and Liberals, But in Very Different Ways
Everybody wants a piece of Turkey. On my sweep through Egypt and Tunisia, virtually everyone I met invoked the nation that bestrides the Bosphorus as one they’d like their own country to emulate. The Turks had just had a general election, and Arabs had watched it unfold on Al Jazeera and other TV channels. The vote was clean, mostly …
French Military Admits Supplying Arms and Ammo To Libyan Rebels
U.S. President Barack Obama soon won’t be alone in taking flack about the legality of certain moves he’s made on Libya. On Wednesday, French military officials confirmed press reports that France has dropped arms and ammunition to Libyan rebels in what will doubtless spark protests that such action violates limitations the United …
Kabul Terror Strike: The Taliban Warns That it’s Not Negotiating From a Position of Weakness
Tuesday’s deadly attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul was a painful reminder that the U.S. drawdown from Afghanistan will not occur under conditions of Washington’s choosing. The Obama Administration strategy has been to escalate its offensive against the Afghan insurgents, particularly targeting their leaders, in order to …
Greece’s Turmoil: A Brief History of the General Strike
As Greece withstands the second day of a 48-hour general strike shutting down much of the country, it’s worth considering the history of this radical, dramatic tactic. The pervasive feeling in the debt-ridden Mediterranean country seems to be a sense that something has altogether broken in their society. One middle-aged Greek told TIME …
Can China Help Avert a Looming War in Sudan?
When you’re wanted by the International Criminal Court and subject to possible arrest when abroad, travel can be a problem. So perhaps it’s not surprising that Omar Hassan al-Bashir trip to Beijing this week ran into problems from the start. Sudan’s president arrived a day late after his flight from Tehran was forced to turn back …
A Talking Cure for Syria’s Pain? A British MP and a U.S. Congressman Visit Assad
“Visits to Syria have become a vexed issue. Reacting to a visit to Syria by U.S. senators in December, a White House spokesman said that ‘you can take a tough line all you want but the Syrians have already won a PR victory’ simply because visits give ‘legitimacy to a government that undermines the cause of democracy in the …