On its surface, it reads like a replay of Mumbai 2008: a nighttime raid by a bevy of heavily-armed fighters who target a luxury hotel frequented by foreigners and the local elite. That’s what happened at the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul early Wednesday morning, leaving at least seven people dead, among them the six suicide …
In Greece’s Austerity Intifada, a Challenge to Western Economic Orthodoxy
Tens of thousands of young people — and many older ones, too — gather in the main square of the capital, driven to protest by the despair of unemployment and a social system that cannot meet their aspirations for a decent life. And also by their realization that those in power serve outside agendas that have nothing to offer their own …
IMF Confirms Christine Lagarde as Replacement for Dominique Strauss-Kahn
The selection of French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde to succeed disgraced compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn as head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) hardly took anyone by surprise. Even before Tuesday’s IMF board meeting naming her managing director, Lagarde’s appointment had become a foregone conclusion for most …
Burma Deports Hollywood Star Cast as Aung San Suu Kyi, but Fails to Silence the Original
It was no way to treat the lady who plays The Lady. Michelle Yeoh, known to worldwide audiences as the Chinese spy who loved James Bond in Tomorrow Never Dies and the gravity-defying martial artist Yu Shu Lien in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has been working with French director Luc Besson on a biopic of Burmese pro-democracy …
How to Avoid a War in the South China Sea
Recent months have seen a spike in tensions between China and some of its neighbors, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines, over the South China Sea. And while the dispute with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands has calmed since last year, the unease remains, as evidenced by Japan’s wary reaction to the presence of Chinese warships …
Dissent in the Muslim Brotherhood: How Egypt’s ‘Big Tent’ Party Isn’t Big Enough
Most Western observers see the Muslim Brotherhood as a homogenous group of hard-line Islamists, dedicated to overthrowing the secular Egyptian state and imposing a severe interpretation of Shari’a law on its people. In reality, the Islamist group has long been something of a “big tent,” gathering within it representatives of …
France’s Marathon Presidential Campaign Set To Finally Begin–Sort Of
French Socialists hoping to win their party’s presidential primary and qualify for France’s 2012 general election are lined up, throwing elbows, and ready to sprint when the gun for that nomination contest is fired Tuesday. And if that starting line jostling weren’t proof enough that race for the Elysée is about to begin, …
Afghanistan: Cold-Blooded Calculations and a Looming Civil War
If President Obama’s plan for withdrawal demonstrated the unusual feat of simultaneously pissing off both sides of the aisle in the US, he need not despair: in Afghanistan he most certainly drew applause from both the Taliban, and Karzai – who crowed in an interview with CNN on Sunday that even if things got really bad, he would …
Old Class Tensions Simmer in New, Post-Revolutionary Egypt
TIME’s Cairo correspondent Abigail Hauslohner continues her examination of aftermath of Egypt’s revolution. As Islamists and liberal factions begin to shape a new future for their country, one group is being left out of the political discussion: the working class. Wealthier, educated, urban citizens have seen much of their revolutionary …
With Hugo Chavez in Hospital, Venezuela Frets Over Its Future
No one ever got rich betting on the demise of Hugo Chávez. As a leftist Venezuelan paratrooper officer he led a failed coup in 1992, but he was let out of prison just two years later and started campaigning for the presidency, which he won in 1998. In 2002 Chávez himself was the target of a coup; it threw him out of power for a few …
China Pandas to Public Opinion in Britain
He called us his “dear friends from the press” and said he wished “to announce a piece of good news.” Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, on his first trip to London since David Cameron entered Downing Street, appeared in the most cordial of spirits at a June 27 press conference with Britain’s Prime Minister. And Wen’s news, or at least the
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Can French Bank Deal On Greek Debt Save The Euro?
Could the end of the Greek debt crisis be in view—and with it the pressure that has put the very future of the euro in jeopardy? That’s the hope behind a draft deal French President Nicolas Sarkozy confirmed Monday, under which France’s private banks holding some $21 billion in Greek sovereign debt would roll nearly 70% of that …
Better Late Than Never, Israel Outlaws Business with Iran
A month after the U.S. State Department sanctioned an Israeli shipping company for doing business with Iran, the government of Israel approved a measure making the same thing illegal on its books, too.