Egypt’s decision to officially re-open its border to the Gaza Strip may be officially tut-tutted over by Israel, which in Hosni Mubarak had a willing partner for besieging the Palestinian enclave controlled by Hamas. But as a practical matter, the siege effectively ended a year ago Tuesday when Israeli commandos killed nine civilians on …
Bring Your Family: The Secrets of a Hizballah Arms Smuggler
The illicit arms business is booming in Lebanon today, as my colleague Nicholas Blanford pointed out in a story a few days ago.
And while Hezbollah arms dealer Abu Jihad claims that he doesn’t sell weapons to the Syrian opposition, since it would be akin to arming his enemies, he does allow that many Syrians are stocking up for …
Couch Potato Briefing: Memorial Day Special
This week’s roundup of rental movies to watch over the weekend commemorate Memorial Day, a day to honor the sacrifices of soldiers and reflect on the human horrors they must face. Presented by Ishaan Tharoor and Tony Karon.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3chv4eYU2MQ&feature=related]
The Thin Red Line
It’s fitting that …
Why the G-8 Should Never Meet Again
The G-8 wraps up its 37th conclave May 27 at the French seaside resort of Deauville. By now, you may have seen some of the gathering’s glitzy snaps. Two seem to define the occasion: one of President Obama and Europe’s top potentates taking a chummy stroll along the Normandy coast, the other of pregnant French first lady Carla …
Global Briefing, May 27, 2011: Remembering Srebrenica
Mladic, Behind Bars — General Ratko Mladic, the alleged architect of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, was arrested yesterday. Dejan Anastasijevic explains why it took so long; The Atlantic mulls parallels with Pakistan and Osama bin Laden raid; The Christian Science Monitor features their Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of the massacre. …
Meet China’s Newest Soldiers: An Online Blue Army
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is in the midst of an unprecedented expansion, using ample budgets for everything from developing a blue-water navy to launching a test flight of the country’s first stealth fighter jet last year. Now the PLA has announced the deployment of another crucial military team: a cyber security …
Egypt Pulls the Plug on a Failed U.S.-Israeli Gaza Strategy
It might have been easy, amid the raucous cheering at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Capitol Hill pep rally on Tuesday, for Israelis to ignore President Obama’s earlier warning of a gathering storm on Israel’s horizon. But Wednesday’s announcement that Egypt plans, on Saturday, to effectively end the siege of Gaza by permanently …
Tajikistan: The Most Failed State You Know Least About
Of the five Central Asian “stans” straddling the crossroads between China and the Middle East, Russia and South Asia, Tajikistan seems easy to overlook. It doesn’t have Uzbekistan’s large population and historic cities, nor Kyrgyzstan’s jumble of U.S. and Russian military bases, nor Kazakhstan’s vast reserves of natural gas. But …
Gone And Forgotten: But Obama’s U.K. Visit Has Boosted Key Players
Here are a few telling symptoms of Obamamania: shiny eyes; raised pulse rate; terminal hyperbole; an urge to trample others to gain physical proximity to the President of the United States, and to do so despite phalanxes of sharp-shooters braced to liquidate anyone who might pose a threat to him. During the Obamas’ state visit to the U.K., …
Why Hizballah is on Bashar Assad’s Side in Syria
In yesterday’s address to his followers on the anniversary of the 2000 Israeli pullout from Lebanon, Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrullah was typically bombastic when it came to his views on supporting the desires of the Palestinian people to live in freedom. When it came to Syrians seeking to liberate themselves from a corrupt and …
‘The Hornet, the Bird and the Tortoise’: Detained Chinese Rights Lawyer Pens Fable
Li Tiantian, a Chinese human rights lawyer who went missing in February, re-emerged this week. She announced her release in this evocative (if entirely allegorical) post:
It’s been a while since I’ve been in touch. First, let me tell you a story.
One day, a hornet worried unreasonably that a little bird would stir up its nest. (As
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Global Briefing, May 26, 2011: Notes on a Scandal
Neo-Isolationism — Clyde V. Prestowitz asks why America is upset by China’s overtures in Pakistan. Let them have it, he argues at Foreign Policy. Instead of trying to increase its geo-political influence, America ought to invest in education at home, retrain workers and encourage FDI, he says.
Dear Visitor — So, what was Kim Jong …
Chinese City Shaken by Multiple Bomb Blasts
Three coordinated explosions rocked a southern Chinese city Thursday morning, injuring at least five people, according to state media reports. The bombs exploded near municipal buildings in Fuzhou, a city of 3.9 million in Jiangxi province, injuring at least five people. (Update: State media now say two people have died and seven are …