Just over a week after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden, pundits seem keen to tout the end of “Bin Ladenism,” too. The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks “lived long enough to see so many young Arabs repudiate his ideology,” observed the Times‘ Thomas Friedman. Although he and others are right to celebrate the ‘Arab Spring,’ it seems …
What Do Israel’s Leaders Really Think About Iran?
Israel bombing Iran could, indeed, be a spectacularly stupid idea, but does the Israeli public really need to hear that? That not-in-front-of-the-kids message seemed to be the gist of Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak’s criticism of Meir Dagan, recently retired head of the Mossad intelligence agency, who last week warned publicly that …
Abyei: The Flashpoint of a Sudanese Maelstrom
By mid-January, the world heaved a massive sigh of relief when a hotly anticipated referendum over the secession of southern Sudan passed with minimal violence. In July, South Sudan is set to formally become an independent state, sundering in half Africa’s biggest country. But as more high-profile conflicts raged in the Ivory Coast, …
On China’s Streets, Grisly Attempts to Cover-up Traffic Accidents
The lesson of Watergate—it’s not the crime that gets you, it’s the cover-up—isn’t covered on China’s driving test. But perhaps it should be. In recent months the Chinese public has been shocked by multiple cases of drivers killing accident victims in hopes of evading legal responsibilities.
The most famous incident …
Global Briefing, May 9, 2011: Socialists, Sellouts and Star Witnesses
Lessons Learned — On Battleland, Mark Thompson mulls the most important lessons of the OBL saga; TIME editors Nancy Gibbs and Bobby Ghosh and political columnist Joe Klein discuss the implications — short-term and long — of the killing.
Open Doors —In the Hindu, Nirupama Subramanian urges India to take advantage of the …
Dalai Lama: Osama bin Laden Deserves Compassion
After delivering a lecture on “secular ethics” at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles just days after the U.S. raid on Abbottabad, the Dalai Lama was asked of his thoughts about the killing of Osama bin Laden. A headline in the Los Angeles Times claimed the great spiritual leader in exile thought bin Laden’s death “was …
Obama, Now the Warrior, Wants to Revive Immigration Reform
President Obama is reaping a windfall of political capital from the extermination of Osama bin Laden, and he plans to spend a chunk of it on immigration reform. During a Cinco de Mayo celebration with Mexican-Americans at the White House this week, Obama announced he’ll give a major immigration speech during a visit to the border city of …
Iran: Ahmadinejad on the Ropes in Clash with his Supreme Leader
Iran’s streets are quiet, the uprising that followed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection two years ago but a memory as opposition leaders languish in prison or under house arrest, and fear of the brutal security forces restrains most from protesting. And yet, there are unmistakable signs that the regime is literally cracking …
Couch Potato Briefing: Of Navy SEALs and Terrorist Masterminds
Global Spin’s weekly menu of five rental movies to bring you up to speed with world events focuses on the only theme in this week’s headlines: The raid that killed Osama bin-Laden
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HPaUPU9xdgM]
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
White House squeamishness over …
Global Briefing: Sorcery and Skullduggery
Game of Thrones — As the world’s attention focuses on Pakistan, a fascinating power struggle is playing out in Iran between controversial President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Guardian reports that a number of prominent Ahmadinejad allies have been arrested on archaic charges of …
Arrested Suspects Increase Speculation Of Al Qaeda Involvement In Marrakech Bombing
A full week after a bomb devastated a popular tourist café in Marrakech killing 16 people and injuring 21 others, Moroccan authorities announced the arrest of three suspects in the attack. Yet despite the information released in the wake of those detentions, it’s still uncertain whether the strike was the work of local extremists …
Al-Qaeda After Bin-Laden: Can the ‘Brand’ Survive?
While most of the U.S. media this week rolled out “box set”-type compilations of the best of ten years of reporting on Osama bin-Laden, the magazine most al-Qaeda watches are waiting for is the next edition of Inspire. Dubbed by the LA Times as the “Vanity Fair of jihadi publications,” the next edition of the glossy produced by al-Qaeda …
As Pakistan Pleads Incompetence, Tougher Questions Go Unanswered
It’s not often that a government goes out of its way to plead incompetence, but that’s precisely what the Pakistanis are doing in the face of outside scrutiny over what appears to have been the longstanding presence of Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil. Islamabad has now hired a prominent Washington lobbyist — to the tune of $75,000 a …