News that Moussa Koussa, Libya’s foreign minister, has ditched the dictator and fled to London will boost the morale of the rebels and please NATO. A big-name defection may be exactly what it will take to shake Muammar Gaddafi’s resolve to fight till the bitter end. And they don’t come much bigger than Koussa, a former intelligence chief …
India Defeats Pakistan in an Epic Cricket World Cup Showdown
In case you were not among the billion-plus people watching today’s Cricket World Cup semi-final, India has just won. It was a tough, close match with both sides getting a chance to show off their bowling. That’s not this Indian team’s strength, but they were in good form today and overpowered the Pakistani batsmen, who started strong …
Global Briefing, Mar. 30, 2011: Secret Wars and Snake Escapes
Libyan Lament — In the besieged town of Bin Jawad, Abigail Hauslohner meets rebel fighters dismayed by the absence of allied planes. “Sarkozy betrayed us,” one says. “There are no planes,” says another.
Cricket’s Biggest Game — In an op-ed for the New York Times, Aakanksha Pande previews today’s India vs. Pakistan semi-final; …
Syria’s Alawites: The Minority Sect In the Halls of Power
In Syria, the house that the Assads built is facing its greatest challenge in decades. The country’s entire cabinet — in power since 2003 — resigned Mar. 29, in a bid by President Bashar Assad to nip a burgeoning uprising in the bud. Hundreds of thousands have reportedly rallied in support of the regime, following a fierce …
‘Arm the Rebels’ Cry Reflects Western Desperation on Libya
Talk by U.S. and British leaders of the possibility of arming Libya’s rebels is a sign of desperation. After all, the amorphous rebellion appears to have little military organization, and Secretary of State Clinton admits that the allies “do not know as much as we would like to” about its makeup. Leaders of the Benghazi-based National …
China’s ‘First Blogger’ on Censorship, Creativity and Dissent
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In this clip from CNN, Kristie Lu Stout interviews Isaac Mao, a pioneering blogger, about Internet censorship in China. The video pretty much speaks for itself, though I’d like to draw out one simple but important point.
In Cairo, Revolutionary Zeal Turns Into Revolutionary Tchotchkes
The following post is by reporter and videojournalist Jesse Hardman
Egypt’s Jan. 25 uprising might have freed the country politically, but it also significantly disrupted the local economy. Around Cairo, with tourism dead and business in general down, people are looking for ways to stay afloat financially. Many have turned to the …
Anatomy of a War Crime: Behind the Enabling of the ‘Kill Team’
The story has been remarkable for two reasons. First, for the pure depravity of the alleged crimes. According to Army prosecutors, a small group of soldiers from the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division who were deployed to Afghanistan in 2009-10 went spectacularly, murderously rogue. According to prosecutors, they engaged in …
What Is Libya’s Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa Doing in Tunisia ?
“The counsel general decided not to come to work today,” the man at the Libyan consulate in Sfax, Tunisia, told me. Like many other journalists in this sun-bleached industrial city a few hours from the Libyan border, yesterday I had been promised a visa “soon,” and to “come back later.” Which I duly did, making the tired …
What’s at Stake at the London Meeting on Libya?
The following is a guest post by TIME‘s Vivienne Walt, who is attending the meeting in London over the future of Libya.
Ten days after French and U.S. jets launched Operation Odyssey Dawn in an effort to halt Muammar Gaddafi’s advance on Libyan rebels, the 37 countries involved in the sprawling military coalition converged in London …
China’s ‘Jasmine Revolution’ Crackdown Shows No Sign of Easing
More than a month after an online call for anti-government protests in major Chinese cities, a crackdown on dissent continues. On Friday writer Ran Yunfei, who has been in police custody since February 19, was formally arrested on suspicion of “inciting subversion of state power,” the advocacy group Human Rights in China …
Global Briefing, Mar. 29, 2011: Chuck Norris and Other Superheroes
Orator-in-Chief — Obama’s Libya speech was long on doctrine, but short on details, writes Michael Crowley on Swampland; On Global Spin, Tony Karon explains how the president aligned American and Arab goals.
Sizing Up Social Media — A new study, ‘Who Says What to Whom on Twitter,’ shows that a mere 20,000 Twitter users steal almost …
India, Pakistan and Cricket Diplomacy
There is one cricket tradition on the Subcontinent that, unlike those dapper white v-neck sweaters, has endured into the 21st century: cricket diplomacy. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to attend tomorrow’s semi-final match in the Cricket World …