Torn between backing long-time dictator allies and supporting the surging popular revolts seeking to bring those regimes down, few Western governments have sparkled in their tormented responses to protests sweeping the Arab world. But few nations have appeared as dumbly frozen in those headlights as France—where the government of …
Winds of Libyan Change Envelop British Government in Stench
Tony Blair’s 2004 meeting with Muammar Gaddafi was momentous by any standards. Blair’s arrival in Libya marked the first visit to the country by a British prime minister since 1943, and proceeded against protests by some relatives of the Lockerbie dead. His purpose was to encourage Gaddafi’s perceived desire “to make common cause with us …
Algeria Rescinds Emergency Powers–But Isn’t Bending To Popular Unrest
Was the lifting Thursday of Algeria’s 19-year state of emergency a sign the country’s corrupt, authoritarian regime is responding to the growing public unrest that brought down the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt—and now looks set to topple Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi? Without any doubt. Yet it would be naïve to interpret the repealing …
Iraq’s Original Shoe Protester Is Back In A Familiar Place: Jail
Remember Muntazer al-Zaidi, the Iraqi man who launched a new fashion of protest when he threw his shoes at then US President George Bush in Iraq? Nick Blanford met him in Lebanon last week for a time.com profile, on the eve of his return to Iraq. Zaidi was going with a mission to take the Arab world’s popular revolts home. He didn’t get …
How India Views the Raymond Davis Case
It has been fascinating to watch New Delhi’s reaction to the Raymond Davis case. For all the unknowns about the CIA’s contracted spy detained in Lahore on murder charges, Davis’ arrest, the U.S. reaction and the furious Pakistani backlash seem to have made it plain that the relationship between the CIA and ISI is broken, as Kathy …
What to Expect When Sarah Palin Goes to India
Sarah Palin is going to India next month to speak at the 10th annual India Today Conclave, a high profile talk shop of “global thought leaders” hosted in the Indian capital by one of the country’s leading magazines (its cover design is conspicuously similar to another newsweekly with a red border). Palin will be speaking alongside …
Is Iran Really the Winner in the Arab Revolt?
“Arab Unrest Propels Iran as Saudi Influence Declines,” warned a New York Times headline Thursday, above an article noting that the democratic uprisings across the Arab world have put paid to the idea of a pro-U.S. “alliance of moderates” — Arab autocracies and Israel — joining hands to curb Iran’s rise as a regional power.
In …
In Liberia, a Peace Activist Becomes a Mayor
This terrific video comes via TIME’s Multimedia Director Craig Duff, who offers the following introduction:
If peacemakers are indeed blessed, as a famous sermon once said, then Etweda Cooper can think big. As a founder of the Liberian Women’s Initiative, Cooper – who is better known as ‘Sugars’ Cooper – led demonstrations and …
Broken Promises: How We Failed Afghanistan’s Girls
Imagine that nine years ago, a rich philanthropist decided that your community needed an elementary school. He constructed a nice building, furnished it with desks and blackboards, and maybe even gave you a playground. Now imagine that the school was right in the middle of a vicious turf war between two rival gangs. The teachers at the …
France’s Iconic “Moderate Muslim” Becomes Target of Islamophobe Aggression
In the decade since 9/11 forced the world to update its views of Islam and look for ways to dissuade its practitioners from drifting towards extremism, Western societies have placed a high premium on the moderate Muslim: those modern, sensible examples of how Islam can be practiced and honored harmoniously within predominately non-Muslim …
Can Facebook Rescue the Palestinian Authority?
Israel’s deputy foreign minister meant it as a put-down a couple of months ago when he said the Palestinian Authority was on its way to establishing a “Facebook state.” At the time a flurry of governments, many of them South American, were giving a calculated boost to Palestinian aspirations by upgrading PA diplomatic missions …
South African Airways: Flying High?
South African Airways is once again scrambling to contain the damage after yet another crew member was arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling. Nonnie Nyoba, 44, who had worked for the airline for 12 years, was arrested in Sao Paulo on Feb. 15 as she prepared to board an SAA flight to South Africa after Brazilian customs officers seized …
From Recruitment Camps in the Sahara, Libya’s Mercenaries Emerge
Very early on in the course of the uprising in Libya, an iconic image appeared: that of spent ammunition casings. This has been a revolution of chaos and attrition, with anti-government protesters pitted against a repressive and volatile state, one, which at times has seemed on the brink of collapse and, in other moments, appeared steely …