Opinions

The missile defence scam

Aug 26, 2008 - 5:36:48 AM

Cynicism and hypocrisy are always part of international politics, but in the case of Poland and the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) missiles everybody is over-fulfilling their norm. Nobody involved in the controversy, Polish, Russian or American, believes a single word they are saying about this misbegotten missile defence system, whose principal characteristic is that it doesn’t work --

Modernity starts here -- Tunisia

Aug 23, 2008 - 4:31:52 AM

Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes has argued for years that the solution to Islamism/radical Islam is moderate Islam. But the question is still, who are these moderates and where can they be found. As Pipes states, "Islamism [is] a radical utopian version of Islam.

Ahmadinejad’s foray to Turkey

Aug 23, 2008 - 4:26:43 AM

It is quite understandable that Israel would be deeply disappointed by Turkey’s decision to invite Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for an official visit.

External Players and Prospects for Peace in Somalia

Aug 16, 2008 - 3:21:45 AM

No objective individual would disagree that the common sense approach to problem solving is to identify the problem before tackling its source. Likewise, no reasonable individual would have difficulty understanding that any effort invested in treating symptoms at the expense of the core problem is an exercise in futility.

South Ossetia: A Monumental Miscalculation

Aug 16, 2008 - 3:11:40 AM

The war in South Ossetia is essentially over, and the Georgians have lost. This was Georgia’s second attempt in eighteen years to conquer the breakaway territory by force, and now that option is gone for good.

Road Map or Bulldozer Map?

Aug 12, 2008 - 5:03:47 AM

Palestinian journalists and writers seem to have found it difficult to address the current trend of bulldozer attacks in Israel. The piece of construction equipment appears to have joined our national conflict as a new weapon in the hands of Palestinians working inside Israel.

India’s house of cards

Aug 12, 2008 - 4:57:33 AM

Three weeks ago, the Indian government did everything but raise the dead to win a crucial vote on its nuclear deal with the United States. Jailed members of parliament were given temporary release in order to vote, MPs in intensive care were wheeled into the chamber, and there was talk of multi-million dollar bribes being offered for MPs to change their votes.

Olmert’s dignified exit

Aug 9, 2008 - 3:17:27 AM

In the wake of last week’s resignation announcement from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, much of the Israeli media and public have welcomed his decision to step down in September amid charges of corruption.

Uighurs, terrorism and the Olympics

Aug 9, 2008 - 2:21:22 AM

“Safety is our top concern,” said China’s Vice-President Xi Jinping in late July, pointing to the deployment of 100,000 troops around Beijing and the surface-to-air missile batteries that protect the main stadiums as proof of the regime’s determination to ensure that no terrorist attack would disrupt the Olympic Games.

Alternative futures

Aug 2, 2008 - 2:22:14 AM

You have to hand it to the economics team at Goldman Sachs. It was they who came up with the concept of the “BRICs”: the four big economies, in Brazil, Russia, India and China, that were going to catch up with and then overtake the big economies of the developed world.

Karadzic: A victim of soft power

Jul 30, 2008 - 2:49:39 AM

Radovan Karadzic's disguise was quite elaborate, but he didn't spent the past thirteen years hiding from the Serbian authorities. They knew where he was all along.

Syria and Lebanon, More Than Just Neighbors

Jul 26, 2008 - 8:07:30 AM

DAMASCUS -- When the French occupied Syria in 1920, they famously dissected the country, giving four major parts to the newly created state of Lebanon. The French left Syria 26 years later, and Syrian lawmakers claimed that the division was null and void, asking President Shukri al-Quwatli to officially request the area be restored to Syria.

U.S. Interests Section in Tehran

Jul 26, 2008 - 7:57:22 AM

For almost his entire eight-year-long presidency George W. Bush said that the United States will not hold direct talks with Iran unless it discontinues uranium enrichment.

Scandinavia's Scarred Mr. Dialogue

Jul 26, 2008 - 7:36:13 AM

OSLO, Norway -- Scandinavia does reasonableness well, even when faced with unreason. The Oslo Accords of 1993 were as close as Israelis and Palestinians have come to looking each other in the eye, admitting neither side is going away, and jettisoning a bitter past for a better future.

A Fresh Start for Iraq?

Jul 22, 2008 - 3:44:47 AM

There's an odd thing about Baghdad: Iran is the only regional power with an embassy, while U.S. President George W. Bush's best Arab allies – Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia – refuse to let their diplomats live there.

Omar al-Bashir: Politics and the Law

Jul 22, 2008 - 3:35:19 AM

All the opposition groups in Darfur celebrated when the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced on 14 July that he was seeking the indictment of Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir on the charge of genocide, but almost everybody else had a problem with it.

Last exit for the holocene

Jul 19, 2008 - 6:30:49 AM

The Holocene era is that blessed time of stable, warm climate (but not too hot) and unchanging sea levels in which human civilization was born and grew to its present size. In ten thousand years our numbers have increased about a thousand fold -- but we may be about to leave the Holocene, and that would be too bad.

Journalistic imperatives: saying what others mightn’t

Jul 16, 2008 - 1:12:34 AM

The world of journalism, like any other profession, can be muddled with a plethora of distractions, self-interests and agendas that certainly do not serve the cause of a free press. Outside as well as inside pressures and interests often compromise the very essence of the journalist's mission.

Amazing soft power

Jul 12, 2008 - 1:06:52 AM

There is no shortage of opinions when it comes to the war in Iraq. The prolonged U.S. presence there has ignited a heated, national debate. Along with the pressing economic concerns, the Iraq war is front and center in the presidential campaign – with senators...

The Young Turks at a Century

Jul 8, 2008 - 4:02:18 AM

The Ottoman Empire had already been in retreat for over a century when the Young Turk revolution broke out in July, 1908. Some of the Young Turks hoped to save the whole empire; others wanted to abandon the empire and rescue an independent Turkey from the wreckage.

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