Reprint edn.: this appeared earlier, but is a propos of today’s Senate confirmation hearings. A future column will treat that process: I doubt Chuck Hagel, the former Republican senator from Nebraska, and I would agree about almost anything with regard to domestic US politics . . . But he isn’t being nominated for secretary of […]
Archives for January 2013
Russia slams Israeli bombing of Syria as Violation of UN Charter
The USG Open Source Center translates the statement at the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs sharply condemning Israel: Text of “Russian Foreign Ministry statement in connection to reports about air strikes by the Israeli Air Force on targets on Syrian territory” published on the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website on 31 […]
Is Egypt on the Verge of Civil War? Morsi backs off Emergency Decree
Minister of Defense Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Sisi warned Tuesday that if the country’s turmoil continued, Egypt faced the possibility of a collapse of the state. The intrepid Ben Wedeman of CNN reports on the ambivalence of the Egyptian police about being ordered by a Muslim Brotherhood president to crack down on protesting youth. He thereby […]
Syrian Horror Show, as Obama, Kuwait Pledge Refugee Aid (+ Cole Interview)
The UN donors’ conference in Kuwait made some progress on Wednesday morning toward its goal of $1 billion in aid to the some 700,000 Syrian refugees, many of whom are shivering in tents in Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon. Kuwait stepped up big time, pledging $300 million. Kuwait has a long tradition of careful and well-executed […]
Egypt: Canal Provinces Defy Morsi, Weakening his Authority
The canal cities of Port Said, Ismailia and Suez rejected the imposition of a curfew and of emergency laws on them Monday night. In the meantime, the major opposition parties declined President Muhammad Morsi’s call for a meeting to work out differences. The National Salvation Front, made up of leftists and old regime secularists, insists […]
Immigration and the Future of America (Chart)
Immigration to the US is if anything accelerating. The 1924-1965 immigration law had been racist and set strict quotas for everyone but northern Europeans. Since 1965, up to 25,000 immigrants can come from each country in the world. Increasingly, immigrants come not from Europe but from Latin America & the Caribbean, from Asia, and from […]
Egypt: Morsi invokes Emergency Law in 3 Cities, is Slammed by Opposition
Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi on Sunday put three Suez Canal cities under emergency law on Sunday for a month. Port Said, Suez, and Ismailiya had seen violence by angry crowds against government offices and in some cases the HQ of the Muslim Brotherhood. Being on the Suez Canal, the cities are sensitive for security reasons. […]
How Pundits got the Israeli Elections Wrong & Ignored the Influence of Women (Goldman)
Shalom Goldman writes at IslamiCommentary: Before the January 22 Israeli elections media pundits in the US and Israel were predicting a sharp rightward shift by the Israeli electorate. According to these analyses Netanyahu wasn’t hawkish enough for the Israeli public, and the voters would choose someone more assertive on settlements who would push to deny […]
Afghanistan 2014: How the US will Lose Yet another fruitless War (Jones)
Ann Jones writes at Tomdispatch.com: Kabul, Afghanistan — Compromise, conflict, or collapse: ask an Afghan what to expect in 2014 and you’re likely to get a scenario that falls under one of those three headings. 2014, of course, is the year of the double whammy in Afghanistan: the next presidential election coupled with the departure of most American and other […]
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