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No Scarves. No Solution
The world has found a way to strike back at Syrian President Bashar Assad: they have slapped travel sanctions on his London-born wife, Asma, to thwart her addiction to luxury shopping. One year into Assad’s churning assault against various opposition groups, stopping his wife from shoping in Europe is one of the few things theRead moreTags: Arab League, Arab Spring, Asma, Assad, Baghdad, Bosnia, Chanel, EU, Hama, Homs, Idlib, Kofi Anna, Louboutin, Middle East, Saraqeb, Syria, Tom Squitieri, U.N. Security CouncilKarzai Hat, No Takers
The bloom has long been off the Karzai hat as Afghanistan becomes worse and worse. Right after U.S. forces went into Afghanistan in 2001 — in those heady “Paris 1944” days of liberating Kabul and most of the country — one of my best friends put to me an urgent request. Knowing I was enRead moreThe NATO Moment of Truth Faces the Arab League
It took NATO 46 years and eight months before it intervened with military force to protect innocent civilians from harm and manage a conflict on its periphery. Can we truly expect the Arab League to move any quicker in dealing with problems in its neighborhood? Probably not. When NATO finally heeded the call from thoseRead moreTags: Arab League, Assad, Bosnia, Egypt, Friends of Syria Group, Lebanon, Libya, Middle East, Morocco, NATO, Syria, Syrian National Council, Tom Squitieri, Tunisia, UAEChina’s Olympic Promise on Press Freedom
The Chinese government has sentenced writer Li Tie to 10 years imprisonment for his online articles, in which he urged respect for ordinary citizens, called for democracy and political reform, and urged basic human rights. Journalists around the world have noted with sorrow — but not surprise — this incredibly harsh and hypocritical decision. ThatRead moreTunisia Leads the Way, For the Moment
Anniversaries are dangerous days and dangerous moments. There is often a lot of celebrating, a flash of attention and then the sun goes down and life goes on as before. We properly celebrate an accomplishment from the past without real thought or determination on how to preserve and build on the celebrated triumph. So nowRead moreFires of Despair in Tibet
It is roughly 1644 miles between Tibet and Ho Chi Minh City, where 48 years ago Buddhist monks burst into flames in protest against the U.S. backed government. Those actions also burst into the public eye through newspaper photos and television reports, igniting a different kind of flame –a slow flame of questioning and thenRead moreIntersections of fate in Bahrain
MANAMA, Bahrain — It is likely that Zahra Saleh Mohammed, 27, and Ali Yousif Al Satrawi, 16, probably never met during their lives in Bahrain. They only met in that wider inhospitable universe of people harmed abruptly and unnaturally on the same day because of the same protest and both being in wrong places atRead moreAttacks on Bahrain’s Asian citizens documented by Independent Commission
MANAMA, Bahrain — An independent commission examining the unrest that occurred in Bahrain earlier this year will document and detail the widespread attacks by anti-government protestors on South Asian citizens that left at least four dead and almost 100 injured. That report will be the first public examination of the scale and suffering caused byRead moreA Pause Button Hits Bahrain
Foreign Policy Association blog, November 18, 2011 The fast-forward events of political discourse in Bahrain that were rushing towards October 31 have come to an unexpected halt. Just as the countdown reached single digits to the release of an independent commission’s report that would detail in depth who did what in the street protests earlierRead moreOn an island far, far away..
Members of Congress are quite knowledgeable about the often-accidental nature of political elections. If not for a butterfly ballot in Florida, Al Gore may have been president and subsequently Barack Obama would perhaps not even be a U.S. Senator, for example. Or if not for the upset win of Tea Party favorite Christine O’Donnell,Read moreOde to Anna on the Beach
liner notes for a 2012 calendar. “The beach shimmers in many ways, especially when Anna is there. The sky and waters and sand are more brilliant in their colors and their calliope. The sea foam applauds, the waves crash like cymbals in an orchestra. “It is impossible not to feel happy on Gilgo Beach whenRead more