LONDON: The beginning of October marked the seventh anniversary of the beginning of the American-led bombardment of Afghanistan. Seven years later, the Taliban are still fighting. Some 50 insurgents died recently in an assault on Lashkar gar, the capital of Helmand province. Osama bin Laden is nowhere to be found. Has the time come for …
JERUSALEM: A neighbor in Jerusalem asked me to write to his American father-in-law, who has been showering him with emails attacking Barack Obama. At a local bakery, the owner suggested in a whisper that I might talk sense to the tourist proclaiming in a New York accent, between sips of strong Israeli latte, that she …
LONDON: The non-violent tactics of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King are pushing at an open door. Even the Pentagon has begun to look at their value in situations of conflict and political impasse. Today’s news is covering the essentially non-violent struggle of the opposition in Zimbabwe to push aside the dictatorial regime of Robert …
A considerable effort and little return; this is the summary of the ruling National Democratic Party’s (NDP) annual conference, which ended yesterday. This is not the first conference for which some NDP leaders exert great effort in preparation. This has frequently happened since the policy of reform in the party was initiated in 2002, the …
BERKELEY: After the second 40 percent decline in America’s Standard & Poor’s composite index of common stocks in a decade, global investors are shell-shocked. Funds invested, and reinvested, in the S&P composite from 1998-2008 have yielded a real return of zero: the dividends earned on the portfolio have been just enough to offset inflation. Not …
LONDON: Around the world, America’s presidential election campaign has attracted as much attention as domestic political controversies in each of our own countries. The interest the world has taken in America’s vote is the best example of America’s soft power, and a lesson in democracy from the world’s only superpower. If only we could all …
There s been a crucial question hanging over the US election campaign from the very start: Would US voters be willing to elect an African-American? There s another even uglier question about race that keeps getting raised as well, in conversations I ve had from South Carolina to central Cairo: would White Americans want to …
NEW YORK: Is this the Age of the Conspiracy Theory? Plenty of evidence suggests that we are in something of a golden age for citizen speculation, documentation, and inference that takes shape – usually on the internet – and spreads virally around the globe. In the process, conspiracy theories are pulled from the margins of …
Israel is an Arab-loving state with ties to several Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan with which it has forged peace agreements. It’s also hoping to reach similar agreements with the rest of the Arab states. It uprooted Palestinian Arabs from their land, and evicted them from their homes only out of love for them …
KABUL: Today in Badakhshan, Afghanistan, for every 100,000 births, 6,500 young mothers die. This is a world record, unrivaled anywhere. In other parts of Afghanistan, too, the rates of maternal mortality continue to be among the highest in the world. Roughly 75% of Afghan newborns that die do so because of lack of food, warmth, …
BERLIN: Europe and its national governments are basking in their new capacity to act – and not without reason. Who would have dared, even a few weeks ago, to predict that in the end it would be the divided Europeans, not the United States, who determined how to contain the global financial crisis? Serious crises …
On Monday Oct. 27 the mother of 11-year-old Islam Amr Badr packed her son’s lunch as usual. But as she rushed him off to school that morning nothing could have prepared her for the agonizing news she would hear a few hours later; that she will never see her son alive again. News of the …
ISLAMABAD: The scarred Pakistani province of Balochistan has been suffering from conflict with the central government since the country’s inception in 1947. Steeped in violence and deprivation, bitterness, hunger and frustration are everyday realities. Apart from the humanitarian aspect of this conflict, why is Balochistan a concern for the rest of the world? Balochistan is …
NEW YORK: The winner of America’s presidential election will inherit a perfect storm of problems, both economic and international. He will face the most difficult opening-day agenda of any president since – and I say this in all seriousness – the man who saved the Union, Abraham Lincoln. But a more instructive precedent is 1933, …
CAIRO: The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW) embarked on its operations over 20 years ago in Mainsheet Nasser, at that time one of the largest unrecognized illegal settlements in Egypt. Field experience and academic research indicated that it was particularly difficult for women who head their own households to access credit …
NEW YORK: The US presidential campaign has been waged with unusual vigor and energy from Senators Barak Obama and John McCain, its two main contestants. They have both been very clear in the need to fight terrorism, in not to allow Iran have nuclear weapons and in whom between the two has the best credentials …
WASHINGTON, DC: Even as the squeeze in interbank lending has started to ease after the rescue of financial systems across the advanced countries, falling economic indicators have sent stock markets tumbling. Pressures on emerging-market countries, which were once thought by many to have “decoupled from the rest of the world, have intensified as foreign loans …
CAIRO: P?ope Shenouda III returned from the United States after four months of medical treatment at Cleveland Clinic. During his time in hospital, church affairs and to a large extent, the Coptic dossier, were handled personally by the Pope from his hospital bed, millions of miles away from Cairo for the first time in Egyptian …
Within a few days the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) will hold its fifth annual conference under the slogan “New Thinking for the Future of Our Country – a lackluster motto that does not seem to provide anything different from the slogans it launched on the eve of previous conferences. At the policy level, I …
NEW YORK: For over two decades, international health organizations have offered their services to people in regional conflicts throughout the world. While health initiatives alone have not and cannot achieve peace, especially where political, cultural or religious tensions might abound, they often serve as the last point of contact between conflicting parties. Health programs also …
NAIROBI: As a child in rural Kenya, I was a secret admirer of female genital mutilation. I was swayed by talk of friends and elders about how once a girl undergoes “the cut, she gains respect and grown men consider her suitable for marriage. Perhaps these were the reasons why, as a girl of 13, …
NEW YORK: The world is speeding up. Communications, travel, and productivity are increasing. For some people, synthetic drugs have become a way to deal with today’s fast and competitive times. Around the world, in order to enhance performance, people are popping pills and powder known as amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS). From ravers in all-night discos to …
NABLUS, West Bank: As the road dips and rises through the Hebron hills, white etched with the glowing green of vineyards, the turn-off to Edna village is marked by the grey, concrete watchtower of an Israeli checkpoint. But it doesn t deter Israeli-Arab lawyer Khaled Kasab Mahameed from his quixotic mission: He has come to …
CHICAGO, Illinois: Despite their differences over how to pursue the US war in Iraq, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama both want to send more American troops to Afghanistan. Both are wrong. History cries out to them, but they are not listening. Both candidates would do well to gaze for a moment on a painting …
NEW YORK: This global economic crisis will go down in history as Greenspan’s Folly. This is a crisis made mainly by the United States Federal Reserve Board during the period of easy money and financial deregulation from the mid-1990’s until today. This easy-money policy, backed by regulators who failed to regulate, created unprecedented housing and …
BONN, Germany: Saphir, a textbook for Islamic religion classes, presents the fundamental issues of Islam in 15 chapters for fifth and sixth grade pupils. Themes include the concept of God, the Prophet Muhammad, and the structure of the Quran, as well as issues such as the rights of children and social responsibility. Editions for grades …
JERUSALEM: We need a cultural revolution. We have waited far too long for governments and armies to bring us peace and security. Fear and mistrust of the other side define our reality. Good, peace-loving people Israelis and Palestinians are convinced they have no partner for peace. Most are unaware of the fact that every Israeli …
PARIS: Could Europe be a Democratic “blue state and Asia a Republican “red state ? American presidential elections provide a near perfect test to understand the difference between European and Asian worldviews, even if the two continents are far from united internally. If you want America to lead by the power of example, you favor …
A very sorry incident took place last month, but I don’t know why it wasn’t picked up by our vigorous press. It seems they’ve been interested in nothing but news of Hisham Talaat Moustafa, Mohsen El Sokkary and Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim with her many husbands, even though no one had ever heard of her …
WASHINGTON: In Sherlock Holmes stories, the dog that didn t bark is considered significant. That is not true when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict where only bad news is considered news. It is now four months since the Egyptian-brokered Israeli-Hamas ceasefire went into effect. According to Alex Fishman, the security-minded Yediot Achronot military correspondent, …
