Thu, 06/25/2015 - 17:02

When heads (and secretaries) of state get by with a little help from officious friends

In April 2011, as Libyans were in the thick of their uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, a Frenchman in a white shirt unbuttoned to reveal swathes of chest arrived in Benghazi to hold yet another meeting with opposition leaders.
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Fri, 06/19/2015 - 10:24

Another shooting, another case of US exceptionalism

From the Civil War-era Confederate states of the Deep South to the white supremacist political ideologies once practiced on a continent from which his victims were shipped and enslaved, the Charleston church shooting bears the burden of history.
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Thu, 05/21/2015 - 23:56

A new brute takes over Palmyra’s notorious Tadmur Prison

Situated in Palmyra, near some of the world’s most beautiful ancient ruins, Syria’s notorious Tadmur Prison has fallen from one brutal boss to another.
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Sat, 01/10/2015 - 22:53

Al Qaeda wins this round against Daesh, but what’s with the rival claims?

Al Qaeda’s most dangerous branch, AQAP, has claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack, edging arch jihadist foe Daesh (IS) for the moment. So why were there rivals claims in the Paris two hostage crises?
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Wed, 12/17/2014 - 01:09

Lessons from the Peshawar army school attack

The year that saw Malala Yousafzai win the Nobel Peace Prize is drawing to a close with a horrific attack on schoolchildren in Peshawar. So much for our dreams of a world where kids can go to school without fear.
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Fri, 12/20/2013 - 00:22

A Tale of Two Indias

Two stories emerged from India this week. One was the case of two Indian women in New York from two contrasting backgrounds being treated very differently in the media. But there’s just one issue in all thess dichotomies...
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Thu, 10/24/2013 - 21:47

Sharif goes to Washington, and the drone drama is scripted

A day before Nawaz Sharif met Barack Obama, news editors were reading from the same script – written by human rights groups. The day after, a carefully planted leak in a US daily supplied the other side.
Sun, 10/20/2013 - 10:33

Let’s admit it, we overlooked and underestimated al Shabaab

Westgate has shown that underestimated al Qaeda-linked Somali militant group and now the al Shabaab threat is at our doorsteps – our citizens were the victims, perpetrators, and our immigrant community leaders are being threatened.
Fri, 07/19/2013 - 10:54

Malala’s got mail from the Taliban, but what in the world does it mean?

A Pakistani Taliban commander’s letter to Malala Yousafzai is a sort of madcap Islamist version of William Hazlitt’s “On the conduct of life, or advice to a school-boy”.
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Thu, 04/11/2013 - 20:52

Egypt’s Jon Stewart ‘insults’ Pakistan, ‘cools’ Qatari relations: The show goes on…

Egyptian prosecutors are probing new complaints against TV satirist Bassem Youssef for “insulting Pakistan” just days after some critics warned that his skit lampooning Qatar would affect Egyptian-Qatari relations.
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