By Nejwa Ali This past Saturday, I had a meeting with a prospective Arabic tutor. Located in Jerusalem, she agreed to pick me up in front of the Qalandiya checkpoint. As a firm believer of, “When you’re on time your late, when you’re early you’re on time,” I was a half an hour early. Incidentally, [...]
Caught In The Crossfire – OpEd
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US Mid-Continent Crude Oil Markets Continue To Adjust To Rapid Rise In Bakken Production – Analysis
The differential between West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and North Dakota’s Bakken crudes continues to fluctuate, reflecting both production growth and changes in oil transportation capacity. Bakken crude sold at a $25-per-barrel discount to WTI in early 2012 and rose to a $5-per-barrel premium last September, before again being discounted below WTI this winter. So far [...]
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North Korea Seen Moving Mid-Range Missile To Its East Coast
North Korea has moved what appears to be a mid-range Musudan missile to its east coast, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Thursday, quoting multiple government sources privy to intelligence from U.S. and South Korean authorities. It was not clear if the missile was mounted with a warhead or whether the North was planning [...]
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Sorting Out David Ignatius – OpEd
By Aron Lund for Syria Comment David Ignatius has written an article in the Washington Post called “Sorting out the Syrian opposition”, where he provides names and manpower figures for the Syrian insurgency. He’s basing his argument on reports from a Syrian opposition group. I happen to know which one, but I haven’t seen the [...]
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Kazakhstan: The ABCs Of The Alphabet Debate
By Joanna Lillis News that Kazakhstan is proceeding with plans to switch the alphabet used for the Kazakh language from Cyrillic to Latin is stoking a furious public debate. The battle lines cross the linguistic divide and reveal divisions lurking beneath the surface of society. The discussion goes beyond linguistic questions into thorny territory such [...]
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Arms Trade: Africa Decisive For UN Treaty
Africa played a key role in the adoption of the UN Arms Trade Treaty, said to MISNA missionaries and activists, stressing the importance of the vote yesterday of the United Nations General Assembly also in light of the opposition of some top exporters of military provisions. “The Treaty is weaker than what the civil society [...]
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US Jobless Claims Rise
The number of people signing up for unemployment assistance in the United States rose 28,000 last week to a total of 385,000. Thursday’s report from the Labor Department is the worst since November, and is higher than most economists predicted. Initial claims for unemployment benefits are a way of tracking how many workers have been [...]
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One In Six Americans Already In Poverty As $85 Billion In Cuts Kick In
The estimated 50 million Americans already living in poverty will be hit hardest by the $85 billion in spending cuts set to begin after Democrats and Republicans failed to reach an agreement over the most effective way to address the national debt. New statistics from the US Census Bureau reveal that one in every six [...]
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US Warns North Korea May Launch Ballistic Missile Soon
The US intelligence says it has evidence of North Korea preparing to launch a road-mobile ballistic missile in a matter of days or weeks, according to CNN reports. North Korea, which unleashed another round of scathing rhetoric accusing the United States of pushing the region to the “brink of war,” could be planning a missile [...]
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NATO Secretary General Condemns Insurgent Attack In Farah
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen strongly condemned yesterday’s brutal attack on the courthouse in Farah Province, Afghanistan that killed more than 40 people and injured dozens more. “We stand with the Afghan leadership in strongly condemning this indiscriminate assault, which killed many Afghan civilians. This attack shows contempt for civilian life and the suffering [...]
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North Korean Church Leaders Ask For Prayer Amid War Preparations
North Korean church leaders are asking Christians worldwide to pray for their country amid increased war threats and combat preparation by North Korean military officials. Prayer for beleaguered believers in North Korea is more important than ever, says Open Doors, an organization that supports persecuted Christians in 60 countries. According to underground Christians, there is [...]
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Can Erdogan Now Deliver His End Of The Bargain With Israel? – Analysis
By Daniel Wagner and Giorgio Cafiero Although the restoration of ties between Israel and Turkey is welcome news for both countries, it is premature to gauge how close Jerusalem and Ankara will become given their continued conflicts of interest. The ‘thaw’ in bilateral relations is likely to be slow, with the two countries’ divergent objectives [...]
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Nepal’s Failed Democracy – OpEd
Nine months after the failure of the Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution, major political parties of Nepal have agreed to form an election government led by sitting Chief Justice (CJ) Khilraj Regmi with the aim of holding new Constituent Assembly elections by mid-June. People now are expressing doubts and asking what guarantee there [...]
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Official Visit Of Chinese Leader To Russia Emphasized Importance Of Two Countries’ Strategic Partnership – Analysis
Representatives of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China signed more than 30 agreements on cooperation in various fields during the state visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping to Moscow that ended on 24 March 2013. Russia became the first country visited by Xi Jinping as the leader of China, which, according to [...]
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Rockets From Gaza Explode In Israel’s South Despite Warnings
Palestinian militants in Gaza fired rockets into Israel’s South on Thursday, despite warnings from the Jewish state that they would not tolerate any further attacks, AP reported. Only one of the rockets fired exploded in Israel and no one was injured, according to the Israeli military. The attacks are liable to raise tensions after a [...]
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The Tories’ Cruelty Is Laid Bare As Multiple Welfare Cuts Bite – OpEd
Ever since the Tories came to power in May 2010, aided by the Liberal Democrats, who, sadly, demonstrated that everything they professed to believe in could be discarded if it meant being in government, the very fabric of civil society in the UK has been faced with extinction. This is a country that has developed [...]
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Pakistan Elections 2013: Movers, Shakers And Losers – Analysis
By D Suba Chandran 11 May 2013: another decisive date in the arduous democratic journey of Pakistan, especially after completing the government without any major interference, despite the judicial coup. More than the success of the previous regime in completing its term, despite the forced change in the Prime Minister, free and fair elections in [...]
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India’s K-15 SLBM: Where Does It Stand? – Analysis
By P Arjun Subramanian The successful underwater test firing of the K-15 Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) 28 January 2013 by the DRDO is a remarkable achievement, considering that only five countries possess this capability. The missile incorporates advanced technologies, which make it a reliable nuclear delivery system. The missile is to be integrated with [...]
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Egypt Seizes Ship Transporting Heavy Weapons
Egyptian navy forces seized a ship carrying heavy weapons as it entered Egyptian territorial waters in the Red Sea late on Wednesday, April 3, three security sources told Reuters on Thursday, the news agency reported. The ship, with a crew of at least seven, spent a week in international waters before entering Egyptian waters, the [...]
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Japan Offers Iran Help In Things Nuclear – Analysis
By Richard Johnson As western powers debate unabatedly Tehran’s real intentions behind harnessing energy from the atom, Japan is willing to provide Iran technical advice, equipment support and vast experience of abiding by nonproliferation safeguards so that it may practice its right to peacefully use nuclear power, says a Japanese government official serving as research [...]
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