By Sam Pizzigati Four years ago, a chance encounter between Barack Obama and Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher injected inequality right into the heart of the 2008 presidential race. Obama explained to the then-unknown Wurzelbacher that “when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.” GOP nominee John McCain immediately jumped on Obama’s remark, [...]
Where’s Joe The Plumber When You Need Him? – OpEd
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Middle East Disagreements Abound Over WMD-Free Middle East – Analysis
By J C Suresh Negotiations for a proposed conference on ridding the Middle East of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction would be difficult and the path would be long, but the “prize” – the security of the region and the world – would be worth the time and effort, the United Nations General [...]
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Troubled North Caucasus: The Challenges Of Integration
Russia’s North Caucasus region is Europe’s deadliest conflict today, with some 574 deaths already this year, and the killing is unlikely to end soon. The simultaneously-released first two reports in the International Crisis Group’s new project examine the sources of conflict in the region and the challenges Russia faces in integrating it into the broader [...]
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Lebanon At The Edge Of Precipice – OpEd
By Osama Al Sharif Not since the February 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in downtown Beirut has Lebanon been pushed so close to the edge of a precipice. But last Friday’s murder of Gen. Wissam Al-Hassan, intelligence chief of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces (ISF), in a devastating car blast that killed seven [...]
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Brahimi Says Syria Accepts Truce
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the final decision on the proposed truce during the Muslim feast of Eid Al-Adha (from 26 to 29 October), will be taken on Thursday. “The leadership of the army reviews the possible cessation of military operations during the feast of Eid Al-Adha, and the final decision will be [...]
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Macedonia Hires Guards For Divisive Statue
By Sinisa Jakov Marusic After opponents of Todor Aleksandrov, a controversial figure in Macedonia, sprayed a swastika on his statue, a Skopje municipality says it will hire private security to protect it. Skopke’s Kisela Voda municipality is to hire guards to protect the statue of the 19th century nationalist after a second attack since June [...]
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Israeli Arms Exports Fuel Armenian-Azeri Conflict, Could Foment Major Regional War – OpEd
Global Post has published an important overview of Israel’s role as major arms exporter fueling the Armenian-Azeri conflict. Recently Azerbaijan announced a $1.6-billion arms deal with Israel that would bring its drone fleet to 100 including Israel’s most advanced Heron model. Here’s an inventory of arms sales to one of the region’s wealthiest, most corrupt [...]
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Ford To Close Belgium Plant, Restructure European Manufacturing Operations
Low European sales has led Ford Motor Company to announce Wednesday a proposal to restructure its Europe manufacturing operations as part of its comprehensive plan to respond to structural market changes and deliver profitable growth in the region. Ford announced its plans to end production at a major production plant in Genk, Belgium, by the [...]
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Libya: Government Forces Take Control Of Former Gaddafi Stronghold
Forces loyal to Libya’s government took control of the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid on Wednesday, October 24 commanders said, but pockets of resistance on the outskirts were reported, according to Reuters. Thousands have fled bloodshed this month between rival militias in the isolated hilltop town that was one of the last to surrender [...]
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Russia Vows To Stop UN From Endorsing Attack On Iran
Russia will block any UN resolution allowing military action against Iran, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday. The Russian new agency Ria Novosti quoted Lavrov saying: “As the Libyan experience has shown, sadly, a military scenario is possible,” which is why Russia will take an extremely cautious approach at the UN Security Council, [...]
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On East Asian Regional Integration From The Perspective Of Economic Security – Analysis
By Chin-Ming Lin A decade can make a great difference. The 1997-98 Asian financial crisis seemed to spell the end of the “Asian miracle”, while now, a little more than 10 years later, the region is one of the few bright spots in the global economy. The Asian crisis was also claimed to be the [...]
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The United States Takes A Wait-And-See Attitude In Syria – OpEd
The air over the eastern part of the Middle East is thick with political posturing and empty words. Seemingly, the American superpower is returning to a narrow focus on its own national interests This rhetoric serves to camouflage the fact that no one will directly intervene in the bloody conflict between the Assad regime and [...]
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NYT Feud Has Thompson On The Ropes – OpEd
If Las Vegas were taking odds on the likelihood that former BBC chief Mark Thompson will take over on November 12 as the new president and CEO of the New York Times Company, the smart money would bet against him. After what Times public editor Margaret Sullivan said about him yesterday in her blog, he’s [...]
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Revolt In The Middle East: Arab Monarchies Next? – Analysis
Arab monarchs pride themselves on having so far largely managed widespread discontent in their countries with a combination of financial handouts, artificial job creation, social investment and in the cases of Jordan and Morocco, some constitutional reform. Yet, in the shadow of the escalating civil war in Syria, it is monarchies like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain [...]
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Manipulating History: The Different Faces Of ‘Popular Resistance’ In Palestine – OpEd
Apparently, ‘popular resistance’ has suddenly elevated to become a clash of visions or strategies between the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and its rivals in Gaza, underscoring an existing and deepening rift between various factions and leaderships. Addressing a Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) meeting in Ramallah on July 2011, PA President Mahmoud Abbas sounded as if [...]
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Ecuador ‘Gravely Concerned’ About Assange’s Health
A senior Ecuadorian diplomat says the health of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is deteriorating, and wants the UK to give him safe passage out of the country’s London embassy, where he is holed up, if it declines further. “We have officially asked the UK for safe passage,” Vice Foreign Minister Marco Albuja Martinez told RT [...]
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Europeans Skeptical About EU Summit – OpEd
By Nikita Sorokin The leaders of the 27-member European Union met late last week to discuss a banking union and steps towards further centralization. The participants on the whole demonstrated cautious optimism, as they commonly do, and agreed that the crisis was not over yet. Meanwhile, ordinary Europeans perceive EU summits with growing skepticism, and [...]
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U.S. Middle East Foreign Policy Needs Upgrade – OpEd
The third presidential debate in the United States’ race focused on foreign policy. In reality, there was no real debate. It was an argument between two candidates about which one of them would apply policies that are already in place better than the other. Granted that a sitting president would not want to challenge his [...]
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Obama, Romney Crisscross Nation For Votes
U.S. President Barack Obama has started his two-day campaign tour in the battleground state of Iowa, as he and Republican challenger Mitt Romney enter the final stretch of the 2012 presidential election. Obama told a rally in Davenport, Iowa Wednesday that his opponent was spreading what he called the “disease” of “Romnesia”, a play on [...]
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Clinton Stresses U.S. Actively Seeking Ways To Stop Fighting In Syria
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton stressed Wednesday that the U.S. is actively seeking ways to stop the fighting in Syria, and welcomed reports that Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has announced that Syria is willing to declare a truce during the Muslim feast of Eid Al-Adha (from 26 to 29 October). “Now we’re looking [...]
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