The flotilla incident of last year may have been buried in the depths of the Arab Spring, but for Turkey and Israel, the event is still very much pertinent. Israel has stubbornly refused to apologize for the attack on the grounds that its soldiers were acting out of self-defense. Turkey, in retaliation, downgraded diplomatic relations … Read more
When the Euro was introduced, many analysts predicted that centralizing monetary policy over such an economically diverse area would make the common currency unsustainable and prone to financial collapse. Why they were right, why they’re being ignored, and what must be done about it. In 1999, when the Euro was introduced into circulation, economists were … Read more
On August 6th, while the banking district was serving up £35,000 in cocktails, comfortably paid for by bailout money (the banks still owe UK taxpayers £456.33bn), frustrated and aimless crowds took to the streets, including many of the nearly one half of London’s children living in poverty. The world’s surprise was great when this superrich city … Read more
A constant refrain from critics in the United States is that Pakistan has not been using all of its aid effectively. US aid to Pakistan totaled nearly 4.5 billion dollars in the fiscal year 2010, but 800 million dollars of security assistance was frozen in August in response to Pakistan’s refusal to admit American military … Read more
For the minority of Israelis and Americans who oppose the establishment of a Palestinian state, this week’s historic UN showdown is unlikely to be the disappointment it’s been made out to be. Luckily for them, nobody imagines that UN recognition will amount to actual Palestinian sovereignty any time soon. Barring a violent paradigm shift, Israeli … Read more
In late June this year, after announcing the US troop drawdown plan, President Obama described what success in Afghanistan looks like: Afghanistan able to independently provide security and al Qaeda unable to launch attacks on the US, its allies, or its overseas interests. Essentially, what Obama wants is a more or less stable country, no … Read more
We take an impossibly long bus ride into Herzegovina. I watch out the window as we pass by clusters of partially completed houses dotting the impressive, mountainous landscape. There are gardens; wild plums, rows upon rows of cabbage plants, and pomegranate trees overfill front yards. Beautiful white marble Muslim cemeteries lay nestled below steep crags. … Read more
We take an impossibly long bus ride into Herzegovina. I watch out the window as we pass by clusters of partially completed houses dotting the impressive, mountainous landscape. There are gardens; wild plums, rows upon rows of cabbage plants, and pomegranate trees overfill front yards. Beautiful white marble Muslim cemeteries lay nestled below steep crags. … Read more
Like Paul Krugman, writing in the wake of the September 11 attacks, I too reel in horror as I witness London come under the weight of such senseless, irrational, and hysteria-driven anarchy. Like HuffPo’s Nathan Gardels, contemplating the aftermath of the massively destructive earthquake in Japan, my heart goes out to the victims of this … Read more
As I wrote in last October, America should lead the international community into action in Somalia. This year, Foreign Policy listed Somalia as the World’s Most Failed State for the fourth year in a row, long before the current massive famine broke out. With a child dying every six minutes from malnutrition in the five southern … Read more