In a world that is plagued by war, military occupation and terrorism, the involvement of the great military powers in signing and ratifying the agreement would have signaled – if only symbolically – the willingness of these countries to spare civilians’ unjustifiable deaths and the lasting scars of war.
Read MoreWhen the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were first declared, they were met with a sense of promise. A decade later, despite all the official insistence that all is on track, it is increasingly clear that this...
Read MoreLebanon is striving to settle many hanging political questions. Despite Israel’s devastating wars, a more confident Lebanese populace is emerging. This was largely empowered by the success of the Lebanese military resistance to Israel.
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Israel had once more demonstrated its capacity to inflict untold damage on people and infrastructure but the Israeli weapon is no longer strategically effective. In other words, Israel’s military advantage could no longer translate into political gains, and this is a game-changer.
Read MoreWhen breaking news declared that the aid boats had been attacked just before crossing the Gaza horizon, killing and wounding many activists, the six-year-old in me was crushed. I wept. I lost the power to articulate. No political analysis could suffice.
Read MoreThere is no denial – and no shame – in the fact that most Muslims hold their Prophet in the highest regard. Despite the continued decrease in the number of faithful in increasingly secularized Western societies, Muslims are clinching even tighter to their faith.
Read MoreHow will the news of the future be distributed? The jury is still out, but not completely. Increasingly, we are driven to believe that the future will be paperless. Some argue that the “paper” will be taken out of the “newspaper” within a few years.
Read MoreWhen former US President George W. Bush left the White House, he left behind one of the most unpleasant legacies in history. He redefined the US’s role in world affairs, tainted the country’s reputation, and left his successor with a political inheritance that seemed almost irrevocable.
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Even if this administration was genuinely discontented with Karzai’s policies, at least until very recently, the resentment had little to do with the reasons offered by media ‘experts’. It was not because Karzai was failing to deliver on governance, end corruption and so on.
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Yemen is now emerging as the newest casualty. Its government is desperate to hold on to the rein of power, amid corruption, extreme poverty and untold Western pressures. When problems become insurmountable and there is no effective system of accountability in place, corruption becomes rampant. It is no wonder that Yemen ranks 154 of the 180 countries examined in the Transparency International Corruption Index. Corruption is often an outcome of poverty and lack of accountability, and it also contributes to them. Yemen is unable to escape this vicious circle.
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