Favorites
Our own selection of MENA, Islam and foreign policy blogs.
Friday Photo: Do not feed this monkey!
FP Passport - blogging on global news, politics, economics, and ideas - May 9 18:12
KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images Fat monkeys spend their time in a 420-square-meter enclosure a...
Does the U.S. need the UN to fight terror?
FP Passport - blogging on global news, politics, economics, and ideas - May 9 18:05
Mario Tama/Getty Images The U.S. needs the UN according to a new report by Alistair Millar and Eric Rosand, of the Center on Glob...
A disturbing new type of ‘honour’ killing
Pickled Politics - May 9 17:10
Women are often involved in ‘honour’ killings as perpetrators, but it has tended to be older women (such as aunts and mother-in-laws) who help with the murder. This case in India is the first I have read about in which it was the daughter of th...
Fools Rush In...
American Footprints blogs - May 9 16:56
...To Seek Geopolitical Advantage from Myanmar’s Crisis For the impassioned interventionist, Myanmar has it all: a corrupt and despotic junta, a gallant pro-democracy princess, and brave, battling monks. Now it’s got a colossal humanitarian crisis that throws the failures and flaws of the detested reg...
Monday: IMES Conference on Islamist Movements
Abu Aardvark - May 9 16:54
For those in the area and interested, just a quick note that I will be appearing on an Institute for Middle East Studies panel discussion Monday afternoon entitled "What have we learned about Islamist political movements?"...
"Training Camps"
-THE CUNNING REALIST- - May 9 16:52
Phil Giraldi:There is considerable speculation and buzz in Washington today suggesting that the N...
A FARC Document Trove
Reason Magazine - Hit & Run - May 9 16:43
It is now pretty clear that those laptops seized by the Colombian military in its cross-border raid on FARC commander Raul Reyes are genuine (I wrote previously about the killing of Reyes here). There was little doubt as to the authenticity of the captur...
Hezbollah’s Coup ‘On the Ground’
Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place - May 9 16:36
In taking over much of Beirut (including Sunni neighborhoods formerly controlled by pro-government forces), Hezbollah has engineered what I call a “coup on the ground.” It hasn’t touched the levers of power or elected government. But by controlling much of the territory of the capital city it has taken physical control of everyt...
DWI for Walking a Bicycle
Reason Magazine - Hit & Run - May 9 16:23
Jeff Brown of Columbus, Ohio was arrested for DWI, spent four days in jail, and had his license suspended for six months when he refused to take a breath test after an officer confronted him on suspicion of operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Brown was walking his bicycle across his own front yard. Brown has since made a YouTube video ...
Thank you, Mario, but our protein is in another configuration!
Unqualified Offerings - May 9 16:04
By Thoreau University of Washington researchers have developed a computer game that folds proteins. Yes, really. Protein folding is a tough problem. You’ve got this long chain of amino ...
"I'm not saying I'm depending on Maxim to keep me alive over there, but it helps"
Reason Magazine - Hit & Run - May 9 15:58
Does Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) hate our troops? If not, then why is he trying to ban morale-boosting men's magazines from U.S. military bases? From Stars & Stripes:A Department of Defense committee that reviews materials sold on bases rule...
Olmert Chief Witness Married to Deputy Attorney General
Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place - May 9 15:41
I don’t know if you could ever find a stranger conflict of interest in Israeli law and politics. Ehud Olmert’s former law partner and business associate, Uri Messer, is presently singing to Israeli police and the attorney general about his involvement in the funds Morris Talansky raised for Olmert. From what I’ve read, [...]<scr...
This Day in History: Vast Wasteland
Reason Magazine - Hit & Run - May 9 15:35
On this day in 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minow proclaimed American television a "<a href="http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/newton...
Medvedev: Russia's military "gaining in strength and power"
FP Passport - blogging on global news, politics, economics, and ideas - May 9 15:27
ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AFP/Getty Images Russian President Dmitri Medvedev <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co...
Gender equality, Berlusconi-style
FP Passport - blogging on global news, politics, economics, and ideas - May 9 15:01
VINCENZO PINTO/AFP/Getty Images It turns out that blatant racists aren't the only...