A friend in Thailand just sent me this link to the geographic parameters of the brewing dangerous conflict in Bangkok. TWN has a lot of friends and readers in Thailand and hope that everyone stays safe.
My friend and former New America Foundation colleague Paul Cruickshank has been at the forefront of CNN’s investigative journalism on the nuts and bolts of Islamic terrorism. In one of Cruickshank’s recent shows that he did with CNN’s Nic Robertson, they showed how devastating a small bomb on a plane could be.
If you are a Middle East policy junkie, then you are most likely already acquainted with “The Middle East Channel” at Foreign Policy.
This is a guest note by Barbara Slavin, freqent TWN contributor and author of Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies: Iran, the U.S. and the Twisted Path to Confrontation. Slavin has visited Iran seven times. Clinton, Karzai Define Down Kandahar: “A Process, not an Operation” Experienced politicians are experts at downplaying expectations.
Maybe Newsweek‘s Ramin Setoodeh meant to stir up the controversy he did about gays being unbelievable in straight entertainment roles, and maybe he didn’t. But the topic has been busted open, and he and others should use this as a learning moment.
One of my frustrations with the global justice community has been a general aversion to thinking through and articulating clear road maps to secure human rights advancements in a way that can stand up to cost/benefit assessments of other contending policy goals.
This is a guest note by Dan Kervick, a regular reader and commenter at The Washington Note. Reaction to Aaron David Miller’s recent pessimistic piece on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raised calls for outside-the-box thinking as the only alternative to despair and endless conflict in the Middle East.
(Photo Credit: Jon Connel’s Photostream) The huge news here in Istanbul this week is the resignation of Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Deniz Baykal. Baykal leads the main opposition party that represents a secular, nationalist, pro-military alternative to the conservative, religiously-oriented ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).
This has to be watched. As the narrator says, “the Gulf appears to be bleeding.” Thanks to UT Austin/LBJ School’s James Galbraith for sending my way. For those of you following this disaster, the blog Gulf Oil Slick is a good resource.
