Did you ever think that there’s more going on in the world than what you hear on CNN/MSNBC/FOX? Are you interested in global events, but feel like you need an advanced degree to really understand what’s going on? Don’t worry, I have one.
The goal of "The 101" is to breakdown some of the complex issues in international affairs, to give you the background and context you need to better understand them, to raise some questions that the purveyors of conventional wisdom are missing, and to do it all in a way that you won’t need a PhD in International Affairs to understand.
Fear, Loathing and the Cordoba House
Perhaps it’s the August heat, but invariably whenever the summer months roll around, American political discourse always seems to get fixated on some nonsensical issue - this year is no different with talk of the proposed “Ground Zero Mosque” dominating the airwaves. Of course the name is something of a misnomer - the “mosque” isn’t a mosque per se, but rather an Islamic cultural center that will contain a dedicated prayer facility within its 13-stories (in fact its creators stress that the prayer space officially is not a mosque) and it will not be at “Ground Zero” (the former World Trade Center site), but on
Prisoner of the Siloviki
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has crafted an ambitious agenda; two key planks of which are fighting Russia’s endemic problem with corruption and moving the national economy away from its reliance on extraction-based industries (primarily oil and natural gas production) towards more value-added pursuits-Medvedev’s current pet project is the construction of a Russian “Silicon Valley” outside of Moscow. It all sounds like a well-reasoned plan for the future, yet it’s worth noting that his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, made many of the same pledges, but his eight years in office ended without any notable successes either in tackling corruption or in esta
Wakhan, Somaliland, and the Modern State
Think for a minute about the Wakhan Corridor. You say you’ve never heard of the Wakhan Corridor? Don’t feel bad, not many people have since it is one of the most remote places on Earth. Look at a map of Afghanistan; see that long, skinny piece jutting out from the northeast corner reaching over to China, the thing that sort of resembles a giant splinter sticking in the flank of the country? That is the Wakhan Corridor, a mere ten miles wide in some areas, it is a place that owes its existence to the geopolitical machinations of the 19th century; created by the British
Mandela’s Fading Dream
It was the diplomatic equivalent of the age-old admonishment “I’m glad your father didn’t live to see this…” Last month Archbishop Desmond Tutu told The Guardian he was glad that at age 91, modern South Africa’s Founding Father Nelson Mandela was retired and not following day-to-day politics in his country anymore because if he was “issues such as corruption would certainly hurt him, as well as the gutter level of discourse by some politicians within the ruling party [Mandela’s own
World Science Fest 2010: Life in Space
Helping to wrap up the World Science Festival was Sunday morning’s presentation “Astronaut Diary: Life in Space” at NYU’s Rosenthal Pavilion, featuring NASA astronauts Sandra Magnus and Leland Melvin (notably the only pro football player to become a NASA astronaut) in person, and Tracy Caldwell Dyson in a pre-recorded segment from her current mission at the International Space Station.
World Science Fest 2010: The Future Will Be Roboticized
Ever watch an episode of Star Trek and wonder when you might get your hands on some of the gee-whiz technology from the show? Based on Friday night’s “The Science of Star Trek” event held at Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space as part of the World Science Festival, here’s a brief idea of what to expect in the future: Transporters – forget about it; Warp Drive – perhaps; Time Travel – maybe; Sentient Robots – definitely.
The Other Drug War Next Door
It’s fair to say that Americans have become accustomed to the steady stream of brutal reports and violent imagery coming out of Mexico as that country fights an ongoing battle against an entrenched network of drug cartels; it’s also why the drug-fueled violence that wracked Jamaica this past week took many by surprise. So far 73 people have died as Jamaican authorities conduct a quasi-military operation in the Tivoli Gardens section of Kingston, homebase of Jamaica’s top drug lord Christopher “Dudus” Coke.
Bush, Obama and Losing Eastern Europe
Last Tuesday, Intelligence Squared sponsored a debate on whether or not President Barack Obama’s foreign policy signaled America’s decline as the driving force in global affairs: Dan Senor and Mort Zuckerman argued yes; Wesley Clark and Bernard-Henri Levy argued no.
For News Editors, It’s Still 1983
Now, I’m not talking about the seeming inability of print and broadcast news outlets to successfully adapt to newfangled inventions like the Internets and Electronic Mail, but rather their slavish dedication to a peculiar worldview where the Cold War never ended.
The Faulty Narrative of Moscow’s Subway Bombings
Terror returned to Moscow last Monday morning when a pair of female suicide bombers blew themselves up in the city’s subway system (the second busiest in the world) during the morning rush, killing 40 people and wounding 90 others. The cable news channels in the United States began coverage of the attacks soon after they occurred and almost immediately began pointing to “Chechen separatists” as the likely culprits - which would have been a fine assumption to make, say ten years ago.Suicide bombings have been occurring with disturbing frequency lately in Russia’s Ca
