There is a presidential campaign in Ukraine due in 2015 and political supporters of former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko want her out of jail by then. The current president, Viktor Yanukovich, certainly does not share that view and especially does…
There is something about communist Asian nations that encourages their political elite to exploit the advantages their party status affords them — contrary to the repeatedly claimed equality of their political philosophy. A typical case of special treatment for the…
Periodically the American press, public, and politicians become excited about something going on in Africa. The interest doesn’t last long and neither the United States nor African nations benefit much from the momentary excitement. President Obama recently ordered a small…
It had to be embarrassing for the new leader of a major global power to believe he had to stress his commitment to halt pervasive corruption in the political party he now leads. Nonetheless, that is exactly what was done…
The Associated Press discovered this month that residents of Helmand province — and presumably elsewhere in Afghanistan — are “afraid to go out after dark because of marauding bands of thieves.” The key word is bands. This means organized gangs…
A definitive statement was made last week by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that any settlement of the conflict in Syria could not involve Bashar al-Assad. Nonetheless, it has to be acknowledged that the Assad family and its fellow Alawite…
According to Jeh Johnson, General Counsel, Dept. of Defense, “the core of al Qaeda is today degraded, disorganized and on the run.” This purposeful statement was made at the Oxford Union debating society on November 30. The groundwork was thus…
It has been well publicized that President Barack Obama often does not attend the regular White House morning intelligence briefings. Instead, we’re told, he prefers to read written summaries, presumably later in the day or while dashing off somewhere on…
It is a tragic coda to the American presence in Afghanistan that a veteran staff sergeant is on trial for killing sleeping civilian villagers and their children without apparent provocation or purpose. Some have said this incident is reflective of…
After a final count it appears that 2,268 party members attended the 18th Congress of the Communist Party of China in Beijing this past week. They clapped appropriately during and after each speech and gave every appearance of complete agreement…
