Online Journal of Politics and Foreign Affairs
Via the BBC: Cuban TV shows Castro interview Cuban President Fidel Castro has appeared on TV in his first interview since undergoing surgery 10 months ago. In the recorded interview, the 80-year-old was seen in a tracksuit and looking relatively healthy. The question on everyone’s mind is, of course: can’t they give the man something [...]
Via the BBC: Cuba shows new images of Castro Cuban TV has shown brief video images of President Fidel Castro meeting the head of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Nong Duc Manh. [...] These were the first video images for four months. He is shown in a tracksuit, standing, and appearing less frail than in previous [...]
Cross-posted from PoliBlog: Via the BBC: Castro almost ‘fully recovered’ Cuban President Fidel Castro has almost completely recovered from the stomach surgery he had last year, says the head of the country’s national assembly. Speaking in a US TV interview Ricardo Alarcon gave no indication of when the Cuban leader might return to power. But [...]
Some quick hits from around the blogosphere: LaShawn Barber was on TV yesterday morning. Dave Price wonders what he’s missing. Michael Totten is this close to advocating withdrawal from Iraq. Mark Cuban offers Donald Trump some career advice. Scott Ott weighs in on the Bush-Carter squabble. To join in, choose a post from your blog [...]
Economic sanctions are almost always an ineffective way of achieving foreign policy goals. As we have seen in places like Iraq, North Korea, and, especially, Cuba, cutting off trade tends to make innocent civilians suffer while actually bolstering the regime, who now has a ready scapegoat for all the society’s ills. Well-targeted sanctions, though, can [...]
A new academic paper by Justin Wolfers and Joseph Price finds evidence of subconscious racial bias by NBA referees, although the effects are rather small: Mr. Wolfers and Mr. Price examined whether otherwise similar black and white players had fouls-per-minute rates that varied with the racial makeup of the refereeing crew. “Across all of these [...]
Although much of the blogospheric attention is being concentrated on the Green Zone attack in Baghdad today, there was another attack, too: BAGHDAD – A suicide truck bomb exploded on a major bridge in Baghdad early Thursday, collapsing the steel structure and sending cars tumbling into the Tigris River below, police and witnesses said. At [...]
The Supreme Court has denied a request from Guantanamo detainees who wish to challenge their confinement. The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday from who want challenge their five-year-long confinement in court, a victory for the Bush administration’s legal strategy in its fight against terrorism. The victory may be only temporary, however. The high court [...]
Smash infiltrates the ANSWER anti-war rally and comes away thinking the socialist front group may be sponsored by Fidel Castro.
Mitt Romney used a famous line from Fidel Castro in support of a “free Cuba,” creating a minor stir with a Miami audience. People chuckled when presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a Mormon raised in Michigan and elected in Massachusetts, bungled the names of Cuban-American politicians during a recent speech in Miami. But when he mistakenly [...]
Khalid Sheik Mohammed has signed a two page confession taking responsibility for the 9/11 attacks and dozens of other terrorist operations in a hearing at Guantanamo Bay over the weekend. WaPo: Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, confessed at a Guantanamo Bay military hearing that he planned and funded [...]
Graham Allison has made a career out of his 1973 book studying crisis decision-making during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Perhaps it isn’t surprising that his solution to Iran’s getting close to possession of nuclear weapons is to “take a page out of John F. Kennedy’s experience in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.” Some specifics [...]
Fidel Castro may finally die. Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro is in “very grave” condition after three failed operations and complications from an intestinal infection, a Spanish newspaper said Tuesday. The newspaper El Pais cited two unnamed sources from the Gregorio Maranon hospital in the Spanish capital of Madrid. The facility employs surgeon Jose Luis [...]
I’ve long noted the irony that neo-conservatism is the furthest thing from conservatism. In fact, it is the logical successor to Woodrow Wilson’s imperialistic vision. John Ikenberry uses the just-past 150th anniversary of Wilson’s birth and impending 88th anniversary of his 14 Points speech to reflect on the legacy of the 28th President of the [...]
A new Gallup poll shows that two-thirds of American favor renewing diplomatic ties with Cuba. This isn’t particularly surprising: Over the past 32 years, a majority of Americans have consistently said they support establishing diplomatic ties with Cuba, with the exception of one poll conducted in 1996. So, there is longstanding, overwhelming, bipartisan support for [...]
What do Belize, Saudi Arabia, Burma, North Korea, and Uzbekistan all have in common? They are among the dozen nations on the US State Department’s list of Tier 3 nations for human trafficking. Slavery, that is. Ambassador John Miller (a former Congressman from Seattle) , the head of the State Department’s Office to Monitor and [...]
Council on Foreign Relations president Richard Haass, who served in the administrations of George H.W. and George W. Bush, sees a New Middle East emerging. His vision, described in the current Foreign Affairs, is not pretty: Just over two centuries since Napoleon’s arrival in Egypt heralded the advent of the modern Middle East — some [...]
A conservative author and political scientist alleges in a new book that Senator Teddy Kennedy made an overture to the Soviet government to assist in a campaign to smear President Ronald Reagan to derail his 1984 re-election bid. The antipathy that congressional Democrats have today toward President George W. Bush is reminiscent of their distrust [...]
Application of the Military Commissions Act is underway, with a Justice Department memo telling the U.S. District Court in D.C. it has no habeus authority over 196 pending cases involving Guantanamo detainees. Moving quickly to implement the bill signed by President Bush this week that authorizes military trials of enemy combatants, the administration has formally [...]
In yet another strange story revolving around the visit of the tyrant, umm (sorry, can’t figury out the strike-through coding) President of Venezuela to the United Nations, now the Foreign Minister of that country is having immigration problems, and even the glorious New York Times dismisses him a merely an “Aide” in the headline (Try [...]
Several prominent Spanish language journalists in Miami were taking money for work for the U.S. government’s anti-Castro propaganda service without disclosing this relationship to their editors or audience. At least 10 South Florida journalists, including three from El Nuevo Herald, received regular payments from the U.S. government for programs on Radio Martà and TV MartÃ, [...]
The Associated Press is uncritically reporting that Elian Gonzales sincerely hopes that Castro recovers from his unknown illness. Elian Gonzalez sent a note Sunday wishing a speedy recovery to “my dear grandpa Fidel,” and Cuba’s vice president said the world’s longest-serving leader is recuperating well after surgery. [...] Gonzalez, the Cuban boy at the center [...]
Hotline’s Chuck Todd speculates on how the much-hoped-for death of Fidel Castro would impact American electoral politics, most notably “Florida’s 27 electoral votes.” It’s an interesting question, given that Florida was key in 2000 and that retaining it will likely be a prerequisite to a Republican winning the White House in 2008 and beyond. If [...]
Via Reuters: Cuban President Fidel Castro underwent intestinal surgery on Monday and delegated government functions provisionally to his younger brother Raul Castro, the government said in a televised statement signed by the Cuban leader. Castro, who turns 80 on August 13 and has led Cuba since a 1959 revolution, delegated his posts as first secretary [...]
A mentally ill American Muslim shot six women yesterday afternoon at the Seattle Jewish Federation, killing one. A Muslim-American man angry with Israel barged into the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle Friday afternoon and opened fire with a handgun, killing one woman and wounding five others before surrendering to police. Three of [...]
I’ve been hearing about Bill O’Reilly’s “Talking Points Memo” from last night’s show all over the place today, so I decided to check it out. Now I see why. O’Reilly perfectly summarizes why a cease-fire is a raw deal for the Israelis in terms that the average American can understand. That is, minus the disertation [...]
Fallen from grace. Photo credit: AP/Damian Dovarganes “…independent journalism.” In other words, no more darned interference from the pesky corporate brass that insists on fact-based reporting: Former CBS newsman Dan Rather says he’ll have complete editorial control over the content of the weekly newsmagazine he will kick off for Mark Cuban’s HDNet in October. “News [...]
Via Breitbart/AP: The Bush administration said Tuesday that all detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in U.S. military custody everywhere are entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions. White House spokesman Tony Snow said the policy, outlined in a new Defense Department memo, reflects the recent 5-3 Supreme Court decision blocking military tribunals set [...]
LCDR Charles Swift, the Navy JAG who defended Salim Ahmed Hamdan and just won his client’s case before the U.S. Supreme Court, is apparently about to be put out of the Navy. The LAT reported Friday: The U.S. Navy lawyer who challenged the Bush administration’s efforts to try terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, walked [...]
President Bush said he will press Congress for a law specifically authorizing military tribunals for Guantanamo Bay detainees in response to today’s Supreme Court ruling. After a Supreme Court decision overruling war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees, President Bush suggested Thursday he would seek Congress’ approval to proceed with trying terrorism suspects before military [...]
The Supreme Court ruled that Ahmed Salim Hamdan was being improperly held at Guantanamo Bay and apparently held that President Bush does not have the power to try those he deems “enemy combatants” in military tribunals. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Bush administration did not have the legal authority to go [...]
President Bush, at a US-EU summit in Vienna, told his European counterparts that his administration plans to close the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison camp, apparently confirming reports from European papers three months ago: Speaking to journalists following the talks at the EU-US summit in Vienna on Wednesday (21 June), Mr Bush confirmed he shared a [...]
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban screamed “Your league is rigged!” to NBA commissioner David Stern after his team’s controversial loss to the Miami heat Sunday night, reports Miami Herald reporter Greg Cote. ”We Wuz Robbed!” has long been the handiest excuse of teams that cannot find a decent reason for their collapse that doesn’t involve [...]
Bill Gates giving up control of Microsoft to focus on his charitable work. Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates said Thursday he will transition out of a day-to-day role at the company he co-founded to spend more time on global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The company announced a two-year [...]
Three Gitmo detainees have committed suicide. Three detainees at the US base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have died in what appears to have been a suicide pact. The inmates, two Saudis and a Yemeni, hanged themselves in their cells. The camp commander said the deaths – the first at the camp – were planned in [...]
As the Army is in the midst of trying soldiers for abuses in Abu Ghraib and CENTCOM is conducting training classes reminding soldiers that murdering civilians is a violation of the Code of Conduct, the Pentagon is rewriting its training manuals to omit discussion of the Geneva Conventions’ rules against humiliating prisoners. The Pentagon has [...]
Venezuela is threatening to sell U.S. F-16 fighters to rogue states, including Iran and Cuba. Venezuela’s military is considering the possibility of selling its fleet of U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to another country, perhaps Iran, a Venezuelan military official said Tuesday. In response to a U.S. ban on arms sales to President Hugo Chavez’s government, [...]
A new set of CDC guidelines suggests that all women of child bearing age be considered potentially pregnant. New federal guidelines ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves — and to be treated by the health care system — as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon. [...]
WSJ has a lengthy treatment of the blogswarm that started Friday when an Internet reporter, Jason Leopold, claimed that he had inside sources telling him Karl Rove had already been indicted and that an announcement was imminent. Politics, and the arguments it stirs, lends itself to the Internet. Bloggers have the latitude to issue one-sided [...]
The farce that is the United Nations Human Rights Commission continued, with the election of Cuba and five other major human rights violators to its membership. Six nations with poor human rights records were among those elected to the new Human Rights Council on Tuesday, although notorious violators that had belonged to the predecessor Human [...]
Steven Taylor has an excellent post explaining why the image of Ché Guevara is so appealing. The gist: “he helped successfully overthrow one dictator in Cuba and died working against a military dictatorship in a country were the vast majority was treated as second-class citizens.” One can admire the spirit of populist revolution and yet [...]
A group called Campaign for the National Popular Vote has been pushing a plan to essentially do away with the Electoral College without amending the Constitution. I read about it in The New Yorker a while back and it’s apparently gaining some steam. Basically, they want the president to be the winner of the most [...]
In yet another United Nations irony, Iran has been elected the Vice-Chairman of the current UN Commission on Disarmament along with Chile and Uruguay. What’s next, Sudan on the Human Rights Commission? (Oops, that happened.) The election was on April 10, but is only getting noticed now. As Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) protests, The election [...]
My earlier post on the resignation of Miss Iraq because of threats from religious extremists has provoked some interesting responses, especially my comment that “Iraq is still a conservative Muslim society where women are expected to cover their hair lest they create too much lust in the hearts of the pious Muslim men.” Jim Henley [...]
Max Sawicky points to what appears to be a pretty horrible abuse of power by the F.B.I. Harrisonburg, Virginia happens to have one of the largest enclaves of Iraqi Kurdish population in the US. They all came in the late 1990s to flee from Saddam Hussein’s regime after working for pro-US NGOs and having their [...]
Jonathan Edelstein; (link fixed) [A]nyone who was expecting a firm signal as to Hamas’ diplomatic policy is likely to be disappointed. On the one hand, several hard-liners hold prominent places in the lineup. Mahmoud Zahhar, one of Hamas’ co-founders and the head of the organization in Gaza, will be foreign minister, while Said Siyyam, a [...]
Elisabeth Bumiller notes that, In the days before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, immigration policy was going to be President Bush’s signature issue. It was central to his thinking as the former governor of a border state, key to his relationship with President Vicente Fox of Mexico and essential in attracting new Hispanic voters to [...]
AP reports that “A fire apparently started by a cigarette spread smoke through a cruise ship in the Caribbean early Thursday, killing an American, injuring 11 other people and damaging about 150 cabins.” We all know what’s coming: A call to ban smoking on cruise ships. Or, perhaps, the Caribbean. Related posts below the fold.
A paper by two leading international relations scholars, Stephen Walt and John Mearsheimer, on the “Israel Lobby” makes David Duke feel vindicated and is being praised by Arab terrorists. A paper recently co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government about the allegedly far-reaching influence of an “Israel lobby” is winning praise [...]