NGOs devoted to public works paradoxically became part of the wave of privatization that swept the region.
Organizing the Public in East-Central Europe
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Human Rights
The Forgotten Oscar: “Argo” for Best Propaganda
The lack of vision from Argo’s left-leaning director, Ben Affleck, is disappointing.
Human Rights in Serbia
People commit crimes, and they get away with it. These are usually powerful people, like Iliya Pavlov, the head of Multigroup and Bulgaria’s wealthiest individual until a sniper took him out in 2003.
Egyptian Government Deals With Sexual Attacks on Female Protesters by Blaming the Victims
In the void left by the government’s utter lack of action, non-profit organizations and volunteer groups have instead stepped up to the plate to protect, assist, and defend victims of these attacks.
Samer Issawi’s Hunger Strike Shines a Spotlight on Israel’s Inhumanity
Despite a 200-day hunger strike, Israel continues to deny Samer Issawi a trial.
Emphasis Added: The Foreign Policy Week in Fragments
The U.S. military, “witch burning,” negotiations with Iran, among other affairs.
U.S. Could Take a Lesson From France on LGBT Rights
Adoption by gay couples proved to be an especially contentious issue in France.
U.S. Urged to Lean Harder on Bahrain’s Ruling Family
While the Obama administration has continuously urged democratic reforms and dialogue between the Sunni-dominated government and representatives of the Shi’a community in Bahrain, which makes up between 60 and 70 percent of the kingdom’s indigenous population, it has been reluctant to exert serious pressure to achieve those ends.
The Latin American Exception
The Washington Post recently featured a “staggering” map of 54 highlighted countries that reveals, in the years after 9/11, how the CIA turned just about the whole world into a gulag archipelago. But what’s most striking about the Post’s map is that no part of its wine-dark horror touches Latin America; that is, not one country in what used to be called Washington’s “backyard” participated in rendition or Washington-directed or supported torture and abuse of “terror suspects.”
Exactly Why Is President Obama Going to Israel?
To say the U.S. moved quickly to squash any expectation that the President’s visit to the Middle East might help resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict would be an understatement.