Is holding Jews to a higher standard helpful to peace in the Middle East?
Israel v. Palestine Brings Out the Jewish in Me
read more
Human Rights
“No Mosque in My Backyard” Syndrome and the Perils of Lukewarm Tolerance
Many opposed to the “Ground Zero mosque” are masking their prejudice against Muslims with concern for the sensibilities of 9/11 families.
The Gambia: A Dictator’s Anti-Media War
Since the 1994 coup d’état that saw President Yahya Jammeh rise to power, the Gambian media has been forced to work under repressive and restrictive conditions. The disappearance of editors and journalists, destruction of property and threat of imprisonment and harm by Jammeh’s National Intelligence Agency officers mean Gambian media outlets must either praise the ruling party or close their doors. Alagi Yorro Jallow, once an editor of a now closed private Gambian publication, discusses the Gambian government crackdown on the media and regulations under which a Gambian journalist must work.
An Urgent Need to Stabilize Kyrgyzstan
Just weeks after widespread ethnic violence in southern Kyrgyzstan killed hundreds of people, destroyed thousands of houses, and caused hundreds of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks to flee their homes, widespread abuse by Kyrgyzstan’s law-enforcement agencies is again fueling tensions.
Has Incoming Colombian President Santos Inherited a “Captured State”?
Outgoing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe left a legacy of death and displacement. Can new president Juan Santos move his country in a new direction?
60 Second Expert:The Srebrenica Massacre, after Fifteen Years
This summer marks the fifteenth anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, where 8,000 Muslims, mostly men and boys, lost their lives in the single worst act of genocide in Europe since the 1940s. For many, the key lesson of Srebrenica is that the United States should have used military force against the Serbs sooner than they did. For others, Srebrenica is a painful reminder of the overstated value of military intervention as a solution to a humanitarian crisis which in reality, could have been avoided through diplomatic means.
Recent Colombian Mass Grave Discovery May Be “False-Positives”
“False positive” is the Colombian armed forces operation that murdered civilians and dressed them up in insurgent uniforms to fake the success of the army’s counterinsurgency strategy.
The Srebrenica Massacre, After Fifteen Years
The massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, in July 1995, is now being remembered worldwide, as this grim event reaches its fifteenth anniversary. This was the largest single mass killing of the entire Bosnian war, and indeed, it was the worst massacre that Europe has seen since the 1940s.
A Solution to Congolese Violence — or Empty Gesture?
As part of the sweeping financial reform bill signed into law this past week by President Barack Obama, a surprising legislative rider took effect seeking an end to the internal conflict plaguing Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The provision, which resulted largely from intensive lobbying efforts by the Enough Project to stop genocide, is designed to prevent destabilizing elements within the DRC from feeding off the country’s lucrative trade in precious metals. The DRC boasts rich deposits of tungsten, tantalum, and tin—metals commonly found in cell phones, laptops, video game consoles and other electronic devices—profits from which have long been seen to fuel the activities of non-state combatants there.
NorK “Coup-Proofed” From Both Within and Without
Regime change in North Korea not likely due to Kim Jong-il’s ingenuity as well as a lack of international consensus on how to proceed.