Jennifer Williams, Vox
Taiwan has accused China of conducting an "extrajudicial abduction" of Taiwanese citizens (one is reportedly a dual US-Taiwan citizen) and has accused China of committing a "gross violation of basic human rights." Here's what's going on, why it's unfolding in Kenya of all places, and why this may be about some deeper issues between China and Taiwan.
Mark Mazzetti, NYT
Saudi officials have long denied that the kingdom had any role in the Sept. 11 plot, and the 9/11 Commission found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded the organization. But critics have noted that the commissions narrow wording left open the possibility that less senior officials or parts of the Saudi government could have played a role. Suspicions have lingered, partly because of the conclusions of a 2002... Читать дальше...
Geoff Hill, Mail & Guardian
Africa has more functioning democracies than at any time in history. The press is at its most free, and only a handful of despots remain, safe in the knowledge that fellow leaders will leave them alone. Djibouti, Chad, Angola’s jailed book club and a growing risk of civil war after the disputed election last month in Congo Brazzaville: does anyone care? Maybe they would if the president fed his rivals to the crocodiles, but I doubt it.
Kevin Lees, Suffragio
Its still important to recognize that theres only one country in the world thats ever used nuclear weapons in war, and thats the United States of America. That fact is still relevant today when, for example, US officials draw lines about which countries should or should not be permitted to possess nuclear weapons. An Obama visit to Hiroshima, more than decades of START accords with Russia, would telescope to the world that an American president understands that reality... Читать дальше...
Jon Freedland, Guardian
It’s a fair bet that never, ever did the British establishment imagine that one day it would be resting its hopes on Jeremy Corbyn. For years the likes of David Cameron, George Osborne, the governor of the Bank of England, the heads of most FTSE companies and the masters of the City of London – to say nothing of Peter Mandelson and the entire New Labour aristocracy – would either have mocked Corbyn or struggled to place his name.
Fariba Sahraei, BBC News
The men, who are mainly ethnic Hazaras, are recruited from impoverished and vulnerable migrant communities in Iran, and sent to join a multi-national Shia Muslim militia - in effect a "Foreign Legion" - that Iran has mobilised to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Many have since fled the battlefield and joined the refugee trail to Europe.
Besnik Pula, Foreign Policy
From Montenegro to Macedonia, a new generation of leaders has learned to tell the West what it wants to hear while crushing democracy back home.
Lynsey Chutel, Quartz
It could have been another inspiring immigrant story. Atul Gupta, a young man from Saharanpur in northern India, is sent by his father to find success across the ocean. He looks to South Africa and sees opportunity amid the political and economic turmoil of the country’s transition in the early 1990s. As his gamble pays off, his brothers join and he builds an empire in his adopted home. Instead, that story is now met with deep skepticism and open anger by South Africans... Читать дальше...
Robert Skidelsky, Project Syn.
By staying in, Britain would be able to ensure that, if and when the eurozone’s breakup comes, the process is not too messy, and will at any rate preserve something of the spirit of the EU’s founders. Britain has much to fear from an acrimonious divorce, as it will inevitably be swept into its turbulent wake.
Barteczko & Lewis, Reuters
Last year Poland's three biggest mining firms, including Kompania Weglowa, KHW and the listed JSW as well as three state-run power producers, which burn the mines' coal booked a net loss of almost 10 billion zlotys (.6 billion).
Gabriel Debenedetti, Politico EU
It may have been the most incongruous scene in a campaign that has featured many of them, with the Vermont senator, who struggled to be taken seriously at the outset of the campaign, sitting in the shadow of the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica, awaiting his chance to take his message to a global audience.
Patrick Cockburn, Independent
As has happened repeatedly since 9/11, the US and countries like Britain fail to combat terrorism because they give priority to retaining their alliance with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf monarchies.
Margaret Wente, Globe and Mail
Every new government promises to be more principled and high-minded than the previous one. They were sleazy and corrupt. We are ethical and pure. They did the expedient thing. We will do the right thing.
Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe
Since 2009, America’s credibility has been badly eroded and the world has become far more dangerous and unstable. The price of American retreat has been terrible, made all the worse by a president too rigid to change his mind.
Andrew McCarthy, NRO
This deceit at the core of American counterterrorism efforts has led seamlessly to other frauds. Among the most grievous is this one: Saudi Arabia is a key counterterrorism ally of the United States.
Andrew Moravcsik, WaPo
Consider the facts. The U.S. military commitment to European defense is surprisingly small. After the Cold War, almost 90 percent of American soldiers departed. Today only about 5 percent of total U.S. active-duty personnel and a few hundred among thousands of U.S. nuclear weapons are deployed there.