The Current Discussion: Are the U.S. and Europe right to recognize Kosovo and continue to poke Russia with a stick?
In the summer of 2006, I rode a bus through the winding mountain roads from Sarajevo to Podgorica sitting next to a young Montenegrin studying medicine in Bosnia. It was his first trip home since his country gained its independence. While many believed Montenegro's secession from Serbia was inevitable, the young man spoke of his country using the kind of poetry one might use to describe their lover. However, shortly into his epilogue about the future of his country, our discussion turned to Kosovo. His opinions surprised me. "It will be very sad if Kosovo wins its independence but in this political atmosphere, I don't see any way that Kosovo can become part of Serbia," he told me. "Kosovo brings too many emotional problems to Serbia."

Continue »

The Current Discussion: China's on a resource-buying spree, most recently paying US$13 billion for a stake in an Australian mining company. Is this a threat to your nation and its economy? To the world's?

The late Middle East historian Albert Hourani once wrote
"[He] who rules the Near East rules the world; and he who has interests in the world is bound to concern himself with the Near East." For more than half a century, the United States has made its interests apparent to the world via a clash of political and economic endeavors. Business interests have been pursued under a veil of democracy which, when imposed, have the potential to spark the type of blowback we are witnessing today.

Continue »

Unlike many countries in the world, America is no stranger to change. However, when change is coupled with incompetence, as we have seen in recent years, the results are disastrous. The last 10 years of American politics have been tainted by everything from sex scandals to wars, cover-ups to erroneous intelligence. The globalization machine has engulfed us in its belly at an uncontrollable rate and we, as a declining superpower, have not exhibited the maturity to receive some of the rapid, all-encompassing changes as have many countries in the developing world.

As an American born on the cusp of generations X and Y, I can honestly say that the bulk of my adulthood has been packed with uninspiring and often baffling politics. We could use a lot of change right now, but what we really need is competence, honesty and someone to inspire this nation to get back on its feet.

The economy is faltering in ways I have never experienced in my adult life. Our servicemen and women are dying in the name of freedom and liberation as are those we have supposedly sought to liberate. American politicians continue to lose popularity on the international and domestic stages while the leaders pegged as public enemies win over the hearts and minds of people around the world.

This nation is ripe for a change for the better. However, we must not mistake a change in the gender, race or religion of the Commander-in-Chief as one that ensures a better, more secure future. The most recent media blitz surrounding the remaining candidates – but particularly Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton – has clouded some key competency issues. I hope that Super Duper Tuesday (Feb. 5) will narrow the field of candidates and give way to true electoral scrutiny without the tongue-in-cheek politicking that has painted the past few weeks.

Change is healthy – that is, real change, not just rhetorical. The competence of American leaders, however, is an absolute imperative particularly in a world shrinking at the hands of globalization.

The Current Discussion: Australians are voting online for a "Word of the Year" from a list of new words to be included in the dictionary: among the frontrunners, "Chindia", "globesity," and "password fatigue." Create your favorite new word of the year that tells us something about trends in your country.

I’d like to submit the following words for consideration.

Yanktipathy - [yank-tip-uh-thee] - noun. [Yankee + antipathy]
1. A natural, basic, or habitual repugnance of natives or inhabitants of the United States.
2. An instinctive contrariety or opposition in feeling to U.S. foreign policy, intervention, occupation, or the people responsible for it all. [see also CHENEY]
3. An object of natural aversion or habitual dislike to American social values, pop icons, fast food or sports.
4. Distaste for all things American, full stop.

Wiretrapped – [wahyuh r-trap-ing] – adjective [wiretap + trap]
1. A consequence of the U.S.-led War on Terror, describing the feeling by some to the surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of persons within the United States incident to the collection of foreign intelligence.

Continue »

The Turkish military has stepped up attacks against Kurdish rebels hiding in the mountains of Northern Iraq. Warplanes have carried out a number of cross-border raids to target the thousands of militants whom the military suspects are taking shelter in the predominantly Kurdish part of Iraq. In response to the bombings’ displacement of numerous Kurdish Iraqi families, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has ordered the government to pay one million dinars (approximately US$ 815).

The strikes followed an agreement between the United States and Turkey to share intelligence on the activities of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which was labeled a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the United States. The semi-autonomous Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) – an important U.S. ally – has lobbied in Washington and Ankara against a military incursion. The escalating situation in Northern Iraq is expected to dominate the agenda when President George W. Bush hosts Turkey's President Abdullah Gul at the White House on Jan. 8.

Kurdish officials condemn Turkey’s attacks, saying they have done little to quell PKK activities and have only delayed a viable solution. Meanwhile, a PKK leader in Northern Iraq has vowed to take his people's battle for autonomy deep within Turkey’s borders.

Falah Mustafa Bakir, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the KRG, says the attacks are a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. He spoke to Vivian Salama from Irbil on December 31st.

Continue »

The Question: What was the biggest news story in your country last year [in 2007], and why?

As we begin 2008 and look back on the biggest stories that made headlines over the past year, I cannot help but ask a question that I, as a journalist, have recently come to dread: what qualifies as news, nowadays?

Continue »

When Benazir Bhutto spoke to the Council of Foreign Relations last August before returning from exile to Pakistan, she said, "The West's close association with a military dictatorship, in my humble view, is alienating Pakistan's people and is playing into the hands of those hardliners who blame the West for the ills of the region."

Those hard-liners, to whom she referred while safely in New York, are likely the same people who took her life in Pakistan on Thursday evening. The news of Bhutto's assassination is a grim reminder that religious extremists are attempting to reverse the moderating influences of globalization.

Continue »

The first year I lived in Egypt, Ramadan fell in November. Journalists are often invited to company iftars (the meal to break fast) as a way of networking and exchanging in the holiday spirit. You can imagine my surprise when, at one of these iftars, Santa Claus marched in to spread …Ramadan cheer(!?)

Continue »

The Question: The producers of the movie "The Kite Runner" had to evacuate three boy actors from Afghanistan because they were involved in a scene portraying homosexual rape. Who's at fault here: the movie producers who exposed the boys to danger, or the Afghan culture that threatens them?

Before responding to this question, I feel it necessary to take a moment to credit Afghani-American author Khaled Hosseini for writing such an incredible story. The Kite Runner is a remarkably well-written window into two very different Afghanistans – one of revolution and hope, the other of oppression and despair. Sadly, the latter description is that of today's Afghanistan.

Certainly the filmmakers should have taken into account that by showing a homosexual rape scene (the actual rape is not shown), they were jeopardizing the young actors' lives. However, in the end, perhaps evacuation from Afghanistan, given its continued political instability and turmoil, is a blessing in disguise.

Continue »

In the 1989 Kevin Costner movie, "A Field of Dreams," a voice from baseball heaven tells Costner, "if you build it, they will come." It seems to me that the same voice should shed some light in Washington: if you build and expand business, illegal immigrants will come.

It's bewildering to envision a land of immigration closed off to immigrants. Nonetheless, the Council on Foreign Relations recently referred to the topic of immigration as "a toxic political issue." Regardless of whether U.S. presidential hopefuls see the benefits of illegal immigration for America's economy, candidates are toeing the line due to the negative connotation associated with this issue.

First, let's talk numbers: Foreign-born residents in the United States have not exceeded 16 percent since 1675. This year, immigrants to the U.S. – legal and illegal – reached a record of 37.9 million, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. (Where I sit in New York, about 38 percent of people here are immigrants). That said, it's not the legal immigrants raising eyebrows.

Continue »