No more good news from Afghanistan
It’s not true that failure is an orphan. Afghanistan today is like Freddy Krueger, “the son of a hundred homicidal maniacs”, whose nurse mother was gang raped by inmates of a …
Read MoreTag: the middle east
No right to return
Tragedy of the Middle East, or more precisely the Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict, continues through yet another escalation of deadly violence, with hundreds of lives lost and more hatred added to …
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Eight trends to watch in 2021
Twenty-twenty, the year of the “cool number” previously associated with the positive (perfect vision), had been anything but cool and positive itself. A lot had gone wrong; most related to the …
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Peace on Earth
One of the few bright spots of genuine good news this year – if not the only one – has been the sudden outbreak of peace between Israel and several …
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Why have a shoey when you can have a false leggy?
A faux scandal erupts in the middle of a real scandal (alleged, and subject to future court cases). One of the less savoury of all Australian drinking traditions is the …
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Much Ado About Gadot
Israeli actress Gal “Wonder Woman” Gadot has been cast in a new movie to play Queen Cleopatra, so predictably, lots of people who know nothing about history are upset. Former …
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America is bad for democracy, say allies
Dalia Research, the Alliance for Democracies and Rasmussen International have released the results of the Democracy Perception Index, the largest study of its kind, based on interviews with 124,000 people in …
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The Daily Chrenk’s Best Proverbs From Around The World, Part 7: The Finale
It’s been a great journey discovering the wise, the weird and the wonderful folk sayings from all parts of the world. You can check the previous six posts at your …
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The Daily Chrenk’s Best Proverbs From Around The World, Part 6
Distract yourself from COVID 24/7 and enjoy some wisdom of the ages from all corners of the world. Coincidentally, when proverbs and folk sayings were coming into being, life really …
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The Daily Chrenk’s Best Proverbs From Around The World, Part 5
With Coronavirus 24/7 and the world turned upside down indefinitely, wherever you are in self-isolation, make yourself some tea, sit down and enjoy the wisdom of the ages from different …
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Closed borders for me but not for thee
While the world is manically washing its hands and stocking up on toilet paper, as commerce, travel and even social interactions are slowly shrinking in response to what some see …
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Melancholy News from Afghanistan
Not the end, but perhaps the beginning of the end: the United States and the Taliban sign a preliminary agreement in Doha, Qatar, on a conditional withdrawal of the last …
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Those That Trust Trump, or Who Hearts America?
A fascinating update, courtesy of Pew Research Center, on attitudes towards the United States around the world, best summarised in this table: It’s personally interesting to note that Poland is the …
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The Great Malaise continues
At PJ Media, my old friend Richard Fernandez muses about the current upheaval: Bloomberg editors have noticed that the world is on fire. There are demonstrations and unrest in Lebanon, Chile, …
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Who’s your Baghdaddy? A tale in five obituaries
Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is dead, having blown himself and his three children up while being chased …
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The worst take on the Kurds
Debate continues to rage about the rights and wrongs of Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw a handful of US troops from their posts along the Syrian-Turkish border, where they have …
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The Decline and Fall of Robert Fisk
If you have been wondering whatever happened to Robert Fisk (I know you haven’t; this is just a rhetorical set-up), he is still alive and writing. His most recent effort …
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Pardoning Turkey for Thanksgiving
Donald Trump is withdrawing the American troops from northern Syria, where they had previously fought against ISIS and subsequently acted as a trip wire against a major Turkish attack on …
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What if you built a synagogue and no one came?
The United Arab Emirates is engaging in a commendable exercise in fostering inter-faith tolerance and understanding: A new UAE’s landmark, featuring a church, mosque and synagogue, will be built in …
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Pity they can’t both lose, part II
In case you’re not a Middle Eastern politics nerd, I borrowed the title of this post from Henry Kissinger’s famous (at least in the Middle Eastern politics nerd circles) comment …
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