World

David Cameron cannot ignore Israel (Photo: Reuters)

In his riveting memoir of life in Downing Street, Jonathan Powell recalls how Ariel Sharon would make a point of patronising Tony Blair every time he visited Jerusalem by saying to him: “Thank you so much for coming and spending time on our problem when you have so many problems of your own at home.” Israelis, often with good cause, tend to be wary of those who drop in to deliver a lecture before jetting back to the safety of their European certainties.

A decade later, David Cameron is burdened with more difficulties than his predecessor could… Read More

In recent years there has been no more ubiquitous face on billboards the length and breadth of China than the basketball star Yao Ming. No matter how small, smoggy or distant the town, his boyish, over-sized features can be found endorsing a truly bewildering array of products.

Joe is Biden his time before his next gaffe

Earlier today Politico broke the astonishing story of Joe Biden supporting the charge by Democrat Congressman Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania that Tea Party Republicans had “acted like terrorists” over the debt issue. According to Politico’s report, based on eyewitness accounts:
Vice President Joe Biden joined House Democrats in lashing tea party Republicans Monday, accusing them of having “acted like terrorists” in the fight over raising the nation’s debt limit. Biden was agreeing with a line of argument made by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) at a two-hour, closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting.

“We have negotiated… Read More

A man tries to escape gunfire in Kazou neighbourhood in Hama (Photo: Reuters)

British Foreign Secretary William Hague responded swiftly to the news that the Syrian regime had massacred close to a hundred people in the city of Hama over the weekend, issuing immediate condemnation from London calling on President Bashar al-Assad to “stop this assault on his own people.” At the White House Barack Obama dropped his customary equivocation on human rights issues in the Middle East and declared he was “appalled” by the actions of Damascus and pledged to push for further measures to… Read More

Violence in Hama (Photo: Reuters)

Several months ago I had a conversation with an American academic specialising in the Middle East. Wouldn’t it be difficult, I’d asked, for Bashar al-Assad to repeat his father’s 1982 massacre in Hama all over again in 2011, in the age of YouTube, Twitter and Facebook? “Why?” came the frigid reply. “Why do you think having an atrocity filmed in broad daylight and exhibited to the world would stop a dictator like Assad from committing one?”

At the time, I still gave the chinless human ferret of Damascus points for political savvy. Not for nothing had he spent millions of dollar… Read More

The Washington Post and a number of US news sites are reporting that tens of thousands of Twitter users have unfollowed President Obama after being deluged by tweets on Friday requesting they contact Republican legislators over the debt ceiling issue. According to The Post:
Obama’s official 2012 campaign Twitter account announced to its 9.4 million followers that it would begin publishing the Twitter account names of House Republicans. Over the course of the day, @BarackObama sent out around 100 tweets.

Not everyone was enamored. The account stood at 9.366 million followers by 6 p.m., a loss of more than 30,000 followers. The White House’s official account, @whitehouse, was also publishing tweets at a rapid-fire pace throughout the day.
One… Read More

More bad news for the White House as Rasmussen announced today that just 17 percent of likely US voters believe the country is heading in the right direction, the lowest level of public confidence since Barack Obama took office. According to Rasmussen, a staggering 75 percent of voters now believe the country is heading down the wrong track, including a clear majority (58 percent) of Democrats, and 77 percent of Independents:
Seventy-five percent (75%) of voters say the country is heading down the wrong track, the highest finding since early January 2009. Since that time, voter pessimism had ranged from 57% to 72%.
Most Republicans (91%) and voters not affiliated with either political party (77%) believe the country i… Read More

Rostam Ghasemi is head of the Revolutionary Guards

At a time when the world economy is teetering on the brink of collapse, there is alarming news that Iran is trying to get one of its top Revolutionary Guards commanders appointed president of Opec, the organisation that represents the world’s leading oil producing nations.

Rostam Ghasemi, the 61-year-old head of the Revolutionary Guards, has been nominated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to become president of Opec. Under Opec’s rotating presidency system, Iran has held the presidency since last October. But Mr Ahmadinejad’s decision to nominate Mr Ghasemi, who is currently the subject of international… Read More

Vince Cable is hardly known for his diplomatic skills, but his latest remarks are a downright embarrassment for the Coalition government. His astonishing attack on the conservative leadership in the House of Representatives over the debt talks was, even by Cable’s standards, a display of tremendous bad judgment for a senior government minister. Cable doesn’t name them directly, but he is almost certainly referring to House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority leader Eric Cantor.

As The Telegraph reported Cable launched a direct attack on US Republican leaders for their stance in the ongoing debt talks between Congress and the Obama administration, telling the BBC’s Andrew Marr:
The irony of the situation at the moment, with markets opening tomorrow morning, i… Read More

The first gay couple to get married in Manhattan: Phyllis Siegel, 76, (L) and Connie Kopelov, 84, holds up their marriage certificate.

One happy story this weekend came from the Big Apple, where gay marriage was finally made legal. New York is the sixth state in the US to recognise same-sex marriage. One of the most liberal cities on the planet came in behind Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Washington, D.C. and, for a brief time, California (CA has since rescinded its gay… Read More