Is it possible that the explanation for the incredible irrationality and incompetence shown by world political and business leaders comes down to a usually dormant piece of DNA? For Switzerland’s Nachrichten newspaper, Patrik Etschmayer writes in part: Presumably like me, you my dear reader have the occasional sneaking, creepy feeling that a good portion of humanity is more or less crazy. Indeed – that it must in fact be insane. After all, what company with mentally-stable decision...

It has been a busy few days for the state-run North Korean media, and much of the content generated charges that evidence proving Pyongyang sank a South Korean naval vessel was fabricated by the U.S. and the South to create the pretext for a new ‘War on Terror’ and rally allies to more greatly pressure the North. So did the U.S. and South Korea engineer the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel in order to create a 9/11-style pretext to launch a ‘War on Terror’ in southeast...

The recent nuclear deal brokered with Iran by Turkey and Brazil has caused alarm not only in the United States and Europe, but in the Arab oil states. According to this article from Kuwait’s Al Qabas, Arabs are concerned that once the pressure is off of Iran over its nuclear program, it will then be free to pursue many of its other foreign policy goals in Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon and the Persian Gulf. For Al Qabas, columnist Wafiq Al Samerrai writes in part: We should be alert to the danger...

Is there some moral equivalency between Iran’s arrest of film director Jafar Panahi and America’s relentless pursuit of Roman Polanski? According to this article by Franck Nouchi of France’s Le Monde newspaper, the two cases have an important thing in common: both men have been ‘gagged’ because of their ‘art.’ For Le Monde, Franck Nouchi writes in part: In Iran and the United States, for reasons entirely different of course, the cinema has been gagged....

According to columnist Breno Altman of Brazil’s Guia Global, what frustrates Western countries most is not necessarily the nuclear deal with Iran brokered By Brazil and Turkey, but the emergence of new diplomatic world powers not under “imperial” control. Altman writes that the U.S. and its ‘subservient European associates” can’t tolerate “the formation of alliances outside of the imperial orbit” and predicts that, “in the coming days, political...

Has the ground just shifted under the planet’s diplomats? According to this article by columnist Semih Idiz of Turkish newspaper Hurriyet, the nuclear deal Turkey and Brazil have brokered with Iran may be a model for resolving problems the major powers have long failed to correct. Giving just a hint of Turkish displeasure with Brazil and lauding Ankara’s diplomatic breakthrough with Iran, columnist Semih Idiz writes for Hurriyet in part: The aim of Turkey and Brazil was to convince...

Are Americans now observing a dramatic government breakdown in the Gulf of Mexico? Continuing our global coverage of the unfolding oil crisis, columnist Uwe Schmitt of Germany’s Die Welt writes in part: “Americans have now been forced to look on as the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster exposes the impotence of their government. Policy and environmental agencies have failed, thanks to campaign contributions. Meanwhile citizens no longer even trust that Obama will get the situation under control....

The United States isn’t the only country confronting ecological and political crisis because of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. According to this article by columnist Yuriria Sierra of Mexico’s Excelsior newspaper, Mexico’s government, along with every other oil-dependent nation, is: ‘watching with arms crossed while the fauna, flora and ecosystems of the sea, which give us so much and from which we take so much, are beginning to die.” For Excelsior, Yuriria...

Once again, Iranian diplomacy has proven itself a formidable opponent. To international surprise, Iran has signed a deal with Turkey and Brazil that is likely to weaken America’s drive to have harsher sanctions imposed on Tehran. According to Le Figaro columnist Pierre Rousselin, President Obama has the credibility to mount a counter-move – and now would be the time. For Le Figaro, Pierre Rousselin writes in part: In terms of form, this is a very clever Iranian maneuver. By winning...

For the first time, American soldiers have marched on Red Square – but not in anger. According to this article from Russia’s Argument y Facty, U.S. and allied troops – including the Poles – were warmly welcomed by Moscow residents, as they participated in the 65th annual Victory Day celebrations. Argument y Facty reporter Olga Bozh’eva writes in part: American soldiers have marched on Red Square – and the world hasn’t come to an end. Last night, the center...

Mexican Carlos Fuentes, one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world, has written this scathing article about Arizona Law SP 1070 for the newspaper El Pais of Spain. Mr. Fuentes criticizes U.S. politicians like John McCain for flip-flopping on immigration, warns of the dangers of the road Arizona has embarked upon, and attacks Mexico’s government for leaving its people in a situation that forces them to flee. For El Pais, Carlos Fuentes writes in part: If...

Who is responsible for the appearance of Pakistani-Americans who train in Pakistan to attack America? Continuing our coverage of the Pakistani reaction to the arrest of Faisal Shahzad, these two editorials reflect Pakistan’s internal debate on the subject. The first editorial from Pakistan’s Frontier Post argues that the fault is squarely that of the United States, for creating the terrorist menace that kicked the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan. The editorial says in part: By highlighting...

How far can the Mexican head of state go in helping Mexicans in the United States – illegal or not – fight Arizona Law SB 1070? Continuing our coverage of reaction from the Mexican side, in this news item from Mexico’s Excelsior newspaper, President Felipe Calderon, incensed by the new law, tells leaders of Mexican migrants residing in the U.S. that his government will leave no stone unturned in helping them oppose its imposition. For Excelsior, reporter Ivonne Melgar writes in...

With the opening of the five-yearly U.N. conference on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the world is once again poised to argue about Iran’s nuclear program. These two articles – one from Kuwait and another from Algeria – highlight the split within the Muslim world about what to do – and whether perceived U.S. nuclear double standards in regard to Israel and other states like India and Pakistan should bring a halt to pressure on Iran. Fearful that Tehran has designs...

Continuing our coverage of the debate over the Arizona immigration law from the Mexican perspective, Carlos Fernandez-Vega of Mexico’s La Jornada opines that while Arizona’s new immigration law is ‘abominable,’ Mexico’s underemployed population is caught between a U.S. government that refuses to address comprehensive immigration reform and a Mexican government unwilling or unable to properly represent its own nationals, whether they reside at home or in a foreign...

As Mexican Americans and American Latinos protest across the country against Arizona’s new law on illegal immigration, a rising tide of frustration and disgust is occurring in Mexico as well. Continuing with our coverage of the Meixcan reaction to Arizona’s new law, Excelsior’s Jorge Fernandez Menendez writes that without deep and comprehensive “integration” of the NAFTA countries, particularly the U.S. and Mexico, problems like drug trafficking, energy security and...

Thirty five years ago yesterday, Saigon, the capital of what was then known as South Vietnam, fell to North Vietnamese forces. The event marked the defeat of America and its allies and a victory for the forces of Ho Chi Minh. According to this article from Vietnam’s state-controlled Voice of Vietnam, the pain and sorrow of the war brought out the best of the Vietnamese people, many of whom sacrificed all, ‘for the sake of national independence and freedom.’ For the Voice of Vietnam,...

Is it reasonable for the United States and Russia to ask China and other nuclear weapons states to disarm, when Washington and Moscow retain the capacity to destroy the earth ’49 times over’? According to this editorial from China’s state-controlled Global Times, before asking Beijing to disarm, the U.S. and Russia had better cut their nuclear stockpiles to match China’s. The Global Times editorial says in part: “The United States and Russia are to cut their nuclear...

Is President Obama, despite everything he has said and despite being a decades-long member of a Christian church, actually a Muslim? As the world’s most populous Muslim country, prepares to welcome him back, State Islamic University lecturer Bandung Nurrohman tells his readers that while Obama very well might be a Muslim – in the broadest possible sense – all Indonesians should welcome him and pray that he succeeds. For The Jakarta Post, Bandung Nurrohman writes in part: People...

Does the passage of Arizona’s new anti-immigration law signal the need for a single, continent-wide standard on how to treat workers – migrant or otherwise? Continuing with our coverage of Mexican reaction to the law, this article from La Jornada suggests that the signatories to NAFTA – Canada, the U.S. and Mexico – in addition to creating a fund to ‘reduce the economic imbalances among the three countries,’ should agree to ‘an equalization of working conditions...