Last week, Egyptian military authorities decided to release 19 Americans ostensibly being held for their involvement in the foreign-funding of non-governmental organizations operating in Egypt. According to this news item from Egypt’s state-run Al-Gomhuriah, dual protests in front of the U.S. Embassy demonstrated against their release by military authorities, and then turned on one another. The news item from Egypt’s state-run Al-Gomhuriah starts out this way: There are many questions...

What does Mitt Romney have to do to make an eventual nomination as a presidential candidate more than just a poisoned chalice? For France’s ‘Liberation’, columnist Fabrice Rousselot writes that winning the general election may require the impossible: Uniting the most radical extremes of the Republican Party behind a moderate message. For Liberation, Fabrice Rousselot writes in part:. Once again, the primaries held in ten states have revealed one thing: a divided party that remains...

Is the U.S. more concerned with placating kings and despots than giving support to fledgling pro-democracy movements? For Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, columnist Kharroubi Habib criticizes Secretary of State Clinton for placating the Moroccan king while on an official visit by failing to meet members of that country’s February 20 movement, and then while visiting Algeria, for meeting with members of civil society that no one could recognize. For Le Quotidien d’Oran, Kharroubi Habib...

Days ago, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin aired his views on Russia and the world in a Moscow newspaper – and they have not gone unnoticed. For Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, one of the Maghreb’s leading columnists, K. Selim, writes that whether people in the West like it or not, Putin’s old-fashioned view of the world and Russian interests are as valid as ever. For Le Quotidien d’Oran, K. Selim writes in part: Within the long article written by Vladimir Putin...

With Russia’s presidential election this Sunday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wrote this 7,500 word opus in Moscow newspaper Moskovskiye Novosti, outlining what the once and apparently future Russian president thinks of the United States and NATO, the use of NGOs in foreign lands (like Egypt), Afghanistan and drug trafficking, the civil conflict in Syria, human rights in Russia and around the world, China, the Arab Spring, U.N. intrusions into the sovereignty of nations and many other...

Has President Barack Obama, through his election and policies, created almost irreversible dissaray within the Republican Party? For Mexico’s Excelsior, José Luis Valdés Ugalde writes that intentionally and by happenstance, Obama’s emergence was an ‘anomaly that destabilized the political environment for the better,’ and at the same time, it ‘served as a call to arms for the ultra-right, forcing out elements from the farthest depths of the U.S. psyche, producing...

Has enough time passed since the nuclear disaster in Japan for the world to resume nuclear plant building? Last week, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a construction permit for the first nuclear power plant to be built in the United States since 1978. According to this editorial from Japan’s Shimpo Hebei Shimbun, in Japan and the U.S., voices calling for a ‘nuclear renaissance’ are way ahead of themselves, since the world has yet to process the causes – and the...

With the cries for war against Iran growing louder by the day, diplomats have barely begun to come to girips with all of the likely ramifications. For Brazil’s Opera Mundi, columnist Ignacio Ramonet offers a look at the conflicting national ambitions and long-held animosities that will emerge as a result of any attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities – and suggests this is no time to dispense with diplomacy. For the Opera Mundi, Ignacio Ramonet writes in part: Will 2012 be the end...

In the United States there is a general sense that Egypt is now moving out of America’s orbit – but very little conception of what specifically is driving that process. This article by columnist Dr. Mahmud Madi of Egypt’s Amal al-Oumma newspaper outlines the major issues driving Egyptian resentment, starting with operations of U.S.-run non-governmental organizations in Egypt and the subsequent arrest of 19 Americans. But the resentment runs much deeper, going back to the era of...

Complain as they might, have U.S. Republicans themselves brought on the ‘political’ budget President Obama submitted for fiscal year 2013? For Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung, columnist Nikolaus Piper asserts that while the ideas in the president’s ‘reasonable’ budget are correct, Republicans were never going to pass them – and that ‘given the Republicans who want to be president, one hopes that he will once again be named ‘Obama.’ For the...

It seems everyone appreciates the meteoric emergence of Jeremy Lin as an NBA superstar. But as far as Beijing’s news masters are concerned, Lin is nearly a miracle worker. In this editorial from the state-run China Daily, the young Taiwanese American is credited for, among other things, improving China’s image, helping to change ‘stereotypes and prejudice regarding Chinese-Americans,’ giving Chinese fans a new champion after Yao Ming retired last year, and ‘serving...

By building up the reputation of one of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords and then allowing him to remain free, is the United States building a case for intervening in an incompetent Mexico? For Mexico’s La Jornada, columnist Jorge Carrillo Olea asserts that the U.S. has failed to help capture Joaquín Guzmán Loera, also known as El Chapo, in order to demonstrate that Mexico is a failed state in need of direct U.S. military intervention. For La Jornada, Jorge Carrillo Olea writes...

How badly is the Mexican drug war going? According to this news item from Mexico’s El Universal, to better communicate the gravity of the situation and send a message to the people and government of the United States, Mexico President Felipe Calderón has unveiled a huge sign within a stone’s throw of the U.S. border that says: ‘No More Weapons!’ For Mexico’s El Universal, reporter Jorge Ramos starts out this way: Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua: One hundred sixty five yards...

The Nazi legacy is an understandably heavy burden for Germany, even today. This leaves Germans emotionally vulnerable to comparisons to their 20th century forebears. And with the country exercising ever-more influence over its European Union allies, cutting remarks that include such comparisons are blossoming like mushrooms after a spring rain. So how to deal with it? For Germany’s Die Zeit, Bernd Ulrich writes that in order to operate as the ‘U.S. of Europe,’ Germans will have...

Is it possible that American citizens, now under arrest in Cairo, were involved with a plot to partition Egypt into four smaller states? According to columnist Muhammad Dunia of Egypt’s state-run Al-Ahram, maps that were discovered during a raid on the Cairo offices of the U.S.-based International Republican Institute prove that at least some of the foreign NGOs operating in Egypt are actively involved with the scheme, which Dunia calls a long-term ‘American-Zionist’ project. For...

When it comes to the oppression of dissent in Syria, are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council undermining global peace and security by issuing ‘reckless vetoes’? According to this editorial from Japan’s Kochi Shimbun, by concerning themselves with the interests of their own countries rather than what is best for the world, China, Russia, America, Britain and France are demonstrating an extreme form of irresponsible selfishness. The Kochi Shimbun editorial says...

Would the United States, utilizing what is known as a ‘false flag’ strategy, sacrifice a nuclear aircraft carrier to persuade the world that a war against Iran must be waged? According to columnist Anna Pinderak of Poland’s Wprost24, a theory is making the rounds that the Pentagon has sent the famed USS Enterprise to the Persian Gulf – to sink it – and then to blame Tehran for the crime. For Poland’s Wprost24, Anna Pinderak starts out this way: Is the United...

For a global business community still experiencing economic pain, Facebook’s humongous $100 billion Initial Public Offering has been an emotional shot in the arm. For French business newspaper Les Echos, columnist Philippe Escande praises the story of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as being at the heart of what still makes the American business sector the greatest in the world. For Les Echos, Philippe Escande starts out this way: It is an improbable story – one that could happen...

Are young people in America less stridently nationalistic than their predecessors? Columnist Fyodor Lukyanov of Russia’s Gazeta, citing recent Pew Research Center polling data, asserts in this detailed evaluation of U.S. public attitudes, that there is a declining tendency on the part of the U.S. population to believe in American exceptionalism, and concludes that U.S. foreign policy will be increasingly focused inward and toward the “near abroad” of Mexico and Latin America. For...

How should we characterize the impending end of Western military operations in Afghanistan? Was it a painful defeat, a hard-won success, or something in between? Columnist Danièle Fonck of Luxembourg’s Le Jeudi writes that nothing worthwhile has been gained by the Afghanistan invasion, and the soldiers who died – whether Westerners want to admit it to themselves or not – did so in vain. For Le Jeudi, Danièle Fonck writes in part: No war is good, because they transform human...