My last post took note of American arms sellers camping in New Delhi (see here). This post is about the increasing number of expats/professionals (including Americans) who are making India their home, and feel more than welcome here. Dave Prager and Jenny Steeves (photo above), who arrived in New Delhi from Brooklyn in 2007, say: “Unlike most countries in the world, Indians love Americans.” Their...

As you may know, famed Polish-French director Roman Polanski was recently arrested in Switzerland. In 1977, he was convicted in the U.S. of “unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor” (a disturbing euphemism). He has been on the run ever since, avoiding extradition in Europe while continuing with his career. Polanski has many fans and admirers, of course. I especially like Chinatown and The Pianist,...

Is the Polanski case an example of the Euro-American cultural divide striking again? Or is it about Switzerland, worried about its relations with the United States after the UBS debacle, trying to curry favor with Washington? Whatever the cause, the controversy triggered by the arrest and possible extradition to the United States of famed film director and pedophile Roman Polanski is fierce. For France’s...

One of the stories behind the story of the demise of the F-22 Raptor fighter is the “developing story” of the increasingly important role unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are playing in today’s and certainly in tomorrow’s Air Force. In my story behind the story of the F-22 demise, I quoted Fred Kaplan’s comments that, during the most intense period of the Cold War, “much higher...

Iran is reportedly throwing down the gauntlet again: Iran’s nuclear chief says his country will not discuss anything related to its right to enrich uranium. Ali Akbar Salehi made his remarks two days before Iran is to discuss its atomic program with world powers in Geneva. He said Iran will never abandon its nuclear program. Earlier, Salehi told state-run television Iran will soon tell the U.N. nuclear...

The British tabloid The Daily Express is reporting that the Saudi government has told the head of British intelligence that it’s fine with them if Israel bombs an Iranian nuclear site.

There is a huge controversy building over something that should not be controversial at all: the arrest of 76-year-old film director Roman Polanski on charges going back to his rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

Image courtesy of Chicago Ray Report - http://chicagoray.blogspot.com Ok… Ok… The title is a bit over the top but President Obama is going to be the first U.S. President to appear before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to lobby for the Olympics (via The Huffington Post): WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s decision to fly to Denmark to support Chicago’s Olympics bid elevates...

Four years ago, I wrote a six-part series at The Reaction — “Democracy in Deutschland” — on the German federal election. It was a fascinating election and a fascinating time in German politics, culminating in the creation of a so-called “Grand Coalition” between Angela Merkel’s center-right CDU (along with its Bavarian sister party, the right-wing CSU) and the incumbent...

Michael Keefe, The Denver Post This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Australian town of Bundanoon has become the first in the world to ban commercially-bottled water. The ban, which is supported by local shopkeepers, means water in plastic bottles can no longer be bought in the town in the Southern Highlands, two hours from Sydney. Instead, reusable bottles have gone on sale, which can be refilled for free at new drinking fountains (photo above), reports The Independent. “Bottled...

“Future news from September, 2012: After eight infuriated, highly-armed polar bears seize the U.N. General Assembly, the world suddenly realizes it confronts a new form of terrorism.” As the climate Change Summit in Copenhagen draws ever closer, pessimism is growing over whether the biggest gas emitters will take action to stop what most scientists assure us will be a catastrophe. And in the minds...

Having read two of Andrew J. Bacevich’s books now (The New American Militarism and The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism) I know that he is always worth reading, even when you don’t agree with his conclusions (although I mostly do).

Iran’s in-your-face stance continues as it test fire short-range missiles, with some cable reports saying long range tests will come in coming months. The New York Times reports: Iran test-fired short-range missiles as its elite Revolutionary Guards began war games on Sunday aimed at boosting the Islamic Republic’s deterrent capabilities, official media reported. The missile maneuvers coincide with...

As the cartoon above says, War is Big Business. This major issue is discussed, if at all, in passing by the mainstream media. Newspapers in India’s capital city had to borrow a news story from The Washington Post that “major US arms suppliers are wooing Indian defence agents and officials.” Emily Wax of The Washington Post continues: Almost every weekend, there are cocktails and closed-door...

We are told that Tandoori murga (or chicken), India’s contribution to the world of cuisine, was born in Peshawar in 1929. After India’s bloody Partition, the shop (later known as “Moti Mahal”) moved to Daryaganj in New Delhi, very close to the ancestral house of Pakistan’s Pervez Musharraf. Tandoori chicken gained in popularity when India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal...

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited. All rights reserved.

By now, most of the stories behind the dazzling rise and ignominious demise of a proud, magnificent bird, the F-22 Raptor, have been told. Stories about the brilliant design and cutting edge manufacturing and assembly technology. A technology that has been described as “the only thing more complex than the human body.” (I was fortunate to visit the “mile-long” Lockheed Martin F-16 assembly line;...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This cartoon is copyrighted and licensed to run on TMV. All Rights Reserved. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The newest revelation of Iran’s nuclear sneakiness echoes what happened in 1962 when the Soviets furtively put missiles into Cuba, but John F. Kennedy’s problem was a faceoff for a few days compared to the complex struggle that will play out over the coming months. Yet the key issue is the same–testing an American president’s skill and resolve by an adversary who may be interpreting a...

Guest Post By Leonidas Leonidas is a frequent, right of center commenter on The Moderate Voice and has been invited as a Guest Voice. ********** The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released a new report on the ousting of former President Manuel Zelaya. Among its findings: Available sources indicate that the judicial and legislative branches applied constitutional and statutory law in the case against...

Unidentified members of Iran’s august Assembly of Experts, purported under Iran’s revolutionary constitution to oversee and be capable of removing that nation’s ’supreme leader’ who never faces the verdict of the average voter. (The same can apparently be said of that nation’s president, but setting that aside for the moment … While Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad...

President Barack Obama’s weekly radio You Tube Internet address touches on the G20 — and the ongoing crisis with Iran:

Is the current crisis involving Iran just one more news cycle blip that will pass without triggering the worst case scenarios on each side? Or is this really “the Cuban Missile Crisis in slow motion” as one expert believes? Two things are thing is certain. 1. From the comments coming from each side at the end of the week, it’s clear that it’s No More Mr. Nice Guy — or at least...

As we’ve all heard by now, Western Europe is relieved, and Eastern Europe is aggrieved, over President Barack Obama’s decision to scrap Bush-era missile shield bases in Poland and the Czech Republic. This article by Marek Magierowski of Poland’s Rceczpospolita offers a good sense of how Poles view the decision. So why did Obama do it? Magierowski gives three reasons: “First, the Americans...