Guest post by Ali Ezzatyar Approaching the one-year anniversary of the Arab spring, it’s very easy to forget that the events of 2011 would have been unthinkable last Christmas. Browse through the op-ed pages of every major newspaper or foreign policy journal, or the title of any of the books that were being published on the region this time last year: not a single clear, quantifiable notion that one man’s...

Is the Internal Revenue Service suborning European Banks to keep tabs on their American customers? According to this editorial from Germany’s Financial Times Deutschland, a number of German Banks have ‘understandably’ decided to drop their U.S. customers due to the expense of complying with IRS data provisions and for fear of being on the wrong side of the American tax collector. The Financial...

Bahrain, the close American ally with one of the worst recent records of violence against pro-democracy protestors, received a formal a warning on Wednesday from the UN Human Rights chief. A team from the High Commissioner for Human Rights visited Bahrain from 13 to 17 December and concluded that the repression was unacceptable. It insisted the government should immediately and unconditionally release protestors...

Is Newt Gingrich suited to be president of the United States? Trending negative on this question along with much of the rest of the world is columnist Patrik Eschemeyer of Switerland’s News. Eschemeyer labels the entire Republican field with the exception of John Huntsman as ‘madcap’ – and he regards Newt Gingrich as a ‘pig.’ For the News, Patrik Eschemeyer starts out this...

With my best wishes for a Merry Christmas and a joyous holiday season to our readers, especially our veterans and active duty military. Two Christmases ago, in a “Christmas wish for our troops serving in harm’s way,” I expressed my empathy and admiration for the tens of thousands of our brave men and women who were serving in hostile territory , away from their loved ones, attempting to, in some fashion,...

WASHINGTON — It’s late at night when the phone rings at the White House: Kim Jong Il, the ruthless oddball dictator of nuclear-armed North Korea, is dead. His apparent successor is his 20-something son, about whom practically nothing is known. South Korean officials have rushed to put the nation’s military forces on high alert. Do we want Mitt Romney answering that phone call? ...

Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Another great animation from Taiwan’s Next Media Animation — this time on the death of North Korea’s Kim Jong-il:

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

It has often been said that you should be careful of what you wish for because often there will be very unexpected consequences. Looking at the current situation of international politics I have been thinking of this a lot lately. To offer a more local example, I live near the community of Lodi, California. For many years Lodi was known by police across the country as being one of the safest places to live,...

This morning, I — probably along with millions of other Americans — received this short e-mail from President Obama: Early this morning, the last of our troops left Iraq. As we honor and reflect on the sacrifices that millions of men and women made for this war, I wanted to make sure you heard the news. Bringing this war to a responsible end was a cause that sparked many Americans to get involved...

Our Copy Editor, Holly Robinson, forwarded me an announcement for an upcoming (tomorrow!) documentary on the National Geographic Channel. Although I am preparing for travel shortly, I would be remiss if I were not to at least — using the text of the announcement — make our readers aware of what promises to be an astounding, eye-opening program about our American Jewish G.I.s who were held by the...

As our troops are finally coming home out of Iraq, and coming home for Christmas, many are penning down their thoughts — their emotions — welcoming our troops, thanking our troops, honoring them and reflecting on what this long, painful war has and has not accomplished. I am one of those and will publish my welcome, my thanks to our troops soon. There is, however, a lady — a hero — who...

Now that U.S. forces are either out or about to leave, there is significant Iraqi hand-wringing over whether it was wise to force them to go now. For Sotal Iraq, columnist Amran Al-Obaidi writes that the decision-making process that has led to the American withdrawal was flawed, and that Iraqis who have demanded a complete U.S. pullout were more interested in scoring political points than the security and...

A missing chapter in the history of U.S. military aviation On the eve of this most recent Veterans Day, I had the privilege of accompanying World War II veteran John Tschirhart to a reception hosted by the Texas Veterans Land Board at the Capitol Visitors Center, in Austin, Texas. Tschirhart, a B-17 bombardier with 35 bombing missions over Nazi occupied Europe under his belt, is now 91 and every time I hear...

Our departure, after nine years, almost 4500 deaths and trillions of dollars, comes not with a bang but a whimper of exhaustion and relief. “Iraq will be tested in the days ahead,” says Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, “by terrorism, and by those who would seek to divide, by economic and social issues, by the demands of democracy itself.” No senior Iraqi official attends the ceremony of departure,...

Newt Gingrich’s comment that Palestinians are an ‘invented people’ is proving to be one of the most globally devisive of the 2012 campaign season – particularly in the Muslim world and especially among Palestinians. For Samidoon in the Palestinian Territories, columnist Abd Al Bari Atwan expresses the frustration felt among Palestinians over the wider meaning of Gingrich’s comment,...

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej Lese Majeste is translated to English as “injured majesty”. The concept dates back to at least ancient Rome, making it a crime to insult the dignity of a reigning sovereign. You’d think such concepts would have left the statute books long ago, but not so. Known both for its rich history and its scandalous sex trade, Thailand still follows lese majeste. The law there...

Paul Zanetti, Australia This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Not surprisingly, Arabs aren’t taking too kindly to Newt Gingrich’s recent comment that the Palestinians are an ‘invented people’ seeking little more than the destruction of Israel. For Algeria’s Le Quotidien d’Oran, K. Selim writes that if Gingrich makes his way into the White House, at least Arabs will be able to stop pretending that there is any hope of Washington being a...

Is Syria’s election a sham? A cross section of thoughts HERE.

Let me say at the outset: I think Christiane Amanpour got a bum rap from many critics, partisans and bloggers. She was a highly informed, outward looking and thinking host of ABC’s “This Week” and it was refreshing to see someone on American television whose focus was not soley on our domestic political horse races. That being said, this does not surprise me one bit: Christiane Amanpour is...

WASHINGTON — I’m inclined to believe that the apparent result of the climate change summit in Durban, South Africa, might turn out to be a very big deal. Someday. Maybe. That’s my view, but it’s hardly universal. After the meeting ended Sunday, initial reaction basically ranged from “Historic Breakthrough: The Planet Is Saved” to “Tragic Failure: The Planet...

Are the American-based credit rating agencies in cahootz with the U.S. government? Columnist Anna Szabó of Hungary’s Magyar Nemzet Konyvek sees a war on Europe and specifically Hungary in the latest credit rating downgrades by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, and exorts Europeans to create their own credit rating agency that would be independent of U.S. influence and offer more accurate...

Has the very foundation of modern democracy been superseded without anyone noticing? Columnist Nicolas Demorand of France’s Liberation warns that democratic politicians have a new master – and it isn’t the constitution or the voter. For Liberation, Nicolas Demorand starts out this way: Executive, legislative, judiciary: political philosophy teaches that a democratic state is based on the...