Oh, Benny, Benny, Benny: Benjamin Netanyahu’s government unveils an ad campaign urging expats to come home, and some Jews in the U.S. find the message insulting. DETAILS HERE. It sounds like B. N. is making the same mistake people often do with groups: not all ethnic groups — not even his own — are monolithic. And some are offended when its assumed in a highly public way that they are.

BEIJING — Don’t hold your breath waiting for any kind of Occupy Beijing movement to set up camp. Visitors to Tiananmen Square must pass through airport-style security checkpoints, and nobody is likely to try smuggling in a protest sign, much less a tent. The vast, wind-whipped plaza is a quiet place. China’s leaders intend to keep it that way. Walk away from the square in any direction,...

Is Iraq in for a re-eruption of the kind of ethnic and religious strife it experienced during the height of the U.S. occupation? For Iraq’s Al Iraq News, Dr. Fadhil Al Badrani warns his countrymen that unless Iraqi leaders ‘review their political inclinations and renounce their differences,’ those fearing a U.S. pullout – and those celebrating it – will end up as ‘wood’...

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With the world looking to Berlin to save the euro, Germans may be reevaluating their decades of nearly constant criticism of the way the United States wields its influence. Die Welt columnist Clemens Wergin warns his readers not to expect gratitude from Europeans for saving the common currency, and lays bare the irony of Europe’s growing need for German help – and its fear of German power. For...

South Sudan offers Khartoum “package” over oil shipments by John C. K. Daly Call it a “package,” though a more accurate word might be “bribe.” South Sudan’s government has offered Sudanese authorities in Khartoum a “package” to break the rising tension-filled gridlock over South Sudan using its northern neighbour’s pipeline network to ship out its oil exports. Sudan People’s Liberation...

BEIJING — Even the briefest acquaintance with this smoggy, sprawling capital is basis enough to conclude that much of the campaign rhetoric we’re hearing about China is unrealistic, dishonest or just dumb. This is my first visit to China, and I plan to spend the next few columns reporting what I see and learn. I spent enough years as a foreign correspondent to know how tricky first impressions...

A little over two weeks ago, we reported on a massive explosion inside an Iranian military base near the capital, Tehran. At the time, the semi-official Fars news agency issued a statement by the Revolutionary Guards which said the blast happened in an arsenal at a base in Bidganeh, inside a Revolutionary Guards weapons depot near the city of Karaj when weapons were being moved. Apparently, a large part of...

Emad Hajjaj, Jordan This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

The New York Times reports that the Arab League has just approved “tough economic sanctions against Syria … to press it to end its violent crackdown against antigovernment protesters, an unprecedented step against an Arab country.” The sanctions which include a travel ban against Syrian officials and politicians, a halt to dealings with the Syrian Central Bank and the end of Arab-financed projects in...

Is Iran cracking down on the CIA? Is there an operation underway to arrest those who might be connected with the American intelligence agency — an above-the-water revelation of the big under-the-water iceberg covert war going on between the two countries? The Christian Science Monitor’s Howard LaFranchi suggests a crackdown is occurring — and an Israeli newspaper suggests the arrests are...

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Things are moving quite rapidly and in the wrong direction in Pakistan after a NATO strike hit Pakistani army checkpoints near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and allegedly killed at least 24 soldiers. Pakistan had already ordered Pakistan’s border crossings into Afghanistan closed, interrupting NATO logistics efforts and ordered a review of all cooperation with the US and NATO. Now, according to Fox News,...

Especially if she does this. This is husband who really curried favor with his wife.

Things are moving in the right direction. Despite the evictions of protesters from public spaces across Canada, Linda McQuaig writes that the Occupy Movement has managed to “change the public discourse, putting inequality front and centre — something activists and writers, myself included, have failed to accomplish despite decades of trying.” Even members of the elite are switching sides. Last...

It’s clear that whoever is President will have a major issue on his or her hands as the United States moves into the 20th century, the ongoing problem with Pakistan. And this weekend relations have gotten worse and it could impact the war in Afghanistan: NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging U.S.-Pakistan...

Here are a couple of interesting developments. After announcing last week that he will nationalize Venezuela’s gold industry, Hugo Chavez is now “repatriating” his country’s gold reserves. According to the BBC, Chavez plans to bring home approximately 160 tons of gold, worth more than $ 11 billion, mostly from London where the vast majority of Venezuela’s gold is held. The first shipment of gold bars...

During World War II, between 1942 and 1945, or approximately 70 years ago, brave Allied aviators flew numerous transport missions over and across the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains — they called it the “Hump” — to resupply units of the U.S. Army Air Forces based in China. These pilots had to wind their way between, around and sometimes over mountains as high as 15,000 feet in two- and...

In the Globe and Mail, Robert Redford — who lately has spent a lot of time in Vancouver – offers another take on the Canadian-American partnership, which Stephen Harper trumpets so loudly: I want to be very clear that I’m not pointing a finger at the people of Canada; neither is any American I know. We’re all in this together, and that’s the only way we’ll turn it around. We need to...

The euro currency crisis is sliding from bad to worse. The gloom is likely to deepen on Wednesday when Europe’s executive body has its say on the feasibility of issuing special bonds to refinance government debt. European failure to restore confidence in its economic soundness and solvability will have unpredictable negative consequences for the US and other major countries because all have significant trade...

The second GOP Presidential debate is on. Will former House Speaker Newt Gingrich keep his Big Mo that has propelled him in several polls now to become the new Republican front-runner for the 2012 nomination? Will former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney remain unable to expand his base — a supposed front-runner who is not just unloved but loathed by some conservatives? Will former Godfatho arer’s...

British and German heads of state met this week to bridge the gap between them and “tried to paper over divergent views on European policy that have sparked a war of words between politicians and media in both countries.” For someone who lived through World War II, the picture of David Cameron entreating Angela Merkel conjures up Neville Chamberlain trying to appease Hitler—-and failing to stop the slaughter...

Kap, La Vanguardia, SpainFaced with a recession that has largely undone decades of Franco-era and post-Franco era prosperity, angry Spaniards booted out the Socialists and gave conservatives one of the biggest election victories in Spain in 30 years – raising expectations and bringing a warning from the man who’ll be sworn in as Prime Minister next month that miracles won’t occur overnight. Popular...

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The blame in Spain falls mainly on the Socialists.. And now a tangible consequence Europe’s ailing economy: as Spaniards head to the polls today the country’s conservatives are expected to win big amid the country that was long pointed to as the epitome of economic health is reeling amid high unemployment and other ills: Bowed by a 21.5-per cent jobless rate, economic stagnation and deep spending...