center> The world seems obsessed about what Tiger Woods was trying to do with his highly publicized apology. Was it more personal or was it largely public relations? Richard Martineau, a sports columnist with Le Journal de Montreal, puzzles over this odd American ritual contrition, and thinks he’s come up with an answer. For Le Journal de Montreal, Richard Martineau writes in part: In communist China,...

Controversy surrounding the victory of American Evan Lysacek over Russian Evgeny Plushenko in Olympic figure skating continues to swirl in Russia. In this interview from Russia’s Life News, three time Olympic gold medalist Irina Rodnina attempts to put paid to the widely-held view in Russia that Plushenko should have won. In this interview with Russia’s Life News, Irina Rodnina says in part: “Speaking...

Now that the Dutch government has collapsed over the issue of its deployment of troops to Afghanistan – and hence that they will soon be withdrawn – what are the political and military consequences? This editorial from Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant warns that the biggest victim of this turn of events isn’t The Netherlands – it’s Barack Obama. The de Volkskrant editorial says in...

A friend, who is a fellow tennis player and a bird watcher, just returned from a cruise to and around Antarctica and had some fascinating stories to tell about the “White Continent” with its spectacular ice, rugged mountais and fjords, aggressive seals and awesome whales, and—of course—the unique birds that inhabit the various islands, including the first Snow Petrel he has ever seen. Jim—that’s...

Those stalwart defenders of mother Russia, the communists of St. Petersburg and Leningrad, are at it again. In the past, they’ve called for the arrest of James Cameron for stealing the story of Avatar from Soviet science fiction writers, they have demanded that the Russian Orthodox Church canonize Joseph Stalin, and they’ve complained about the way the KGB was depicted in James Bond films and Indiana...

According to ancient sources, from 776 BC to 393 AD on a pretty regular basis, armed conflict in Greece came to a halt every four years for the holding of the Olympic Games. In this lighthearted look at the usefulness of the Games, Swiss columnist Patrik Etschmayer writes that while they still provide a welcomed distraction, the modern Games usually involve diverting our attention from less dire threats to...

Why is it that Beijing, Russia and others are so determined to oppose the Western position on Iran’s nuclear program, even at their own expense? For Germany’s Die Welt, columnist Clemens Wergin writes that thwarting democracy is far more important to Beijing than what appears in the West to be common sense. He also warns that Beijing’s thwarting of the United Nations ‘threatens President...

As the March 7 Iraqi national elections approach, America’s apparent attempt to inject some balance between ruling Shiites and the Sunni minority have resulted in controversy. And at the center of the storm is none other than Ahmad Chalibi, a man who was a major force behind the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, who once sat next to Laura Bush during a State of the Union address, and who was later disowned...

One hears a great deal about Shariah (Muslim law) and its strict code of conduct, especially with regard to women. So a recent story about an antiquated Jewish law came as an eye-opener. The Independent reports that Susan Zinkin, who divorced her husband in 1962, was forbidden from looking for new love for almost 50 years. Only when her husband died an old man this week was she released from being a “chained...

They finally caught him on the 16 lane downtown connector (for the uninitiated, that’s Interstate 75 and 85 overlapped and weaving through the core of the city with Interstate 20 crossing in the middle). It all went down in the middle of Rush hour! The 12-year-old zebra, named Lima, escaped from the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus: The black-and-white striped animal was spotted all over...

It will no doubt bemuse and surprise Americans to know that Germany has finally admitted the obvious: that its soldiers in Afghanistan are in the midst of a civil war, and not simply a reconstruction/training mission. Although one shouldn’t judge Berlin too harshly, since it wasn’t long ago that we in the United States had a government that denied the same in Iraq. For Germany’s Frankfurter...

With 97,000 U.S. troops still stationed in Iraq, recent turmoil over de-Baathification in the run-up to March’s national elections there is not a welcomed development. Two articles we’ve translated over the past few days, one from Iraq and the other from Algeria, highlight America’s continuing role in that still-divided land – and what in Iraq is called the ‘Accountability and...

Oh those wild and crazy conservatives: Attendees at a conservative conference in town [D.C.] this week will have the opportunity to whack a pinata of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Conservative Political Action Conference “CPAC” begins Thursday here in D.C. and will feature a party Friday evening where guests will have the opportunity to whack a Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) piñata. On the other...

Now you would understand why I love the Brits… It seems they haven’t lost their legendary sense of wit and humour. Try this recent story in The Times of London: “Far right Australian politician Pauline Hanson moving to Britain.” I specially enjoyed the comments that followed this article. Here are three sample comments: “Coming to England to avoid Asians is a bit like emigrating...

On February 4, Romanian President Traian Basescu announced, at some political risk to himself, that his country would accept elements of America’s new and improved missile shield. Illustrating how the forces of anti-Americanism and corruption in Romania are opposing this and other pro-Western initiatives is this article by Sabina Fati, deputy editor in chief the Romania Liberia newspaper. For Romania...

Are the tactics now being used by the ‘U.S.-led coalition’ in Marjah and the rest of Afghanistan ‘doomed to go the way of the Soviets’? That is the argument put forward in this strongly-worded editorial from Pakistan’s Frontier Post, which paints the strategy of chasing out the Taliban and paying them off as cluelessly naive. The Frontier Post editorial says in part: The very depiction...

Are the West and Iran out of control and poised on the brink of disaster? That’s the tone of this editorial from China’s state-controlled Global Times, which warns both sides that Beijing won’t be pressured to choose one or the other – and that a resort to force, as far as Chinese leaders are concerned, is out of the question. The article gives good insight into Beijing’s thinking...

Former Congressman Charlie Wilson, who died last week at the age of 76, is known mostly for his activities in support of the Taliban, who afterwards managed to evict the Soviets from Afghanistan. The author of this article from Nicaragua’s La Prensa, apparently a former member of Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista National Liberation Front who eventually switched sides and joined the U.S.-backed Contra...

Could it be that subconsciously, Tiger Woods prefers Caucasian sexual partners as a way of getting back at his former colonial masters? Furthermore, have today’s African leaders enjoyed the spectacle of his downfall for exactly the same reason? That is the argument put forth in the pages of Nigeria’s Daily Sun by Dr. Henry A. Onwubiko, one of that country’s leading social activists and scientists. For...

According to this article from Russia’s, Argumenty i Facty, a report that may have been approved by the Russian president has created a media ‘furor’: An institute ‘under the patronage’ of President Medvedev, is predicting NATO integration and a more ‘liberal’ future for the country. The article from Russia’s Argumenty i Facty says in part: The present furor in...

It’s been brewing for some time, but the apparent antipathy between Presidents Sarkozy and Obama – particularly expressed by the French leader, is becoming increasingly difficult to deny. According to this news item by the Paris correspondent of Switzerland’s Le Temps, Sylvain Besson, Sarkozy has begun openly using President Obama as an example of how not to do things. For Le Temps, Sylvain...

Often ignored in discussions about U.S.-China relations are the 23 million people of Taiwan who are caught in the middle – and the freedom that they enjoy, which seems to them to be on the line every day. In Democratic Taiwan, the subject of what America could, should and might do to protect the island is a constant preoccupation. We posted two articles from Taiwan today. The first, by columnist Paul...

This much is certain: Had Abraham Lincoln failed at his do-or-die debut in New York, he would never have won his party’s presidential nomination three months later, not to mention election to the White House that November. Such was the impact of a triumph in the nation’s media capital. Had he stumbled, none of the challenges that roiled his presidency would ever have tested his iron will. To paraphrase his...

Is there a case to be made that Iran has every right to enrich uranium and even pursue a nuclear weapon if it so wishes? There are many people, particularly in developing countries, who see the “big five” nuclear powers as hypocrites that refuse to consider the strategic imperatives of Iranian geopolitics. This editorial from yesterday’s edition of Mexico’s La Jornada says in part: To...

Mikhail Gorbachev, a man who has seen it all before, favors a rapid demilitarization of the situation in Afghanistan. In this opinion piece from Russia’s Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Mr. Gorbachev reveals some of his Afghanistan battle scars, says the allies have only a “50-50″ chance of success, and tells of the advice he offered President Obama. For Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Mikhail Gorbachev writes in...