How do Iraqis feel about the apparent death of al-Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden? For Iraq’s Al-Sabaah newspaper, columnist Amran al-Abaidi writes that Iraqis are right behind the Americans in celebrating the demise of a man that inflicted untold horror on the Iraqi people – far more, he writes, than the American invasion itself. For Al-Sabaah, Amran al-Abaidi writes in part: The world has...

Is the demise of Osama bin Laden a moment that all of world religions should seize upon to begin building a world free of war and religious strife? After ten years of chaos that emerged from a perverse interpretation of Islam, columnist Víctor Corcoba Herrero of Diario Decuyo’s writes that it’s time for all religious leaders to end the terrorist strife by promoting the ideals they all claim to...

Loopy Wisconsin Republican and U.S. Representative Paul Ryan proposed last month a much-maligned Medicare Voucher Plan to replace the current system for people under 55 today. It would be phased in when they eventually retire during the next decade. Perhaps the original proposal could be modified to improve the entire U.S. healthcare system. This idea might also fit in with the current House Republican demands...

Is the Catholic Church – and specifically the revered deceased Pope John Paul II, as deadly as al-Qaeda and its now-dead leader, Osama bin Laden? Columnist Patrick Etschmayer of Switzerland’s News writes that between outlawing condoms and covering up decades of child abuse, the former pope did at least as much damage as the terrorist mastermind now residing at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. For...

Once again it needs to be asked: has Donald Trump ruined his brand by his involvement in the 2012 Republican nomination, championing of the bogus birther issue and comments suggesting that America’s first African-American President got into college and Harvard law school due to affirmative action? It looks that way. The Hollywood Reporter: A supersized edition of Donald Trump’s competition series Celebrity...

In a world where nothing is private and the most vulgar images and ideas are bandied about with little concern, is there a place for keeping photos like that of the death of Osama bin Laden private? Der Tagesspiegel columnist Juliane Schauble writes that when it comes to holding the moral high ground on the public’s right to know, President Obama is a cut about George W. Bush. For Der Tagesspiegel, Juliane...

Is bin Laden’s death, coupled with the Arab uprisings, the ‘true beginning of the end for the radical, medieval, imperial and dictatorial ideas with which al-Qaeda proposed to reorganize the world’? Columnist Bartosz Weglarczyk of Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza writes that with its safe havens quickly disaapearing and its ideology falling into widespread repute, the writing is on the wall...

Here’s the latest bit of news/conspiracy to come out of the Pakistan press about the apparent demise of Osama bin Laden. Is the reason the Obama Administration decided not to release the death photo of bin Laden because the terrorism pioneer blew himself up to avoid capture? That is the claim of this news item from Pakistan’s The Nation, which cites an anonymous senior Afghanistan intelligence...

The collective unconscous remembers everything that modern culture has forgotten and covered over. So here, let us go behind the Hallmark card displays, where there is a little door, and entering through, we find ourselves in a muddy field where the land has been fed by boys’ blood and the bloodshed of citizens. And, just this then whilst standing here on this field meant to grow life but which became a slaughter...

Is the death of Osama bin Laden the beginning of the end of al-Qaeda? Ahmad Abdal Aziz Al Jarallah, editor and chief of Kuwait’s Al-Seyassah, writes that the terror group is about to disintegrate, and its members will soon face justice, if not in this world, then the next. For Al-Seyassah, Ahmad Abdal Aziz Al Jarallah writes in part: The world breathed a sigh of relief at the killing of the man who believed...

Is it wrong for the United States to keep the last photograph of Osama bin Laden to itself? Olivier Picard of France’s Les Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace writes that compared to the state interests of America and its allies, the desire of people around the world to see it, in the words of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, amount to little more than a hill of beans. For Les Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace,...

Our nation by nation look at the end of Osama bin Laden continues in Mexico. Just like many people in the United States, people in other nations are wondering if the operation to eliminate Osama bin Laden will weaken the right-wing onslaught against President Obama. For Mexico’s Excelsior, political analyst Jose Luis Valdes Ugalde writes that the U.S. right-wing attack machine has been shocked into embracing...

One of the many articles we’ve posted from Pakistan over the last few days is this editorial from the Frontier Post. After the U.S. raid into Pakistani territory to grab and/or kill Osama bin Laden, it seems that people there are simultaneously angry at the U.S. for coming unannounced and uninvited, and at Pakistan’s military and intelligence services for not stopping the U.S. raid – and...

Is the war on terrorism a scam in which governments pretend to battle evil only to cover their own sins? In our second offering from the Saudis today, Al-Madina’s Dr. Saeed Atia al-Ghamedee writes that while deluded young men destroy themselves for a perverted version of Islam, governments commit every sort of crime in the name of battling terror. For Al-Madina, Dr. Saeed Atia al-Ghamedee writes in part: A...

The next stop in our global journey to find out what the rest of the world thinks of Osama bin Laden’s apparent death is China. So what do the masters of Beijing think of the demise of America’s most wanted? According to this article by columnist Zhang Guoqing for the state-controlled Beijing Youth Daily, this is no time for the U.S. to rest on its laurels. Zhang writes that bin Laden’s death...

Stepping away briefly from the planetary reaction to the apparent demise of Osama bin Laden [please log-in for continuing international reaction to that story], this article from Germany shows again how interesting it can be to see oneself through the eyes of others. Unfortunately, in the case of Donald Trump, what those others happen to see is nothing short of alarming. For Der Spiegel, columnist Marc...

It was very good news to hear that U.S. Joint Special Operations Command forces killed Osama Bin Laden (OBL) in his exclusive Pakistani retirement compound this past weekend. It came just under 10 years after the 9/11/01 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington DC. Congratulations are due to the many anonymous U.S. servicemen and intelligence personnel who patiently...

This is a telling interview with one of Osama bin Laden’s wives, by Khalid Nasr in March 2002. (Islam allows up to four wives. bin Laden possessed all four.) This was carried by Guardian UK only 6 months after the bombing of the Trade Towers, Pentagon, and one hijacked plane was diverted by passengers away from bombing the White House and was taken down into a woods. And here is an important ‘first...

Continuing with our global roundup of reaction to bin Laden’s death – does the apparent demise of Osama bin Laden signify the death knell of Islamist Jihadism? For Spain’s El Pais, columnist Liuis Bassets writes that President Obama has not only assured is own reelection, he has given what has been called a ‘war on terror’ its crowning achievement. For El Pais, Liuis Bassets...

While Osama bin Laden may have been killed yesterday afternoon, was the movement he spawned already dead? As part of our coverage of the global reaction to the terror master’s demise, for Brazil’s Folha, columnist Sergio Malbergier writes that he bin Laden died first with the Arab uprisings, and died again yesterday. For Brazil’s Folha, Sergio Malbergier writes in part Far more than the Quran,...

When one takes most any day in history and looks at the overall picture, one sees that nations and individuals are like floating islands, coming near one another, colliding, pushing away, perhaps building bridges across their divides, sometimes not for a long long time. Here are some. There are many more. 2011 Osama din Laden dead 2010 A car bomb is discovered and deactivated in New York City’s Times Square 2003 President...

Here’s the full video of President Barack Obama’s comedy routine at the 2011 White House Correspondent’s dinner. The parts that are getting the most buzz is his satire video using The Lion King, his pointed references to the implosion of the birther issue in both jokes and graphics and his pointed barbs aimed at Donald Trump who was in the audience as a guest of the Washington Post (a controversial...

The Obama Administration claims that all the evidence against ‘detainees’ held at Guantanamo was reevaluated when it took office, and that some Bush Administration decisions were reversed. Nevertheless, according to Die Zeit columnist Martin Klingst, the release of the ‘Guantanamo papers’ by WikiLeaks makes it imperative for President Obama to follow a course of ‘complete public...

With the WikiLeaks release of another data bomb of classified U.S. files, this one about Guantanamo, allies and adversaries alike are expressing shock at President Obama’s failure to close the facility. This editorial from Spain’s El Pais expresses dismay at what it regards as his betrayal of all those around the world who supported his election. The editorial from El Pais says in part: These reports...

You can’t have a viable Palestinian state with the two major Palestinian political factions at each other’s throats. So my initial reaction to this is that it’s good news: