Is Washington giving Saudi Arabia and Bahrain a free pass when it comes to democratic reform? According to this article by Demétrio Magnoli for Brazil’s Estadao, the Obama Administration will have to move beyond pressuring countries like Syria and move on to its Persian Gulf allies if it wants to be seen as putting its values before its interests. For Estadao, Demétrio Magnoli writes in part: The direction...

Having toppled an obdurate dictator in just 18 days of determined protest, the people of Egypt are justifiably proud of what they have accomplished. But as proud as they are, columnist Hamad Hassan of Egypt’s Al Messa newspaper expresses astonishment that people in places like Madison Wisconsin have drawn strength and inspiration from their history-making stand in Tahrir Square. For Al Messa, columnist...

Is the U.S. talking out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to Internet freedom? Continuing with China’s online counter-offensive, this article from state-run People’s Daily asserts that Pentagon plans for software to allow Defense Department personnel to assume multiple identities online for the purpose of planting pro-U.S. propaganda again demonstrates to the world that America cannot be...

In an effort to ‘retrospectively legitimize’ their own policies, are neoconservatives wrongly comparing the Libya campaign to the Iraq War? Columnist Liuis Bassets of Spain’s El Pais writes that Spain’s former president and Bush ally José María Aznar is wrong – as are the rest of the neocons – to see Obama’s policies as some form of approval. For Spain’s El...

Who is more to blame for the murder of 10 U.N. workers killed after U.S. Pastor Terry Jones burned a Quran: The people who committed the murders or Terry Jones himself? For Poland’s Rzeczpospolita, columnist Jerzy Haszczynski expresses the view that what the world needs most is for Muslims to condemn the criminal behavior of people who killed innocents for the misbehavior of one U.S. pastor. For Rzeczpospolita,...

Some things are so far out, it’s hard to believe they’re true. Like when a broadcaster in one of the most open, liberal countries in the world bans episodes of a TV show like The Simpsons as a public safety measure. But according to an incredulous Patrick Etschmayer, Swiss Radio and Television [SRF] has done precisely that. For Switzerland’s News, Patrick Etschmayer writes in part: After...

Is it possible that in this case at least, the Beijing government version of the middle way is best for Libya? This editorial from China’s state-run Global Times lays out a convincing case for why it’s time for laying down weapons and launching talks, leading to a safe exit for Qaddafi and a process that puts Libyans on a track toward genuine nationhood. The Global Times editorial says in part: Qaddafi...

Is the West in Libya once again getting involved with tribal and sectarian disputes beyond its understanding? That is the message of this editorial from Pakistan’s Frontier Post, which outlines what is likely to happen as the ‘eastern revolutionaries’ close in on Tripoli – with NATO support. The Frontier Post editorial says in part: It’s more than apparent now: The Western adventurists...

Anyone who has read the news over the past month knows about the dire situation in Japan and another unrelated mess that is Detroit. However no one has yet to merge the two disasters and thus create a win-win solution for the vast majority of people in both areas. Japan needs to permanently relocate hundreds of thousands of people who formerly lived in and around the coastal city of Sendai due to the 9.0 Magnitude...

Is it even possible that the Libyan conflict will end well? For Brazil’s Folha, columnist Joao Pereira Coutinho writes that whatever its intentions, there is a very strong likelihood that the latest Western quagmire has just begun. For Folha, Joao Pereira Coutinho writes in part: The first decade of the 21st century was marked by Western effort to combat terrorism by fundamentalists. That’s why,...

This article is dedicated to the memory of Marine Lt. Col. Earl Charles “Charlie” Rodenberg A few weeks ago we attended the “Celebration of Life” service for a dear friend and neighbor who passed away after a long and valiant struggle with cancer. Our friend’s final battle was as courageous as was his long service to country and to the Marine Corps. Marine Lt. Col. Earl Charles “Charlie” Rodenberg...

Since the 2012 election season has already begun, we can anticipate nothing being accomplished with respect to any new major federal legislation. Instead, the status quo will continue as Congress is completely gridlocked and paralyzed. The only excitement will be how long the federal government stays closed, and after a few months of general inactivity, will anyone really notice or care. TMV writers and readers...

Is U.S. enthusiasm for Chile as a model for other nations in Latin America bad for Chile? For Chile’s La Tercera, columnist Carlos Ominami writes that while it was great to host President Obama, the perception that Chile is a ‘good pupil’ of Washington also makes it appear to Chile’s neighbors that it is a ‘a bad colleague, obsequious toward the teacher and disdainful toward the...

While President Obama was visiting El Salvador – it seems that the people of that country had a few other things on their minds. One of them being: Are Hugo Chavez and his closest Latin American allies worried that if Libyan dictator Mohummar Qaddafi is toppled, their own populations might take note of the precedent? For El Salvador’s El Mundo, Dr. Mauricio E. Colorado writes that President Chavez’...

After China abstained on U.N. authorization for a no-fly zone over Libya, this article from the state-controlled Beijing Youth Daily examines why, after decades of almost unilateral decision-making, Washington is letting France take the lead in operations against Muammar Qaddafi’s forces. Beijing academic Zhang Guoqing concludes that the unpopular President Sarkozy is hoping to demonstrate strength to...

I am amazed at the flip-flopping and inconsistencies that are going on when it comes to supporting or opposing the coalition’s enforcement of the UN-established no-fly zone in Libya. There are those who supported the Iraq war and support the coalition’s present action in Libya. While I think they were wrong on Iraq, they are at least consistent. There are those who opposed the Iraq war and who oppose our...

It’s a long standing complaint across Latin America: Who gave the people of the United States the exclusive right to call themselves ‘Americans’? With President Obama on a state visit to Chile, columnist Orlando Alfonso Olave of Chile’s La Nacion exhorts his compatriots to take back a word that he asserts belongs just as much to Latin Americans as it does to people living north of...

As one of the first public disagreements between President Dmitri Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin shows, Russians are split on the wisdom of imposing a no-fly zone over Libya. Rossiyskaya Gazeta columnist Yevgeniy Shestakov warns those who were hoping for a Russian veto of the U.N. Security Council resolution on Libya, that had Moscow done so, the consequences would have been extremely damaging...

If only Jeffrey Goldberg et al. became this exercised when major U.S. news organizations refer to the C.I.A.’s torture program as “what some call torture.”

All of the articles I’ve linked to below came to me via my Twitter feed.

What is the ‘international community.’ Does it represent nations working things out in concert, or is it closer to pure fiction? Columnist Olivier Picard of France’s Les Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace laments that the events of the past few days reflect the sad truth of the politics of our fast-globalizing world. For the Les Dernières Nouvelles d’Alsace, Olivier Picard writes in part: We...

The selective memory is John McCain’s:

I’m still on the fence over the intervention in Libya, though I’m leaning more towards support than opposition. (Yes, I’m still something of a liberal interventionist, despite Iraq, despite Afghanistan.) Well, maybe. It depends. (The humanitarian objectives are noble, but I just can’t see how this plays out well.) But I genuinely feel for Obama, who finds himself in a no-win situation...

Greatly overshadowed by the ongoing crisis in Japan and the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, President Obama has been on his first visit to Brazil and its first woman president, Dilma Rousseff. This news item from Brazil’s O Globo reports that while the mood music was great, actual progress on issues of importance to Brazil were very thin on the ground. For Brazil’s O Globo, reporters Eliane...

While natural or man-made disasters rarely have a lasting impact on the global economy, Financial Times Deutschland columnist Thomas Fricke warns that there is a good chance that, as with the tremendous loss of confidence in the banking system in 2008, the tragedy in Japan could trigger an extremely damaging loss of confidence in the global energy supply – leading to yet another global recession. For...