With its oil reserves measured in years rather than decades and facing the imminent yet difficult transition to a post-oil economy, Bahrainis simply cannot afford another wasted ten-year cycle of partial reform and renewed repression. Major unrest in the Gulf States is altering their self-projecti
Does America want Europe to fail in its accommodation of Muslims? Passing remarks by politicians are often amplified by the international media, but sometimes we should ask why
Reading the Washington runes. What happened with Mr Wisner, Egypt lobbyist and Obama's special envoy to Mubarak? Is this an ugly farce, an ethical travesty or a cronyistic scandal?
New forms of shared strategy and campaigning are taking on the worst effects of fiercely competitive neoliberal service economies. Globalization from above can be fought and resisted effectively by processes of globalization from below
There is a history of painting targets or cross-hairs onto pictures of those you disagree with in the USA. It is widely known that doing so can get them killed. So why does Palin look so clueless about it?
Are borders ethically arbitrary? What, apart from sheer political pragmatism, justifies one community from keeping another from exercising the right of free movement? A proper consideration of the difference between voluntary migration and economic migration suggests cosmopolitan alternatives to a
From the Shah of Iran to Egypt’s Mubarak to Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister, cozy relationships in US foreign policy need to be questioned
Beijing’s promotion of a new strike aircraft may be less a powerful addition to its military arsenal than a sophisticated part of a deeper strategy.
The extraordinary arc of Barack Obama’s popular appeal tells a deeper story of America: of how the relationship between liberalism and religion was forged, then frayed and broken, and how the president’s rhetoric offered the mirage of healing. Theo Hobson asks what, if anything, can be recovered f
A murderous assault on a public meeting in Arizona has further exposed the United States’s deep political divisions. President Obama’s reaction, for all the praise it received, failed to meet the moment, says Godfrey Hodgson. Now, with the state-of-the-union address, he has another chance.
Gabour, Giffords, gangs, guns and self-righteous thugs. The massacre in Arizona is part of a murderous culture, one in which death and violence are a norm and hardly reprehensible. It needs weapons to survive, but also a sentiment of righteous indignation that only a real or imagined support group
