In the 1930s Benito Mussolini was sufficiently offended by the Marx Brothers’ film Duck Soup to ban it in Italy. The film, sometimes viewed as a paean to anarchy, was–given the world scene when it was released in 1933–better understood as a satire against dictators and dictatorship, a point Mussolini fully understood. Read more »
I’ve written here before about the Pope’s visit to Cuba and his disappointing silence about political repression there. Now we learn in the Miami Herald that his visit occasioned the detentions of 1,158 Cubans in the largest sweep in decades. Read more »
Happy talk is one of the great concerns we should all have about the talks with Iran in Istanbul, which just concluded with an agreement to meet again on May 23 in Baghdad.
What happened in Istanbul? Judging from the account in the New York Times, not much. The EU’s Lady Ashton says the talks were “useful and constructive,” but there is no real reason to believe this. The Times continues: Read more »
Presidential candidate from the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) Khairat al-Shater waves to his supporters after presenting recommendation documents to the Higher Presidential Elections Commission (HPEC) headquarters in Cairo April 5, 2012. (Courtesy REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih)
What does the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for president of Egypt believe? What kind of Egypt would he seek to create?
Some answers to that question were given by a MB delegation to Washington recently, sent to reassure Americans about their intentions. The Project on Middle East Democracy has a good summary of the visit here and at my colleague Steven Cook’s CFR blog there is a good summary of the views of Khairat al-Shater, the MB’s candidate for Egypt’s presidency. Read more »
Iran is under remarkably tough sanctions and about to begin negotiations over its nuclear program. So how is it signaling its willingness to play by the rules and engage in serious dialogue?
First came the ridiculous proposal that the negotiations be held in Syria, Lebanon, China, or Iraq, a suggestion that seemed to make a mockery of the talks. They are to take place in Turkey. Far more serious was the visit of Iran’s President Ahmadinejad, on April 11, to the Persian Gulf island of Abu Musa. Abu Musa is one of three islands strategically located at the entrance to the Gulf. In 1971 Iran agreed that one of the Emirates, Sharjah, had sovereignty over the islands, but in 1992 it forcibly took control of them. The UAE has sought United Nations help and International Court adjudication of sovereignty, but Iran has refused: those are games Iran will not play unless it is sure of winning. And why risk adjudication when force is available? Read more »
The Assad regime has, according to the United Nations, now killed over nine thousand of its citizens. How many have fled the country since the revolt against Assad began last year?
The answer is 42,000, says the BBC or 50,000, says the U.S. State Department. Read more »
Egypt is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Article 18 states that:
1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice. Read more »
Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces, speaks during a news conference at his house in Maarab village, north of Beirut, October 12, 2010. (Courtesy REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir).
Throughout the past decade there have been a series of assassinations and attempted murders of political leaders in Lebanon. Almost all of these plots have one common element: the person whose life was threatened or taken was anti-Assad, and just about everyone in Lebanon believes Syria was behind or involved in the wave of violence. Read more »
Is Palestine a state? The International Criminal Court (ICC) answered this question this week, and said no.
The Palestinian Authority, apparently calling itself the “Government of Palestine,” tried to lodge a complaint against Israel at the ICC. As American courts would do, the ICC first had to decide if it had jurisdiction. As its statement notes, the ICC has jurisdiction over a matter only when the UN Security Council or a “state” provide it. So is “Palestine” a state? Read more »
Pope Benedict XVI meets former Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana March 28, 2012. (Courtesy REUTERS/Osservatore Romano)
The most significant statement made during Pope Benedict’s trip to Cuba this week was that made by the government minister in charge of economic reform, Marino Murillo, who said “In Cuba, there will not be political reform.”
He’s right, although that is a truth too many people wish to obscure. The Castro regime took the occasion of the Pope’s visit to sweep up dissidents in a wave of arrests. None of that was surprising, but the Pope’s failure to advance the cause of freedom is sad indeed. The photos of him with Fidel and Raul Castro can only have demoralized those struggling and suffering for freedom in Cuba, for the Pope refused to meet with any dissidents at all. Moreover, his remarks were so carefully phrased that, according to press reports, most Cubans did not view them as a call for freedom–whatever the Pope’s intent. Read more »
On Pressure Points, a former top U.S. national security official tracks Middle East developments, and democracy and human rights in the region.
In the 1930s Benito Mussolini was sufficiently offended by the Marx Brothers’ film Duck Soup to ban it in Italy….
I’ve written here before about the Pope’s visit to Cuba and his disappointing silence about political repression there. Now we…
Happy talk is one of the great concerns we should all have about the talks with Iran in Istanbul, which…
What does the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate for president of Egypt believe? What kind of Egypt would he seek to create?…
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