Global Briefing Mar. 16, 2011: Conservatives, Closed Doors and Cash Cows

Japan’s Pain —Bill Powell has the latest on the nuclear situation; Michael Schuman weighs in on the global economic impact of the disaster; LightBox showcases pictures of the aftermath.

Bad Times in Bahrain — In a dispatch form Manama, Karen Leigh shows how the country is caught between Iran and Saudi Arabia; On Global Spin, Aryn Baker makes the case for reform.

Keeping it Realist — Can conservatives care about international politics?  Yes, contends Sam Roggeveen in guest post at the Atlantic. And, he says, they should.

‘Where is America?’ — The New Yorker tells the story of a Libyan-American who joined the rebels and fell in the Gaddafi-led backlash; Vivienne Walt explains why Gaddafi is still standing.

Closed Doors — In Foreign Affairs Behzad Yaghmaian explores how conflict in North Africa has shaped E.U. immigration policy. He predicts an influx of migrants will prompt the  militarization of the Mediterranean Sea. Read TIME’s dispatch on Tunisians in Italy, here.

Marketing Dept. — Don’t be fooled by David Cameron’s attempt to brand ‘cuts’ as ‘savings,’ argues Johann Hari in the Independent. (Hari gets bonus points for invoking Orwell.)

Drones Meet Drugs — The U.S. has started flying high-altitude, unarmed drones over Mexico to collect information on the drug trade, reports the New York Times.

Rich Enemy, Poor Enemy — MGM is digitally erasing Chinese flags and military symbols from their remake of ‘Red Dawn,’ reports the LA Times. Apparently, it’s just too expensive to anger China and its movie-going, money-spending public. The new bad guys? North Korea. Obviously.

Related Topics: america, bahrain, conservatism, foreign affairs, global briefing, international affairs, international news, Japan, japan earthquake, Libya, meltdown, movies, North Korea, nuclear, nuke, radiation, realism, Red Dawn erases China, tsunami, Daily Briefing, Uncategorized
  • Latest on Global Spin

    Oded Balilty / Reuters

    Netanyahu’s New Government: Warming to Peace Talks with the Palestinians?

    A flurry of gestures toward the Palestinian leadership suggests that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his new role as leader of a center-right government, is warming toward the resumption of peace talks — or at least giving the appearance of warming; call it a rosy glow rising from a pair of announcements on Monday. One was about Palestinian prisoners who had been carrying out a mass hunger strike for weeks inside Israeli prisons. With several prisoners near death, Netanyahu approved an agreement that improves prison conditions and permits visits by family members in the Gaza Strip, the heavily guarded enclave that Palestinians have been allowed out of only for medical emergencies. Greeted by Palestinians as a victory, the deal eased concerns that a prisoner’s death might combust what are usually routine protests planned for Tuesday’s commemoration of Nakba Day, the “catastrophe” of Israel’s 1948 victory over Arab forces trying to prevent the establishment of a Jewish state.

    Bernat Armangue / AP

    Palestinians Mark Their Day of “Catastrophe”

    Protesters challenge Israeli troops in the West Bank while commemorating the Nakba, or “day of catastrophe” in Arabic, which marks the day when Israel declared its statehood in 1948—an act which forced thousands of Palestinians out of their homes and into a life of exile

    Christopher Furlong/ Getty Images

    Rebekah Brooks, Husband Charged in Phone-Hacking Scandal

    The convoluted saga of the British phone-hacking scandal seems to have been dragging on longer than a back-to-back performance of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. Yet despite the demise of Rupert Murdoch‘s News of the World, the launching of a public inquiry into British press standards, three police investigations and more than 40 arrests, the scandal has yet to draw real blood. The closest it has come was a report released this month by a Parliamentary committee, which accused Murdoch of turning a blind eye to the hacking at his paper and declared him “not a fit person” to run an international company — a damning conclusion that nonetheless seems to have had little immediate effect.

  • deconstructiva

    Thanks, Emily. re: Red Dawn, most conservatives in US politics need an enemy to stay united. Otherwise they turn on each other (witness current Congress budget battle and Tea Party vs. old-school pro-biz Republicans). Too bad for them the USSR is no more and Russia is supposed to be a friend. Remember in Casino Royale where M complains, “Christ, I miss the Cold War”? China really shouldn’t be our enemy either. In Pierce Brosnan’s last two Bond films he works with or gets help from Chinese agents. If only the Republicans in Congress can learn to work with others too (or each other), but don’t count on it.

blog comments powered by Disqus