International Political Will

I wonder how that appeasement tastes to Obama right about now.
First he boldly proclaims the US demands a freeze of Israeli settlements. Netanyahu and the Israeli right-wing tell the U.S. president to go f**k himself.

In only a matter of weeks, Obama bends over on the Israeli settlement issue and lets Netanyahu have his way with [...]

Almost a full eight years into the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, there are still three institutional sources of violence in the country: the Taliban, the warlords, and the foreign occupation. Each of these institutions feed off each other, generating a vicious cycle that Afghanistan appears unable to break.
The only winning strategy in Afghanistan is reconstruction. [...]

If ever there was a symbol of the conflict between female education and tradition in Central and South Asia, this was it.
One of my students from the slums of Mumbai (where full black burqas are not uncommon), 15-year-old “Sally” takes the train to school everyday. Her parents had no idea that she was secretly meeting [...]

The stupidity and arrogance of our government has never ceased to amaze me, but the latest dust-up over secret CIA plans to assassinate Al Qaeda leaders is truly Orwellian.
Apparently, long ago, in an administration far, far away, some Bush adviser actually had a brain. Imagine this: instead of dropping bombs from unmanned drones on remote [...]

A story about a women’s shelter in Afghanistan should be an opportunity to showcase what can really drive progress.  It could be a chance to commend those handling the day-to-day operations.  It might be an opening to demonstrate what role Islam plays in women’s lives who, although they have been victims of a brutal misogynist [...]