THE ENDGAME?   BY RICK ROBINSON | May 12, 2008

  

Obama follows more or less in a tradition of insurgent reformist Democratic presidential candidates who lay a particular stress on public ethics and transforming the political culture. Prior examples have been Howard Dean in 2004, Bill Bradley in 2000, Paul Tsongas in 1992, and with a somewhat different flavor, Gary Hart in 1984. All of these candidates – none of whom won the nomination – ran well in the primaries with younger, educated, and higher income whites, but poorly with working class voters of all colors. Read more

    

   

AMBASSADORIAL DEBATE   May 10, 2008

- a discussion between Mr. Diego Arria (a prominent opposition leader in Venezuela) and Mr. Muhamed Sacirbey (former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia-Herzegovina) about: Kosovo's independence, International Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, international diplomacy and the weakness of the United Nations (moderated by the European Courier). Video

   

HASTA LA VISTA, HILLARY   BY SEBASTIAN AULICH | May 8, 2008

Barack Obama pretty much terminated Hillary Clinton last Tuesday in the Indiana and North Carolina primaries (to deep dissatisfaction of my lovely wife - a devout Hillary’s supporter) [...] Regrettably, she appears to be a candidate without an exit strategy. Apparently, what Mrs. Clinton claimed that Bush did wrong in Iraq, she is now repeating in her own presidential bid. Read more

  

THIRTEENTH INNING STRETCH   BY RICK ROBINSON | April 30, 2008

Hillary's message received an unexpected boost when Rev. Wright appeared at the National Press Club to

repeat some of the most incendiary comments that he

has previously made in sermons. These were just the

remarks that Obama sought to separate himself from

when the Wright controversy initially erupted, a storm

Obama had evidently weathered without visible damage

in polling. Read more

  

  

FOOD IN FUEL TANK, HUNGER ON ROAD    BY MO SACIRBEY | April 24, 2008     

What is dramatically increasing malnutrition and raising the risk of mass starvation on a global basis? 100 million people are under threat of hunger according to the United Nations and possibly 20 million starving. Many more infants and children could be handicapped for life from a lack of needed nutrients at the critical time in the development of bodies and minds. Read more

   

  

EUROPE AFTER LISBON    BY FAYE KARAVASILI | April 17, 2008

Perhaps European enthusiasts should pause for a second and realize that when the fruit is not yet ripe, any forced bonding would not be effective to begin with. The EU has a lot to assimilate, especially with the two latest Enlargements and all the additional complications they entail. Taking the time necessary to formulate a new identity might be the only way forward but the idea of a tight-knit political union might be to soon to pursue, no matter how alluring it might be. Read more

  

UNITED NATIONS' EVOLUTION    April 13, 2008

      

- an interview with Amb. Christian Wenaweser, Vice-

Chairman of the Open-Ended Working Group on

Security Council Reform, the head of the Permanent

Mission of Liechtenstein to the United Nations in New York City. Read more | Video

  

  

OBAMA AND AMERICA'S ORIGINAL SIN   BY RICK ROBINSON | April 7, 2008

  

Obama, a generation younger is himself a creation of the Civil Rights struggle. He stands across a gulf from his mentor, separated by a bridge that Rev. Wright cannot fully cross even though he helped to build it. It speaks to a large segment of white Americans for whom electing a black president represents a triumph over the nation's Original Sin of proclaiming freedom while embracing slavery.

Read more

   

TRUTH UNDER SNIPER FIRE IN BOSNIA  BY MO SACIRBEY | March 30, 2008

  

I really do not begrudge Hillary Clinton the "misstatement" of "sniper fire" upon her landing in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Even as the Dayton Accords

were concluded, in Sarajevo a Serbian fired missile

from the surrounding hills tore through a tram, and

its civilian occupants, just resuming operations. Around the same time, on my way out of Sarajevo with Gen. Wes Clark and several US diplomats, our US Air Force plane took evasive action presumably because of real or potential ground fire. Read more

  

    

THE REFORMED EUROPE   March 26, 2008
  

- an interview with Amb. Fernando M. Valenzuela, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the United Nations. Read more | Video

 

MY HOUSE DIVIDED   BY SEBASTIAN AULICH | March 24, 2008

(Editorial) This week Bill Clinton made a remark in which he indirectly questioned Obama’s patriotism. I have been watching CNN and FOX where pundits were wondering what actually Clinton meant by saying that a race between McCain and his wife would be a one between two candidates, who love their country. Well, the implication for me was pretty simple. Are you ready America for the president, who has a dual citizenship? Read more

  

WILL FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN DETERMINE NEXT U.S. PRESIDENT?   BY MO SACIRBEY | March 12, 2008

   
That may sound like a rather far reaching proposition, but consider the following. By either an act of “re-voting” the Democratic Primary or an act of omission, Florida and Michigan will be decisive. Read more

 

THE CONTINUING DEMOCRATIC RACE BY RICK ROBINSON | March 10, 2008

     

The latest major round of US presidential primaries, four states voting on 4

March, including the major states of Ohio and Texas, gave both parties a chance

to resolve – or at least begin to resolve – their presidential nomination races. The

Republican outcome was as expected: McCain clinched the GOP nomination by winning a majority of total delegates to the Republican convention. On the Democratic side no conclusive result was expected. Read more