The Failure of Free Migration
The horrendous attack by a French-Tunisian man on a crowd in Nice celebrating Bastille Day, which killed 84 and injured hundreds more, will give National Front leader Marine Le Pen a massive boost in next spring’s presidential election. It doesn’t matter whether the murderer, Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhl…
NASA: Hottest June on record continues 14-month global heat wave
The first six months of 2016 were the hottest ever recorded, NASA announced on Tuesday, while Arctic sea ice now covers 40% less of the Earth than it did just 30 years ago. Temperatures were on average 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than average between January and June thi…
Is Central Asia Ready to Face ISIS?
The military and technical capacities of the Islamic State have been weakened by series of defeats on the battlefield. As a result, some fighters who fought on the side of the so-called Caliphate have begun to return clandestinely to Central Asia. Following the liberation of Fallujah and Manbij in I…
Sustainable development: a new kind of globalization
AROUND THE WORLD, people are calling for a new kind of globalization. The current version, once called the Washington Consensus, has delivered economic growth but at enormous cost: rising inequalities of income, massive environmental destruction, and growing lawlessness. The search is on for a …
On the streets of Istanbul, anger, joy, devastation and celebration
On the night of the failed military coup, Istanbul’s towering bridges hosted hellish scenes of chaos and bloodshed, as ordinary Turks — in stunning acts of bravery and defiance — poured into the streets to halt a violent army takeover of the country’s civilian government. But by dawn, the once-…
Mission: Save the Environment
Picture this. It is 1966. You are standing in a government office in Washington, DC, watching a uniformed official tell a man in business attire, “Your mission is to eradicate an enemy that has killed more people than both world wars combined. You will have a paltry budget, a small team, and should …
In Nice, a Vibrant Celebration Gives Way to a Trail of Death
NICE, France — A red ambulance, its lights flashing, sped down the road and jerked to a stop. The driver jumped out, asking, “Where are the wounded?” “We only have dead here,” replied two men, trying to comfort a young man who was weeping over the body of his mother and imploring Allah to accept her…
Commentary: Nice attack – the wider threat to France
With the death of the driver who plowed his truck through dozens of French civilians in Nice,it may take a while for authorities to get to the bottom of what motivated the attack. The broader picture, however, looks unpleasantly clear: mainland Europe, and France in particular, is facing a vicious, …
Does Iraq Have a Plan for After the Islamic State?
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced Monday that the United States will deploy 560 more troops to Iraq, bringing the total upwards of 4,600 as preparations get underway to recapture Mosul from the self-proclaimed Islamic State. It comes as Iraqi forces and militias, with U.S. backin…
Trouble in Paradise: Tourism in the Age of Terrorism
EGYPT Sinai Peninsula He quickly performed yet another inspection of the surveillance cameras, got an update on the status of maintenance work being performed on the bomb detector and went over his calculations on the future strength of his team of guards for the umpteenth time. Now all security exp…