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America’s foreign-policy election , Godfrey Hodgson
The emphasis at the Democratic Party convention in Denver on 25-28 August 2008 is set to climax with a speech from the party's presidential nominee Barack Obama that seeks to project the candidate as never before to the national electorate. The full impact of the convention and its closing address on what has become an increasingly even race is is yet to measured, but its unifying momentum - symbolised by the high-profile endorsements of Obama by Hillary Clinton and (more strikingly) Bill... more »
Afghanistan: on the cliff-edge, Paul Rogers
Many sober analysts of the war in Afghanistan expected a military offensive by the Taliban in the early months of 2008. They also suspected that Taliban paramilitaries would avoid major confrontations with foreign forces, out of awareness of the overwhelming firepower that these could launch even on quite small groups. They expected instead an extension of the use of small raids, improvised roadside-bombs and suicide-attacks.
In the event these tactics have indeed been widely used. But... more »
Moscow's victory toll , Ivan Sukhov
Only a week ago, Russia's recognition Abkhazia and South Ossetia's independence was regarded as unlikely by most observers. They hoped that the Kremlin today was too strongly integrated into the world of global finance to resort to a drastic escalation of antagonism with the West. Nonetheless, this took place.
Even after 25 August, when both chambers of the Russian parliament voted for recognition, it could still be hoped that this vote amounted to nothing more positioning at the... more »
Religion and the "other" within, James R Mensch
There is a famous passage in the Gospels, where a lawyer questions Jesus with regard to the command to love God with one's whole heart and to love ones neighbour `as oneself.' The lawyer asks, 'And who is my neighbour?' (Luke 10:2). Is he someone who lives close by or a co-religionist or is he a stranger, a follower of a different faith as Jesus suggests by answering with the parable of the good Samaritan? The 'religions of the book,' Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,... more »
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