The increased hijacking of international vessels off the Horn of Africa reflects the world's neglect and misjudgment of Somalia's internal conflicts, says Georg-Sebastian Holzer of OpenDemocracy.org

Ever bolder pirate attacks have - out of nowhere, it has seemed - put Somalia on the frontpages and screens of international media. This world attention has a bitter aftertaste, for it comes after a long period of neglect by this selfsame media of persistent internecine warfare and humanitarian crisis in the country.

Add a comment

The previous column in this series reflected on the first seven years of the post-9/11 conflict, and highlighted three of its significant if less prominent aspects - the performance of United States troops, the impact of Washington's relationship with Israel, and the fate of the US-led coalition (see "The war on terror: seven years on - part one"). This second part of the retrospective also looks ahead, to assess the prospects for the emergence of a different security strategy and way of thinking in the coming years. Add a comment

The United States responded to the attacks of 11 September 2001 by launching a global "war on terror". Two weeks after 9/11, Paul Rogers began to track that war in a weekly column on the web site OpenDemocracy.org. In the first of a two-part retrospective, Paul Rogers reflects on these seven years: mistakes made, lessons learned and paths not taken. Add a comment

The Israeli government is attempting to Judaise Palestinian East Jerusalem, and maintain a Jewish majority against the demographic threat of a higher Palestinian birth rate. By Mel Frykberg, Inter Press Service
Add a comment

DILI - Turbulent East Timor may go through its own Watergate, or at least a watershed political moment depending on which version of the 11 February assassination attempt on President Jose Ramos Horta finally emerges as the truth. Conflicting accounts, questionable evidence and reversed recollections continue to cloud an alleged assassination attempt on the president and prime minister that sent a popular rebel leader to an early grave.  
By Simon Roughneen, Asia Times

Add a comment

Nothing could more graphically expose the political fraud of the “change you can believe in” mantra promoted by the Democrats and their presidential candidate Barack Obama than the reactionary atmosphere surrounding the party's national convention, which kicked off Monday in Denver, Colorado. By Bill Van Auken (from the World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org)

Add a comment

Forty years ago, in August 1968, I persuaded Donal O'Donovan, then features editor of the Irish Times, to commission me to visit Eastern European countries and write about them. By Vincent Browne
Add a comment

The Millenium Development Goals on maternal health stipulate that developing countries must “reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) [of 1992].” Malawi is one such country. Its MMR in 1992 was 620 per 100,000 births; it is now 1,100. In 2008, 6,600 Malawian mothers will die in childbirth. Add a comment