All Backchannels
Behind the anti-Muhammad movie 鈥� a new pastor Terry Jones?There is no online profile for 'Sam Bacile,' who has told reporters he's an Israeli who wrote and produced the movie that sparked protests in Libya and Egypt. But there is information about one of his collaborators, Steve Klein, who has ties to evangelical militia groups.
US Ambassador murdered as extremists on all sides win, againThe murder of the US Ambassador to Libya yesterday and a raucous protest in Cairo, all over a movie deemed offensive, recall the widespread violence during the Danish cartoon controversy.
Iraq's exiled vice president sentenced to death as violence growsIn an interview before he was sentenced to death in absentia, Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi warned Iraq is on a slippery slope to more violence.
Remember Afghanistan? The war makes rare appearance in Obama-Romney race.Politics junkies could be forgiven for not realizing that US soldiers are still dying in Afghanistan, given how rarely the word passes the lips of either President Obama or challenger Mitt Romney.
Saudi Arabia and UAE urge citizens out of Lebanon after kidnappingsThe growing spillover from the Syrian civil war, which included the kidnapping of over 30 Syrians in Lebanon today, prompted the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia to tell their citizens to leave Lebanon.
Is Israel trying to lead the US to war with Iran?That's what it's starting to look like. But looks can be deceiving.
Syria's civil war and the geopolitics overtaking itAs Syria's civil war continues to deepen, so does the potential for regional mischief.
What exactly has Egyptian President Morsi done?A timeline of recent moves by Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi.
Egypt's Morsi cleans house. But a coup? HardlyThe new heads of Egypt's military branches come from within the system, and the outgoing old guard retains both influence and great wealth.
Egypt's President Morsi fires senior general Tantawi, asserting his powerEgyptian President Morsi didn't just fire Tantawi today. He overturned a constitutional declaration from Tantawi's military council that sought to tie the hands of the civilian president.
With 16 Egyptian soldiers murdered, Sinai is front and center for President MorsiThe murder of 16 Egyptian soldiers in the Sinai peninsula highlights long-simmering problems聽there. And now it's up to Mohamed Morsi and Egypt's politically powerful military to deal with it.- Reuters hacked by pro-Assad propagandists again, this time on TwitterAfter fake articles were planted on Reuters website by supporters of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Friday, hackers briefly seized control overnight of a Reuters Twitter account.
- Ideas. Big, glib, unsupported ideasEvgeny Morozov on the cult of 'TED.'
Worrying signs of lawlessness in LibyaSeven Iranian Red Crescent members were abducted in downtown Benghazi yesterday. Today there were bomb blasts and a jail break.聽
In Syria, hardening sides, and risks of an even bloodier civil warA new report argues the Syrian civil war is going to get a lot worse unless the country's rebels take a series of difficult and improbable steps.
Why the Taliban are happy that the US and Pakistan patched things upPakistan has reopened the trucking routes NATO relies on for getting weapons and other goods into Afghanistan. That has US generals and the Taliban smiling.
Is Syria's Bashar al-Assad on the ropes?It depends on who you ask.- Iraqi officials still being killed in large numbersIn at least one city. And that's far from the only echo of the old Iraq in the new one.
Termites: Altruistic, poisonous suicide bombersIt's not just for humans anymore.
US drought already rippling out into the worldScuffles in Jakarta markets between tofu producers and soybean traders may be a taste of things to come.
