Soviet Union

By Kamal Hyder in Asia on October 10th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Residents live under a constant fear of being hit as dozens of unmanned drones buzz the skies over North and South Waziristan. The drones frighten children and women who sometimes become the victims, especially if the intended targets are anywhere close to their homes.

According to local tribal sources, the Americans have planted several spies whose job is to insert microchips in vehicles which are then tracked and taken out by missiles fired from drones.

When the US drone attacks started several years ago, their priority was to get the al-Qaeda leadership, But a lot has changed since then, and it appears the Americans have expanded their targets to include foreign fighters, the Pakistani Taliban, and al-Qaeda and its affiliates.

According to one senior Pakistanii military official, the accuracy of the drone raids has increased but that it still causing civilian casualties because of the nature of the way local houses are built.

By Marwan Bishara in Imperium on May 28th, 2010
AFP photo

As the Obama administration introduces its new foreign policy doctrine this week, it's worth reminding ourselves that the greater Middle East region is central to US strategy today just as it has been over the last half a century.

After a decade of US blunders in Iraq and Afghanistan under the guise of the "global war on terror", President Obama's overall commitment to "engagement" with other world emerging powers like China and India,  and support for multilateralism contrasts sharply with his predecessor's desire to "go it alone" when possible, along with others only if necessary.

Over the last year, the Obama administration has changed the bombastic language of the Bush administration.

By Hamish Macdonald in Europe on November 18th, 2009
Photos by AFP

We've spent the day wading through the murky waters of European politics. Leaders from across Europe arrive here in Brussels on Thursday to choose the first ever President of the European Council.

But we really have no idea who they are going to choose. The process has already been described as "secretive" - so much so, the former Latvian President Vaire Vike-Freiberga (herself a candidate) told the Times newspaper that the EU should:

"stop working like the former Soviet Union"

There is much debate about whether to choose a tough, high profile leader in order to affirm Europe's role on the world stage, or alternatively appoint a low key consensus politician from one of the smaller EU states. Both options have their critics. 

By Rob Reynolds in Americas on July 17th, 2009

The grainy footage still makes me gasp with astonishment.

The famous black-and-white images of a spindly lunar module setting down on the Moon on July 20th, 1969, represent the improbable trajectory from dream to the reality that was Apollo 11.

It leaves one wondering, even today: How did humans travel so far, in so frail a ship, through such a still, stark void?

An estimated 600 million people watched the live television broadcast of astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the Moon that day.

They huddled around flickering TV sets in living rooms and public squares, in offices and schoolrooms. 

I was 12 in 1969, but the memory is vivid.

I remember being allowed to stay up late for the occasion, and the cheering and excitement.

For a kid, it was a marvel to think that “we” - humanity, not just America - had achieved the seemingly impossible.

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