Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
Ukraine: World War II Fiasco Leads to Public Relations Disaster and Thorny Questions for Kiev and Foreign Diaspora
For Kiev, winning the public relations war against Vladimir Putin would seem to be a no-brainer. For a year now, the Kremlin has conducted a thinly-disguised war of aggression in eastern Ukraine resulting in the deaths of thousands. Yet Kiev seems intent on squandering any international public support it might have had amidst a bizarre crackdown...
Greece: A Nation Divided — Will Russia Take the Initiative?
The Greek referendum set for July 5, 2015, is about “yes or no to Europe.” The nation is divided. One camp for the Euro, for membership of the European Union (EU), and ultimately for Europa; the other one against the Euro, against EU membership and ultimately against Europe. Families, friendships, organizations and businesses will...
Grexit May Be Merkel’s Biggest Risk Yet
By Noah Barkin BERLIN, June 29 (Reuters) – “If you break it, you own it,” former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell warned President George W. Bush before his invasion of Iraq. Whether it will ever be fair to blame Angela Merkel for “breaking” Greece is debatable. But if the euro zone’s weakest link does...
Tunisia Pledges Tough Security Measures After Sousse Hotel Attack
SOUSSE, Tunisia (AP) — Tunisia’s prime minister announced on Saturday a string of new security measures including closing renegade mosques and calling up army reservists as thousands of tourists fled the North African country in wake of its worst terrorist attack ever. Tourists crowded into the airport at Hammamet near the coastal city of...
Eurozone Crisis: Greece’s Syriza Proves Unfit To Govern
As Alexis Tsipras’ five-month game of brinksmanship with European and international creditors reaches a tipping point, the time for responsible decision-making has finally arrived. Despite all his bluffing, Europe has not blinked. After Tsipras’ most recent concessions, there was an increasing sense of optimism that a deal may be at...
Chinese-Filipino Community’s Dilemma: The Philippines, China, and the South China Sea Disputes
At its very core, the Philippines is an idea, representing a pluralistic land with hospitable people, who have always welcomed persecuted people from around the world. It is an all-embracing society that has been open to peoples from around the world. Nationalism and nationhood in post-colonial, cosmopolitan countries like the Philippines...
Julian Assange: Mainstream Media Rife With Censorship
Seung-yoon Lee, CEO and co-founder of Byline, recently conducted a rare exclusive three-hour interview with Julian Assange in Embassy of Ecuador, London. The interview has been serialized into three parts. In part two of the series, Assange reflects on media — how it works, whether there is hope in new media models and citizen journalism...
Putin Calls Obama To Talk Iran, Ukraine And ISIS
WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin phoned U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday, their first call since February, to discuss Iran nuclear talks, “the increasingly dangerous situation in Syria” and the need to counter Islamic State militants, the White House said in a statement. “The leaders...
Refugee World
To paraphrase the novelist William Gibson, the post-apocalypse is already here — it’s just not evenly distributed. Many of our post-apocalyptic stories — Mad Max, The Road, World War Z — feature desperate people on the move in a friendless and resource-poor environment. The world hasn’t ended quite yet, but these...
In Ukraine’s Energy Sector, Failure is Not an Option
During OPEC’s oil embargo in the 1970s, America learned what happens when a reliance on foreign energy meets geopolitics. Today the situation in my country — Ukraine — is even more serious. Our energy policy has long been linked with politics, and our dependence on Russian energy supplies has left us vulnerable to political...
