Section: The Huffington Post (USA)
The True State of the Union 2015
Mr. President, Members of Congress, and Fellow Citizens, The true State of the Union, and the state of the world, in 2015 can be described in one word: precarious. Despite our wealth, our technological knowhow, our global social media, we are a world at war with each other and with the planet itself. At home, we are at war with our children of...
‘Sacred Sperm’ Film Explores Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Taboos
JERUSALEM (AP) – Like so many parents, Ori Gruder was grappling with how to talk to his 10-year-old son about sex. Being a member of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox religious community, which tends to keep discussions of sexuality to a whisper, made the task even more difficult. So Gruder created “Sacred Sperm,” an hour-long...
World Leaders Aim To Hold Ukraine Summit In Minsk Wednesday
MUNICH (AP) — The leaders of Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine aim to hold a summit in Minsk this week as they try to stem fighting in eastern Ukraine, officials said Sunday. The plan for a meeting Wednesday in the Belarusian capital emerged from a phone call between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Russian...
Europe And U.S. Clash Over How To Confront Putin On Ukraine
* Merkel says arming Ukraine would only worsen conflict * U.S. Senator Graham accuses Berlin of turning back on ally * Talks with Putin yield little beyond agreement to talk more * Merkel to fly to Washington Sunday for talks with Obama MUNICH, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Germany’s Angela Merkel warned on Saturday that sending arms to help...
Weekend Roundup: ISIS Savagery Taunts the World
The savagery of the Islamic State taunted the world once again this week, striking out at both geopolitically toothless Japan and the tribal kingdom of Jordan. Islamic State fighters beheaded the journalist Kenji Goto and revealed that, in an act of unfathomable cruelty, they had burned alive a captured Jordanian pilot. Last week Japan’s...
Acknowledging the Downsides of Arming Ukraine
Since joining HuffPost as a blogger last March, I have gotten at most 20-25 comments on any one of my blog posts. This tells me one of four things: 1) I’m not doing a good enough job attracting a readership, 2) I have a decent readership, but a crowd that doesn’t comment for various reasons, 3) I’m not writing about things that...
Moving From Axis to Access of Evil
LONDON–In the fall of 2012, aboard a retired aircraft carrier permanently docked on the west side of Manhattan, I listened as then-United States Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, delivered one of the most chilling speeches I have ever heard. To a roomful of leading CEOs and military leaders, Panetta spoke about the new cyber threats faced...
The International Anti-ISIS Coalition Needs to be Repaired
There are ideas and calls in the US arena for stronger, firmer, and more decisive measures to implement the policy declared by US President Barack Obama to eliminate ISIS, as part of a comprehensive and calculated strategy away from arbitrariness and hesitation. Many high-level military officials who previously served in senior posts have started...
Tania Bruguera: “In Cuba We Have Learned Our Duties Very Well But Not Our Rights”
Tania Bruguera (14ymedio) 14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Havana, 4 February 2015 – This coming February 22 Tania Bruguera should be in Madrid to present one of her works at the ARCO International Contemporary Art Fair, but she knows she isn’t going to make it. Trapped by Cuban justice since last December 30, when she was arrested during her...
Arming Ukraine Will Exploit Putin’s Greatest Weakness
A year ago Americans saw on their televisions Ukrainian protesters hurtling Molotov cocktails at beetle-helmeted riot police. Ukrainians from all walks of life–business executives, working class laborers, PhD students, artists, doctors–had been called to the barricades of Kyiv with the simple goal of overthrowing a president who, for...
