Country Intelligence and Analysis
Cairo Thousands of Egyptians stormed the Israeli embassy. The ambassador had to be flown to safety in a military aircraft. In Ankara, too, Israel’s representative was driven out – by the government of Turkey, the host country. The Arab Spring has segued into an incandescent Arab Summer now threatened by a cold snap….
By Gordon Corera The new film adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, premiered at the Venice Film Festival last week, has been praised for its atmospheric depiction of 1970s London. But how firmly is John Le Carre’s novel rooted in reality? (Spoiler alert: Key plot details revealed below) Trying to establish the precise relationship between…
9-11 and the United States’ Empire of Language and Ideas
Julian Assange and his former German cohort Daniel Domscheit-Berg blame each other for the circulation on the Internet of the identities of secret informants from diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks. Now, with lives in danger, the organization risks quickly losing credibility. This story of two bickering computer nerds vying for a place in history —…
A BLOODY PERIOD OF RETRIBUTION ON LIBYAN HORIZON The Tunisians are closest to events in the war-torn country on their eastern border. And so it was a clear sign of events to come on Sunday morning when Tunis unexpectedly recognized Libya’s National Transitional Council as the country’s legitimate government. Up until…
Triumphant entry into Tripoli THE noose tightened and tightened and on Saturday night it cinched fast. Through Sunday, August 21st and into early Monday morning, the world watched through scratchy video feeds as Libya’s rebels—now in the heart of Tripoli and with the run of the country—searched for the trap door through…
A literary festival in St-Malo, France, Russian writer Zahar Prilepin and I spoke on a panel about Russia’s war in Chechnya. The audience was fired up with anti-Russian sentiment, having just seen a documentary on the devastation of Grozny by Russian forces in 2000. Prilepin—muscular, silent—sank sullenly in his chair as the…
A human migration that started more than a month A table made of bits and pieces, an old notebook, green crumbling walls: this is where Luul Mohamed, the 46-year-old head of the pediatrics department at Banadir Hospital in Mogadishu examines a hundred children every day. Sheesam comes in with her mother. She…
Libya: Tripoli braces for Gaddafi’s final curtain August 17, 2011 There is little fight left in Libya’s capital as Nato ramps up its air raids and the rebels close in, says Damien McElroy. Nato’s war in Libya has so far been one of false starts and missed deadlines. But with rebels now inside the key…