International Affairs

The Hill's A.B. Stoddard answers viewer questions about Attorney General nominee Eric Holder's confirmation, President Bush's legacy, and the new tactics that the Republican Party needs to use.

Not being trained in economics, political science or anthropology, I can speak only as an amateur observer. Still, it's clear that a lot of people are sensing the same thing: There are monumental changes taking place around us.

One hardly knows where to begin, but certainly the radical restructuring of the global finance system is one place. Beyond that, the quasi-nationalization of U.S. and European banks and insurance companies, and perhaps even of the American auto industry, all mean that the economic landscape will appear very different a year from now, or even three months from now. Or sooner. Read more...

Scripture says that the meek shall inherit the Earth.

Guess what? It is already happening.

Among richer, more secular countries, the birthrate is not at the rate of replacement. Maintaining a steady population requires a birthrate of 2.1 In Western Europe; the birthrate currently stands at 1.5, or 30 percent below replacement.

In 30 years there will be 70 to 80 million fewer Europeans than there are today. The current birthrate in Germany is 1.3. Italy and Spain are even lower, at 1.2. At that rate, the working-age population declines by 30 percent in 20 years, which has a huge impact on the economy. Read more...

The queen of England has shut down the Canadian Parliament. It should be her last official act on Canada’s behalf. That she has the right to do so gives clear indication that Canada is not really a democracy or a self-governing republic. It is only a republic when the queen of England allows it to be a republic.

From the New York Times account:

With the approval of Canada’s formal head of state, Prime Minister Stephen Harper shut down Canada’s parliament until Jan. 26, seeking to forestall a no-confidence vote he was sure to lose.

Read more...

The first few dispatches about the Mumbai terrorists came out yesterday and there are already some revealing details about the 10 gunmen who opened fired indiscriminately on civilians in the streets and buildings of Mumbai. The gunmen are alleged members of Lashkar-i-Taiba, a Pakistani separatist group located in the disputed territory of Kashmir.

An attack like this shakes the mind. How could human beings carry out such an act of evil? Read more...

There is enough that is horrible and tragic about the terrorist attacks and killings of innocent people in Mumbai (the Indian city long known in the West as Bombay) in the last several days without some careless media reporting and premature accusations by Indian officials suggesting Pakistani government responsibility making matters worse.

Full disclosure: I represented Pakistan in the 1990s, have visited the country several times, and made many close Pakistani friends during the time I helped Pakistan recover hundreds of millions of dollars the U.S. government owed it. Read more...

Humpty Dumpy had a great fall …
— Lewis Carroll

In 1871, when Alice in Wonderland was written, England had come across the world as if out of nowhere; as if out of a rabbit hole. But Nelson was long dead and Trafalgar was 66 years in hindsight. To a visionary like Lewis Carroll, the end could already have been in sight.

1857, the year of the Indian Mutiny, was perhaps a decisive moment; the year of returning. The queen was growing old and irascible and the map would quickly start to shrink. Carroll’s Eggman would be the last man of Empire; high on the wall but facing an imminent fall. Read more...

Today the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has taken over the government office at the Don Mueang airport. There they clashed with the pro-government United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD). The PAD also crowded armed forces headquarters on Chaeng Wattana Road in order to block a Cabinet meeting scheduled to take place there tomorrow.

The citywide protest's goal is to overthrow the People’s Power Party government, which won the election in December 2007. The PPP was the Thai Rak Thai party before Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was removed. The TRT party was extremely popular because of its populist initiatives. The elite felt threatened and removed Thaksin in 2006 with a military coup. Thaksin was later charged with corruption and is now avoiding prosecution outside the country. Read more...

If Obama innocently brought in Sen. Clinton for secretary of State he is so out there where the buses don’t run that he will have to hire Dick Morris to tell him what to do.

But I don’t think he is. Obama is a trickster. He knows the Clintons are hustlers better than anyone, and like the Road Runner he enjoys the chase. He has the inner voice that assures him that he can be caught … someday, maybe; his dance can be stopped, but not by the likes of the Clintons. Read more...

For many people in the the Arab world, attacking George W. Bush is one thing. Going after Barack Hussein Obama is another.

That's the impression I'm getting from North Africans who've seen the latest video diatribe from al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

In the video, which is airing widely on Arabic TV channels, al-Zawahiri accuses the U.S. president-elect of everything from denying his racial heritage to outright apostasy. Read more...