Wednesday-Night

The West must stand by Iranian protesters
The Ottawa Citizen June 30, 2009
June 15, 2009, will be remembered as a turning point in the struggle for democracy in Iran, when millions of outraged citizens poured onto the streets of Tehran and other cities to protest fraudulent elections and express frustration at years of repression and national […]

(Reuters/Planet Ark) Member states of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) voted to locate their headquarters in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt’s state news agency MENA said on Monday. … IRENA’s innovation and technology center would be located in Bonn and that an office for contacts to the U.N. would also be set up in […]

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The Eclipse of the Americas
How the Trinidad Summit Marked the Fragmentation of the Inter-American System
Richard Feinberg
(Foreign Affairs) With the spirit of an all-inclusive hemispherism in eclipse, the United States will have to shop around or create forums where it can pursue its interests with willing partners — what in the Western […]

Statement by a group of Iranian bloggers about the Presidential elections and the subsequent events
1) We, a group of Iranian bloggers, strongly condemn the violent and repressive confrontation of Iranian government against Iranian people’s legitimate and peaceful demonstrations and ask government officials to comply with Article 27 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution which […]

Le Salon du mercredi soir #1425 , mercredi le 24 juin 2009  - la Fête nationale
Yes, we DO recognize that this Wednesday is what we prefer to call “La St-Jean”, which simply bolsters the prevailing wisdom that important events happen on Wednesday.
Given the occasion, we think it only appropriate to look […]

Protesters’ tenacity to decide the future in Iran
By H. RICHARD SINDELAR
(Houston Chronicle) The mullahs have miscalculated, and the fascinating panorama that is Iran now seems destined for a severe, long-term and possibly regime-changing crisis. A mix of factors is simmering in a veritable stew of Iranian political intrigue, and various scenarios increasingly […]

Update on Hungary
Although the member nations of the European Union have benefited enormously from the elimination of physical and trade barriers and the establishment of a strong common currency, the rejection of a proposed constitution has led some local politicians to make extravagant promises that they are no more able to fulfil than were their […]

The way Mr. Flanagan sees it now, Stephen Harper is adrift in a vacuum of policy and principle, conniving only to retain power while hemorrhaging respect as a flawed political strategist.
Don Martin: Mentor delivers painful punch to Harper
It’s too harsh to qualify as constructive criticism, even if the author was once Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s […]

A peak at oil reserves
(The Economist) ACCORDING to BP, an oil company, the world has enough oil reserves to meet demand for the next four decades or so. (Interactive chart)
14 June
Warming up to carbon tax
Tariffs are good for the economy and environment, writes Jeff Rubin in Why Your World Is About to Get a Whole […]

Twenty years ago, I wrote a book about the Middle East, and recently I was thinking of updating it with a new introduction. It was going to be very simple — just one page, indeed just one line: “Nothing has changed.”It took me two days covering the elections in Beirut to realize that I was […]