Latest

The Man Who Would be Caliph

What sets Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi apart from all other would-be Caliphs, including Osama bin Laden and his successor as al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri, is that he is supremely qualified, writes International Affairs analyst Jonathan Manthorpe, of the current battle in Syria and Iraq. An excerpt of today’s column: Half a dozen so-called Islamic states have been created out of countries in crisis in the last 20 years, and each new one is more brutal and bloodthirsty than the last. The latest is the “caliphate” created by the messianic descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, soldier and Islamic scholar Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in the

Finding: Moving Day for Bears

Hollywood has its comedies. Scandinavia does dark thrillers. British dramas are legendary. And Yukon … will recognition come to the  Canadian territory for wildlife documentaries as authentic as the far north? This month Yukon conservation officers captured a black bear and her cubs eating garbage left out by residents in Whitehorse, Yukon’s capital. Garbage bears are soon dead bears in Canada; when the animals lose their fear of humans they’re routinely shot before they  endanger people or pets. In My Bear, poet Robert W. Service advocated scaring away a Yukon bear by feeding it a concoction of mustard, tobasco sauce, ginger and

Why Spy Scandal Stokes German Distrust of U.S.

“Spy versus spy games are one thing, but spying on the work of a parliamentary committee of one of Washington’s closest allies is worse than stupid. It is very rude,” writes International Affairs analyst Jonathan Manthorpe, pondering the scandal which prompted Germany to ask America’s CIA’s station chief to leave. The incident stoked the “smouldering debate in Germany about the future nature of its alliance with Washington,” he warned in today’s column. An excerpt: American spy agencies in particular seem unable to make the distinction between what they can do and what they should do or, more precisely, what they should not

Memories of Portugal’s Foodie Legacy

The FIFA World Cup in Brazil brought back odd memories for International Affairs analyst Jonathan Manthorpe — not about football, not about the host country Brazil, a former Portugese colony  … but about food. “Of all the restaurants I have patronized around the world, three of the most memorable are in former Portuguese colonies,” he writes. “It’s not that the Portuguese ran an empire of gastronomy. The common theme in all three restaurants is high quality ingredients, cooked simply and without fuss.” Excerpt of today’s column: Quite rightly, the wall-to-wall media coverage of every aspect of Brazilian life that has accompanied the global fixation

Anting: It’s a Bird Thing

In summer it’s common to find a bird flattened on the ground, wings splayed. It may seem injured, but will roust if approached — and when the interruption is over, return with the determination of a junkie seeking a fix, to sprawl on the same spot. Look closely — a telephoto lens helps — and you’ll likely see it swarming with ants … read more in Dispatches, Science (free public access). Anting — a Science brief

1 … 72 73 74 75 76 … 130