Following the success of an outlet in Karachi, Pakistan, Cafe Coffee Day, India’s No. 1 retail coffee shop chain, said last month it would open 19 new outlets in neighboring Pakistan, a move that would have been inconceivable even two years ago. But that’s how far talks between India and Pakistan have come since the two nations almost went to war in 2002 following an attack on Indian Parliament by suspected Kashmiri militants, who India says were backed by Pakistan. Since then, the two sides have held four rounds of talks, the most recent of which ended last Wednesday (March [...]
On March 14, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council together with Germany submitted a draft resolution that would broaden the embargo against Iran. As part of the international effort to derail Tehran’s nuclear program, the proposed resolution seeks, amongst other things, to ban procurement of Iranian “arms or related material.” Though harsher sanctions will be required before Iran thinks again about suspending its nuclear program, a global embargo on its defense exports could nevertheless be a painful blow.<<ad>>In 2005, Iran exported around $100 million worth of military hardware. Its defense industrial base has grown significantly and today [...]
In April 2006, the German government appeared finally to have consented to grant scholars full access to the documentary depositories of the International Tracing Service (ITS), a vast archive of files on the crimes of Nazism, including, of course, the Holocaust. ITS is managed by an international body of 11 custodian nations. Germany’s consent should have been sufficient to encourage the others, and the International Red Cross, to follow suit. Unfortunately, a year later, there is still no access. Berlin’s glacial sluggishness on the issue encouraged Rome to stonewall the issue ever more blatantly. Pundits like Anne Applebaum suspect fear [...]
