In Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, on Thursday, February 9th the Azeri President Ilham Aliyev met with the Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha.

The European Finance Ministers have demanded that Greece ratify the austerity package by this Sunday and identify an additional 325 million Euros of spending reductions Wednesday before they will release any bailout funds.

Argentina has complained about the recent deployment of Prince William to the Falkands as well as the British deployment of an advanced destroyer to patrol the waters near the disputed archipelago. The British Foreign Office has released a statement that says that the people of the Falkland Islands are British by choice and that there will be no sovereignty discussions with Argentina unless the residents of the Islands want such talks. The Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has said that she is going to complain to the United Nations about what she termed UK militarization of this conflict.

On February 4 China and Russia vetoed a Security Council resolution on Syria. The resolution was based upon an Arab League peace plan. The Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, stated that his country wanted an end to the bloodshed but felt that the resolution sent an unbalanced message to Syria and did not call for an end to rebel attacks, nor did it take into account what he termed the association of the rebel groups with extremists. Ambassador Churkin further stated that Russia was committed to a solution to the Syrian crisis but said that peaceful settlement was undermined by the advocacy of regime change by certain influential members of the international community.  All other thirteen members of the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution and strongly condemned its veto.

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin ( Алекса́ндр Серге́евич Пу́шкин)  was born in Moscow June 6, 1799 and died in Saint Petersburg February 10, 1837.  Pushkin is considered the founder of modern Russian literature.  His works include: Boris Godunov, Yevgeny Onegin, Poltava and the Prisoner of the Caucasus. He wrote in every literary genre and his influence on other prominent Russian writers was significant.

One of the greatest novelists of the Victorian Era and perhaps of all time, Charles Dickens, whose works still resonate with readers the world over, was born February 7,1812 in Portsmouth, England. The home where he was born is now a great museum. Their website is: http://www.charlesdickensbirthplace.co.uk Another key resource is Dickens 2012,   which provides a comprehensive guide to the breadth of activities and events related to the 200th  birthday of Charles Dickens. Their impressive website is located at: http://www.dickens2012.org

Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne of the United Kingdom the Sixth of February 1952 upon the death of her father, King George VI.  On Monday February 6, 2012 there was a forty-one gun salute in the Hyde Park section of London by the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery to inaugurate the 60th Anniversary celebrations which will continue throughout 2012.

MIDEASTINSIGHTS ⋅ NOVEMBER 9, 2011 (Originally published in Middle East Insights)

Last month, senior Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath declared that negotiations between the Middle East Quartet (US, UN, EU and Russia) reached a deadlock and he chided special envoy Tony Blair as serving only Israeli interests.  However, Shaath suggested that Palestinians could be encouraged to return to direct talks if Israel imposed a full settlement freeze and agreed that the 1967 boundaries would serve as the basis for negotiations.  In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to a partial settlement freeze to persuade Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to return to the negotiating table, but the gesture was rebuffed since it did not entail a total halt to all construction activity. Read more »

September 22, 2011 | 0856 GMT

By Scott Stewart

Lone wolf. The mere mention of the phrase invokes a sense of fear and dread. It conjures up images of an unknown, malicious plotter working alone and silently to perpetrate an unpredictable, undetectable and unstoppable act of terror. This one phrase combines the persistent fear of terrorism in modern society with the primal fear of the unknown.

The phrase has been used a lot lately. Anyone who has been paying attention to the American press over the past few weeks has been bombarded with a steady stream of statements regarding lone-wolf militants. While many of these statements, such as those from President Barack Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden and Department of Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano, were made in the days leading up to the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, they did not stop when the threats surrounding the anniversary proved to be unfounded and the date passed without incident. Indeed, on Sept. 14, the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Matthew Olsen, told CNN that one of the things that concerned him most was “finding that next lone-wolf terrorist before he strikes.” Read more »

The celebration of the independence of the United States, which was declared on July4th, 1776 is a time for historical reflection and for the remembrance of those nations which assisted in this struggle to achieve independence. The role of France is often and rightly recalled in public teaching and discourse in the United States. However, the very important and even crucial role of Spain is all too often omitted. Spain contributed both financial resources and military forces to assist the United States of America during the period of its war for independence.