Anthony Clark Arend

A previous post noted the seizure of a group of British yachtsmen by Iran. The BBC is reporting:
Four British yachtsmen who were seized by Iran have returned to the UK following their release from custody.
They were sailing from Bahrain to Dubai to take part in a race when they drifted into Iranian waters.
At a press conference in Dubai on Thursday, …

Our Georgetown colleague, Ambassador Cynthia Schneider, discusses the spread of “Idol” TV to Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates.

Many, many congrats to our friend and colleague, Alex Aleinikoff! Kara Tershel for the Georgetown Blue&Gray writes:
The United Nations has appointed Law Center Dean T. Alexander Aleinikoff as deputy high commissioner for refugees, effective Feb. 1. He will continue to serve as dean through late January.The U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), located in Geneva, Switzerland, leads and coordinates international …

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In case you missed it, Ploughshares Fund President and MSFS Professor and MSFS alum, Joe Cirincione, was on the Colbert Report this past Monday. The both seem to have a lot of fun. And, as Joe himself has Tweeted, “Stephen Colbert …

Here is a story you might have missed. It was brought to my attention by Matt Angelo . . . .
The BBC is reporting:
Five Britons have been detained by the Iranian navy while sailing a yacht from Bahrain to Dubai, the Foreign Office (FCO) has said.
The sailors were crewing a boat belonging to Sail Bahrain when they were stopped on …

The Washington Post is reporting:
The Supreme Court has thrown out an appeals court ruling ordering the disclosure of photographs of detainees being abused by their U.S. captors.In doing so Monday, the high court cited a recent change in federal law that allows the pictures to be withheld.
The justices issued a brief, and expected, order Monday directing the 2nd U.S. Circuit …

This is truly disturbing. The New York Times is reporting:
In a vote that displayed a widespread anxiety about Islam and undermined the country’s reputation for religious tolerance, the Swiss on Sunday overwhelmingly imposed a national ban on the construction of minarets, the prayer towers of mosques, in a referendum drawn up by the far right and opposed by the government.
The …

The Washington Post is reporting today:
Iran’s government will build 10 new sites to enrich uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday, a dramatic expansion of the country’s nuclear program and one that is bound to fuel fears that it is attempting to produce a nuclear weapon.Ahmadinejad told state news agency IRNA that construction of at least five nuclear facilities was to …