Welcome to EssentialGeneva.com | EssentialGeneva.com

A reporter who covered Afghanistan for 30 years chronicles his experiences on the field in this gripping memoir
Killing the Cranes: A Reporter's Journey Through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan, by Edward Girardet, Green Books, RRP£22.50, 424 pages. This article was published by the Financial Times 21 April, 2012 in The Weekend Edition. Somewhere near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan among a network of trenches, an American journalist has an angry exchange with a Saudi legionnaire fighting the "jihad" against occupying Soviet forces. It is 1988. The argument revolves around a point of honour between Arabs and Afghans over the legitimacy of a western observer being on the front line of the holy war.

Failed Wars, Squandered Billions: Afghanistan's Missing Peace
As a journalist covering the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s, Edward Girardet often travelled clandestinely with the mujahideen.Here he explains how it was not that different during the 1980s when Afghan government military, police and m

West Africa: Governance Matters
Deepening and consolidating the democratic transformations taking place in Africa, as well as strengthening regional and global governance arrangements, remain key challenges for African countries. As Caroline Kende-Robb of the Geneva-based Africa Progres

World Radio Switzerland - Threatened with Closure
Over the past months, there have been repeated reports that the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, which owns World Radio Switzerland (WRS), was considering closing the station. According to the Swiss Tribune de Genève newspaper, WRS, the Geneva-based Engli

Afghanistan - A Political Defeat?
As with the United States, Britain and at least 44 other countries, France has deployed - and lost - troops in Afghanistan. But the French, who have long enjoyed a close relationship with the Central Asian country, probably have a far better understanding

Media Trends 2012 - New Media Tools & Human Rights
Webster University's Media Communication Departments's is holding its 3rd annual conference on March 26 and 27, 2012 at the Bellevue campus on the outskirts of Geneva. Held in collaboration with the Institute for Media and Global Governance-Media21 Global

Humanitarian work: from intention to action
How good are really the humanitarian agencies that claim to respond to the needs of the people - the so-called 'beneficiaries' - they are supposed to be helping? To what degree are they doing it for genuine social impact? Or for fund-raising? And are they

In Ethiopia, Swedish journalists handed prison terms
An Ethiopian court has sentenced Swedish journalists Johan Persson (left) and Martin Schibbye to 11 years in prison. (AFP)New York, December 27, 2011--In a highly politicized trial, two Swedish journalists have been sentenced in an Ethiopian court to 11-y

??Move??

Movers & Shakers

??Top Headline??

??Other Headlines??

As part of Webster University’s annual initiative, the Psychology and Counseling Lecture Series 2011, it will hold a special address: The relevance of HIV/AIDS counselling in an age of biomedical miracles on Tuesday, February 22nd. by Dr. David Miller, one of the world’s leading specialists on HIV/AIDS counselling. Read More...

Geneva -- Nicolas Hayek, who died of heart failure at the age of 82 on June 28, is generally credited with saving the Swiss Watch industry. To anyone who knows the business, that is something of an understatement.

Charged with interrogating those who collaborated with former Liberian President Charles Taylor and later listening to the voices of Khmer Rouge victims in Cambodia, Geneva attorney Alain Werner is one of the pioneers of an evolving international justice system. Carole Vann, an editor and writer with InfoSud , a non-profit news agency focusing on...

??Move??

Peripatetic Epicurean

??Top Headline??

??Other Headlines??

Anyone staying in any of the hotels near the United Nations in Geneva is always stuck for a congenial place to go for a drink (maybe a nice wine) or dinner with friends and colleagues. You want the food to be good, but not outrageously expensive. When one of our friends staying, as with many of the international aid crowd, at the Hotel Mon Repos called to meet for a Saturday evening drink, we scouted...

As with many of us living in the Lake Geneva region, finding a decent but affordable restaurant where they take cuisine seriously is a challenge. Many of the Swiss-side restaurants are often mediocre with steep prices and quite frankly, not worth what you pay. It is always a pleasure - albeit an all too rare one - to find a place that you can rave about as "good to excellent" and that will not destroy...

The Auberge du Lion d'Or is reputed to be one of the best restaurants in Geneva. The prices are stiff and more suited to expense accounts, but both the service and the food are impeccable.

??Move??

The Plaindealer

??Top Headline??

??Other Headlines??

As with other so-called budget airlines, such as Ryanair, Easyjet was broadly welcomed in the mid-1990s as the first real competition to the high costs of flying within Europe aboard mainstream airlines. We all remember the days when Easyjet took on Swissair here in Geneva with its cheeky deals and public relations coups, such as setting up a tent at Barcelona airport in order to abide with a rule...

This past September, journalist and author Edward Girardet published Killing the Cranes - A Reporter's Journey Through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan. Based on personal experience and reporting since first reporting its wars in October, 1979 - three months prior to the Soviet invasion - the book offers a sense of what...

The following article by Essential Edge co-editor Edward Girardet was published by the Christian Science Monitor on October 22, 2001, two weeks after the start of US and British bombing in Afghanistan. Despite warnings that military intervention would lead to new war, the Bush and Tony Blair administrations thought they knew best. Since...

??Move??

Rhythm & Cool

??Top Headline??

??Other Headlines??

, Geneva. Wednesday 30 November 2011, 18:30-20:00 Synthesizing recent thinking from science, philosophy, psychology and economics with the author's own reflections on freedom, identity and morality, The Battle for Compassion offers a fresh, sweeping perspective...

With the NATO Foreign Ministers Conference on Afghanistan coming up in December, Killing the Cranes: A Reporter's Journey Through Three Decades of War in Afghanistan...

The Afghan Solution is an important book and one that needs to be read by anyone wondering why American and British intelligence got it so wrong with the start of the October 7, 2001 war in Afghanistan....

??Move??

Kids

??Top Headline??

??Other Headlines??

Not sure what to do with the kids over Easter? The Lake Geneva Regional Tourism Office is highlighting a number of places which are organizing special Easter Egg hunts for children.

The Lake Geneva Region has an excellent reputation for private and state schools with an international emphasis. Nevertheless, there are both advantages and disadvantages with what they have to offer. There are well over 100 private pre-school, primary and secondary schools plus local or regional public institutions on both sides of the Swiss and French frontier. They welcome children and pupils from...