The juxtaposition of the two images of former Vice-President Mohammad Ali Abtahi – one before his arrest and the other at his hearing- show the absurdity of the trials taking place in Iran. Abtahi, best known as the “blogging mullah,” is the ebullient cleric interviewed in the …
The Obama administration’s appointee for the post of Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs is Dr. Arturo Valenzuela, professor of government and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University. Valenzuela’s focus in the region has previously been on Mexico and the Southern Cone, and perhaps in …
Should America be a great power? If so, can the United States remain a great power? Christian Brose, senior editor at Foreign Policy, and Rachel Kleinfeld, president of the Truman National Security Project, debate the future of the world’s hegemon and rising heavyweights on bloggingheads.tv.
Christian Brose …
These are heady days for both Afghan and American citizens. Ballots continue to be counted and contested in Afghanistan’s 2nd presidential election, with Karzai in the lead, but not quite with the 50% he needs, and with Americans hearing in Gen. McChrystal’s recent assessment, a likely future request …
Last week I was thrilled to host a dinner for a delegation from Uganda in the US on a State Department International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) visit. The conversation over dinner was an amazing mix of informal chat and high politics. The members of the delegation came to …
The climate of cooperation that followed the June parliamentary elections has evaporated and efforts to form a new government have come to a standstill.
After the results of the elections were announced, the March 8 coalition graciously accepted its “defeat”, while Saad Hariri’s March 14 alliance promised to work closely with …
As we wait for Gen. McChrystal’s report on the war in Afghanistan I thought I would call your attention to this YouTube video in which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen invites questions from the public on national security and military personnel issues …
Pakistan’s former army chief Gen. Mirza Aslam Beg has said that late Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had asked the Air Force (PAF) to be ready to attack Indian nuclear facilities in 1990. The PAF was to mount an attack if India targeted Pakistan’s nuclear installations with the …
In an update to Friday’s post on the Myanmar-Chinese border conflict, it appears the Burmese military has successfully routed the Kokang Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) in Kokang, a predominately ethnic Chinese militia in the Kokang region of the Shan State. This …
According to reports in both the Financial Times of London, as well as the New York Times, the Federal Reserve has made a $14Bn profit on TARP loan programs to struggling banks using tax-payer funds.
This past weekend President Chávez of Venezuela’s reiterated his commitment to maintaining “frozen relations” with the administration of Alvaro Uribe and Colombia. (You can read more at this link.) He stated that based on trade agreements with Brazil and Argentina, “we are not going to have problems with supplies”. This …
Here are a bunch of stories to start off your week:
David Smith of The Mail & Guardian argues that District 9 represents the first in what we can expect to be a stream of post-Apartheid movies. Because of my own interest both in the negotiation process that …
The cracks are widening. The pieces are falling through. The people are holding on for dear life, trying their best to regroup – to speak to a world where so many are suffering. Journalists have been barred. Only a few brave individuals with camera phones were able to record the …
Relative to my post, There Oughta Be a Law, on energy recovery, see this terrific article from Worldwatch, A Bridge to the Renewable Energy Future, fleshing out this “…largely overlooked but potent way to minimize fossil fuel use and the damage it causes.” On the same subject, …
Iranian political system is characterized by its duality of power: In the executive branch we have the dual offices of the President and the Supreme Leader, in the legislative branch we have the Parliament and the Council of Guardians, and in the military we have the regular forces and the …
