Hassan Rohani, the 65-year-old Western educated cleric and a former chief nuclear negotiator, is the seventh President of the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1979. Iran’s state-run television reported that Mr. Rohani won over 50 percent of the electoral vote. Mr. Rohani ran on a platform of moderation, mending ties with the …
In the kaleidoscopic world of power politics in Asia, the United States’ pivot to that region may yield the unintentional consequences of fostering closer strategic ties between the two Asian giants — China and India – which could result in a strategic alliance ostensibly hostile to Western interests in the …
Prior to his departure to Europe and the Middle East, Secretary of State John Kerry went to the University of Virginia to deliver his first public policy speech, which focused predominantly on explaining to his audience that U.S. foreign policy and assistance has a direct impact upon domestic …
For those physically-challenged weaklings who are constantly badgered and harassed by stronger bullies, joining a gym and working out can be a rational response. A quicker method, however, would be to enlist the assistance of your friends. No longer having to rely on your own limited defense against …
Here on the tranquil island of Palawan, in the West Philippine Sea, the arrival of Chinese naval vessels is causing quite some anxiety among local residents. Last Friday, three ships from the Peoples Liberation Army Navy’s North China Sea fleet, the missile destroyer Qingdao and missile frigates Yantai and Yancheng, …
Each week, the editors at Foreign Policy Blogs put together a selection of long-form articles on foreign affairs. Check out this week’s selection with the best of Foreign Policy Blogs and with Michael E. O’Hanlon on Hillary Clinton, Mitchell Prothero on Lebanese media, Robert F. Worth on spy novelist Gérard de Villiers, and more!
On February 1, U.S. Embassy in Ankara – in a calm, residential and business neighborhood — was bombed. At the time of writing this, police statements indicate that it is believed to be a suicide attack and the attacker(s) detonated the bomb inside the security checkpoint bunker, killing at least …
“More than ever, foreign policy is economic policy. The world is competing for resources and global markets.” John Kerry
Considering the positive trend of the past eighteen months, Somalia is en route to recovery, and, in due course, to re-engineer a better state from the ground up. …
Following on former Sen. Chuck Hagel’s nomination to serve as President Obama’s third secretary of defense, Foreign Affairs has made available his 2004 essay “A Republican Foreign Policy.” Reading it with the benefit of eight years of hindsight, the essay reveals how Sen. Hagel’s …
Last Wednesday, Philippine Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario asked China to explain its deployment of a patrol ship to guard disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea. The Chinese patrol ship left Hainan island for the South China Sea on Dec. 27, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency. …
Following the failure of his nomination of Susan Rice to head the Defense Department, President Obama has nominated Chuck Hagel, 66, a former Republican senator and Vietnam veteran as the next Secretary of Defense. Hagel was awarded two Purple Hearts for wounds he received serving as an infantry squad leader …
“The present recalls past transition points —such as 1815, 1919, 1945, and 1989—when the path forward was not clear cut and the world faced the possibility of different global futures.” The recently published “Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds” report from the National Security Council does indeed make for …
The year 2012 was for Beijing a year to display its dragon-like qualities of authority, dignity, and honor. The dragon is also the symbol of the emperor, so it may have been auspicious for a new leader to be chosen during November’s meeting of the 18th National Congress of the …
While foreign policy had a brief moment in the sun during this past election cycle, Americans are still clearly, and rightly, preoccupied with the challenges we face here at home. A CBS poll taken just before President Barack Obama was re-elected found that just 5 percent …
Two and a half years after the Treaty of Lisbon, the EU showed up with a new human rights face for its external relations. The often repeated words of Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, stating that human rights have to be …
