Foreign Policy Blogs

Tag Archives: United States

Looking Beyond 2013 to 2030

Looking Beyond 2013 to 2030

“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 …

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Future U.S.-China Relationship Managers

Future U.S.-China Relationship Managers

“Much of the future of the world in the 21st Century will depend on how well China and the United States sustain growth in our own economies, manage our relationship with one another, and together address challenges facing the global economy.” These words were spoken last week by Under Secretary …

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Bean Counters Battle over Sovereignty

Bean Counters Battle over Sovereignty


This week the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged China-located affiliates of the big five U.S. accounting firms with breaking securities laws by failing to provide documents from their audits of nine U.S.-listed Chinese firms under scrutiny. The SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) …

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The Greatest U.S. National Security Threat May Come From Africa in the Future

The Greatest U.S. National Security Threat May Come From Africa in the Future

With the election of President Barack Obama to a second term as President of the United States, the operational realities of an exit strategy for U.S. forces to leave Afghanistan by 2014 began to be put into place. Obama campaigned strongly on the notion of turning the security of Afghanistan …

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Israel Can Only Rely On Itself

Israel Can Only Rely On Itself

Alan Dershowitz made a profound statement Wednesday night at an event I attended in New York City. He said Israel could never rely on another country for its defense and security. He was, of course, talking about the situation with Iran and the United States. The last year and a …

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Are Flagpoles in Iran Communication Jamming Machines?

Are Flagpoles in Iran Communication Jamming Machines?

The Iranian government has always been sensitive to Persian satellite TV programs beamed from various Western countries into Iran, in particular from the United States. While some Iranian TV programs by the diaspora advocate regime change in Iran, some offer merely entertaining programs including the latest TV series from Turkey, …

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New War in Eastern DRC: A Snapshot at U.N. Ineffectiveness in Settling Conflict

New War in Eastern DRC: A Snapshot at U.N. Ineffectiveness in Settling Conflict

On November 20th, the M23 rebels entered Goma, the capital of the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) — positioned on the border of Rwanda and the shores of Lake Kivu. By seizing the city with a population of one million people, the rebels struck their …

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Reflections on Native American Heritage Day

Reflections on Native American Heritage Day


Friday, November 23, 2012 commemorated the fifth celebrated (but fourth annual) national Native American Heritage Day during the twenty-second celebrated National Native American Heritage Month (formerly National American Indian Heritage Month). The Bureau of Indian Affairs is touting the promising results of …

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If Western Leaders Weren’t Worried About Turkey Before, They Should Be Now

If Western Leaders Weren’t Worried About Turkey Before, They Should Be Now

Over the decades the opportunistic Turkey has dictated its Middle Eastern relations based on shifts in the regional balance of power. In the early 1990s up until around 2006, Turkey was finely enmeshed in Western sentiments and policies. But beginning in 2006 it recognized a leadership vacuum in the Middle …

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All Eyes on Asia for U.S. Long-Term Strategic Foreign Policy

All Eyes on Asia for U.S. Long-Term Strategic Foreign Policy

U.S. President Barack Obama is returning to Asia for his first overseas trip since winning re-election. He will attend, for the second consecutive year, the East Asia Summit which is viewed by the U.S. as the emerging eminent multilateral forum for regional leaders from 17 other states to discuss salient …

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The Sandy Ground of Rights Culture

The Sandy Ground of Rights Culture

The U.N. headquarters in New York City shut down for an unprecedented three days after Hurricane Sandy tore through the eastern seaboard of the United States. Though global operations continued uninterrupted, the problems presented by the storm prompted Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, like many others, to reflect on …

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The United Nations Needs to Walk a Fine Line with Ugandan Accusations

The United Nations Needs to Walk a Fine Line with Ugandan Accusations

A U.N. report leaked last month to Reuters indicated that both Uganda and Rwanda were supporting M23 rebels in the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The confidential report stated that while Rwanda’s Defense Minister, James Kabarebe, was actually commanding the rebel group, Uganda …

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Pictures from a Revolution (1991)

Pictures from a Revolution (1991)

Who won the war in Nicaragua?
Apparently, no one.
Pictures from a Revolution examines photographer Susan Meiselas’s journey to find the people she photographed in Nicaragua during the 1970s and 1980s.
She uses the photos to reach out to people, many of whom are blunt about their shattered hopes. Both supporters of the …

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Contrasting Elections in the U.S. and China

Contrasting Elections in the U.S. and China

When two of the world’s largest superpowers undergo political transitions at the same time, contrasts are inevitable.  One of the best comparisons comes from the above cartoon, which contrasts the bombardment of information from the American press with the deafening silence from China’s new leadership.  While many Americans are sick …

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Baby Boom or Baby Bust?

Baby Boom or Baby Bust?


The once-in-a-decade leadership transition in China that starts November 8 will see a new slate of top leaders installed by next spring, all eager to influence a new vision of a changing China. But the most prominent leaders to be replaced, President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, …

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