Argenzuela — an invented word that has been on the minds and lips of Argentines for the past year; the jokes that Argentina is following an eerily similar path to that of Hugo Chavez’ Venezuela are no longer funny. The fact that the man who almost single-handedly has destroyed the former economic juggernaut of Venezuela […]
The topic of Winston Churchill’s speeches – particularly his postwar speeches – first brings to mind his “iron curtain” speech. During the recent round of discussions over the future of the Euro after the financial crisis, Churchill’s name is occasionally invoked as a one of Europe’s founding statesmen. He was not, like Jean Monnet, an […]
Belatedly and after many recommendations, I went to see Ben Affleck’s Argo recently before heading home for the holidays. True to the reviews, it was smart, suspenseful (particularly since one knew walking in how it all ended) and had its share of dark humor, particularly about the limitation on decision-making within a government bureaucracy and […]
photo: Suria In one of the biggest landslides in Japan’s electoral history, the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Shinzo Abe surged back to power in Japan’s general election last Sunday – just three years after a devastating defeat. The LDP and its ally, the New Komeito Party (NKP), won a majority with control of […]
Throughout the years, I have been critic of the Aquino’s, a powerful family which has had significant influence in Filipino politics dating all the way back to the Malolos Congress at the turn of the century. They are a family which is not short on drama, but always seems to look indefatigable and benevolent when […]
As peace talks commenced almost a week ago in Kampala, Uganda, the prospects of a lasting agreement between the rebel group M23 and the central government in Kinshasa seemed more of a ‘pipe dream’ then an actuality. The Democratic Republic of Congo has been down this road a multitude of times in the last 15 years with […]
While the subject matter is fascinating, this film falls short in at least a couple of ways. First, the music doesn’t seem to sync up with the action, being loud and dramatic during quiet scenes and being almost silent during the high drama that takes place. It also presupposes that the viewer is familiar with […]
A maladroit visit to New Delhi is a harbinger of things to come The headline visit to India this past weekend by Pakistan’s de-facto interior minister, Rehman Malik, was supposed to celebrate the latest milestone in the détente process that has picked up speed between the two countries over the last year and a half. Instead, […]
Reflecting on 2012: where to start? 2012 has been another busy year for writers, analysts and students of foreign policy: from the violence in Syria and the Middle East, to the reelection of President Obama, to the lingering of the Eurocrisis, to the increase of natural disasters, so on and so forth. This year in […]
Someone once told me that they had recently been in Israel and that it had been a “crazy” time there. I told them that one of the first times I went, Ariel Sharon announced the disengagement from Gaza. The next time I went, Israel completed said disengagement. The time after that, Sharon fell into a […]
In hopes of generating patriotic fervor, German politicians have asked that their national football team to be compelled to sing the national anthem before each match. Players, such as Mesut Özil and Lukas Podolski, have been criticized for not participating in the ceremonious singing of the Deutschlandlied before each national match. Why? Özil is a third generation Turkish-German and Podolski first […]
The recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, long-term wars pitting factionalist fighters against government forces, renewed international interest in counter-insurgency. Washington D.C. sparked a cottage industry in what became known as COIN: think-tanks climbed aboard, new prophets emerged, blogs bloomed. Press accounts in 2009-2010 trumpeted COIN as the U.S. surged civilians and troops to Afghanistan, […]
A brief update on happenings in the Arctic from the road. Spaceport Sweden is planning to develop a launchpad in the northern city of Kiruna to send sub-orbital flights into space. The five-minute flights, which would obtain an altitude of 60 miles, would be for tourism and research. According to Discovery News, Kiruna’s location is […]
At thirty-nine years old, Selahattin Demirtas is the Chairman of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) in Turkish parliament. He has held this position since January 2010 and was first elected to parliament in 2007 as the MP for the Kurdish majority city of Diyarbakir, after which he joined the now-defunct Democratic Society Party […]
Whether he is the new Deng Xiaoping will say much about the contours of the evolving global order My post earlier this week argued that China’s long-term prospects are more uncertain than the conventional wisdom holds. The country’s new leader, Xi Jinping, is raising hopes that he is the man to tackle the daunting array of […]