Mariela Castro’s U.S. tour continued this week with a visit to the United Nations, a meeting at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, and a public presentation at the New York Public Library. The East Coast stopover followed a busy agenda in San Francisco last week, and has upset those who say that […]
The time has come to question why the country needs tactical nuclear forces Marking the anniversary of Pakistan’s 1998 nuclear tests, Nawaz Sharif on Monday boasted of the key role he played as prime minister in bringing about this achievement. Sharif, who now heads the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, the main opposition party, asserted that his […]
Jump-starting Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations with unilateral declarations of statehood have long been considered a highly controversial and dangerous step that could ignite the conflict even further. Generally, a unilateral declaration of statehood from the Palestinians has been expected to emerge from West Bank leadership and not Jerusalem. That dynamic might be turned on its ear, […]
Third Time’s a Charm for Shell On May 25, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) August 2011 decision to permit Shell to drill in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off Alaska’s north shore. The Native Village of Point Hope and the Inupiat Community of the North Slope […]
Dear FPA Blog followers, You might know that I feature some analyses and articles not published elsewhere for the benefit of this blog. This post is one of them; it is written by an exceedingly capable student of mine at Princeton – Miguel Vargas, whose final article for the course ‘International Relations of the Middle […]
The first decade of the 21st century confirmed that the armaments industry has begun to play an important role in the economy of the country and performs a crucial function for the FRG. The armaments industry still serves four basic functions: satisfies the current needs of armed forces when it comes to arms and military equipment, provides the appropriate readiness of the mobilization base, conducts the research and developmental activities regarding the new types of arms and military equipment and increases the prestige of the country in the international arena. However, because of the global economic crisis of 2008-2010, when thinking about the armaments industry, it is the economic logic that is playing an increasingly important role, while the military logic is slowly loosing ground.
The “Arab Spring” that began with the self-immolation of a vendor in the streets of Tunisia spread potently throughout the Middle East-North Africa (MENA). The small country of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf was also hit by the wave of the regional quest for political transformation in 2011. Due to the crisis caused by […]
Haitians across the globe celebrated, on May 18, 2012, the birth of a symbol: Haiti’s bi-color blue and red; hence, commemorated 209 years since that solemn day in 1803 when Catherine Flon sewed the first Haitian flag. Mobilized around their collective aspiration, adamant bravery and inalienable rights to liberty and equality, Haiti’s Founding founders embarked on […]
Nazila Fathi is a Shorenstein Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Before her current role at Harvard, she was a Tehran correspondent for The New York Times for 17 years. As one of the first female journalists in post-revolutionary Iran working for a major Western news media outlet, Nazila worked with some of the […]
If you go to Google Maps and type in “Persian Gulf,” you will be taken to the waterway between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It will put a marker in the middle of the waterway. But it will not inform you the name of said waterway. If you go to Google Maps and type in “Arabian […]
Today, Iran and the 5+1 group of permanent UN Security Council members (plus Germany) will sit down in Baghdad to discuss the terms of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Danaiifar, explained that merely hosting the talks demonstrated a historic chapter in the history of Iraq. But what does the event actually mean […]
Things are going bad domestically, but at least India’s regional position is improving A regular concern of this blog is the internal constraints on India’s rise as a great power. But for decades the country’s global aspirations also have been encumbered by a quite problematic regional environment. Unlike China, India has had the misfortune […]
According to data from the Joint Organization Data Initiative, Saudi Arabia has surpassed Russia as the world’s largest oil producer, a position which the latter country held for six years. The Middle Eastern kingdom’s oil production rose to a 31-year high last year, while Russia’s dropped. As Matthew Hulbert writes in his analysis for Forbes, […]
With talks between the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iranian officials underway, it is appropriate to assess the dynamics between Iran and the international community and how recent political changes may alter future negotiations. Although the IAEA’s mission statement declares the organization an “independent intergovernmental, science and technology-based organization,” it is formally part of […]
The following interview was conducted by Foreign Policy Blog’s Rob Lattin with the Syrian American Council’s (SAC) Communications Director Rashad Al-Dabbagh. The SAC is a non-partisan, non-sectarian grassroots organization devoted to promoting educational, civic, economic, and human development, as well as advancing civil liberties and human dignity in Syria. It also seeks to build bridges […]