Under the resumed dialogue process, the Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan and India met in Islamabad, on 23-24 June 2011 for bilateral talks on Peace and Security including Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), Jammu and Kashmir and promotion of friendly exchanges. In India –Pakistan relations, where atmospherics are as important as actual diplomatic agreements, the meeting was […]
You’ll recall the “House of European History,” an EU creation dedicated to truncating Europe’s past. Despite receiving substantial criticism for this narcissistic edifice, the EU has decided to erect yet another monument to its vanity: The “Europa” building. This egg-shaped complex will house the European Council and future EU summits.
Lisa Daftari, Iranian-American award-winning journalist with expertise in counterterrorism and the Middle East, in a discussion with the American Thinker, reflects on the prospects of democratic change in Iran. The discussion was conducted by Amil Imani. Introduction: Since the fraudulent June 12th, 2009 Presidential Election in the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI), an increasingly emboldened opposition, […]
Turkey faces a growing danger of Syrian economic and social disruption spilling onto its soil, with some fearing an influx of refugees could draw Turkish troops into border operations uncomfortably close to Syrian forces.President Bashar Al Assad’s crackdown on opposition has pushed once-warm ties between Turkey and Syria close to breaking point. Syrian policy towards […]
According to Kyodo News, a draft policy document on the nation’s international cooperation, Japan plans to tap into its foreign aid funds to pay for reconstruction in the aftermath of the March 11 quake and tsunami. The fund will also be used to buy processed seafood from affected areas for export to developing countries. Due […]
The Following piece is written by a Yemeni-based journalist who writes for the Foreign Policy Blogs network and, due to serious security concerns, remains anonymous. The Following is an interview with Haitham al-Jayefi , a famous voice imitator of President Saleh. This report was forwarded to Yemen News Connect by Yemen rights Monitor, a human […]
Abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has been in Hamas captivity without access to international humanitarian assistance for nearly five years. In a courageous, albeit potentially treacherous, move by the White House, the administration condemned the detention in the “strongest” of terms and called for his release. Shalit’s abduction, and the vigor of requests for his […]
This post can also been seen in the FPA’s Latin America Blog Today the world anxiously waits to see whether or not the Greek government will pass its austerity measures in order to save the Greek economy in the long run, hold off another wave of global recessions and perhaps save the Euro itself. While a […]
Trita Parsi is the President of National Iranian-American Council (NIAC) based in Washington D.C. and author of Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel RA: Two years have passed since the controversial presidential elections in Iran and their bloody aftermath. What is your current assessment of the state of opposition forces in Iran and do you see […]
As the US prepares to “withdraw” (sic) from Afghanistan, a fiasco that has made its Soviet “prequel” seem like a Hollywood success story, two new books add insult to injury. Written by a former British ambassador and a Russian journalist, and reviewed by Tariq Ali in the London Review of Books, “Afgantsy: The Russians in […]
Forgive the silence. Mrs. FPA Africa Blog and I gave a trip to southern California to ourselves for our anniversary. We met some good friends and have been enjoying Venice Beach, Santa Monica, and it’s surrounds for the last week or so. There has been a U2 concert and lots of beach time. Tomorrow we […]
In many places — here for instance — news outlets have conflated protests against austerity in Greece with European-wide discontent. This is a mistake. There is discontent in Europe, but what people are unhappy about differs from country to country. More importantly, the problems in these countries, even those on the debt-plagued periphery, do not […]
Since AKP’s unquestionable victory, Washington analysts have finally quit looking at the Turkish poll results and started to ask, how this all will shape Turkey’s future foreign policy? I recently attended an event at the Brookings Institution, where Turkish and American scholars presented their interpretations of post-election Turkey. The event brought together Panelists include Fuat […]
The U.S. and Japan agreed to delay relocation of the U.S. Marine Futenma air station to another location in Okinawa until 2014, at the earliest. The wording of the agreement said the base would be transferred “at the earliest possible date after 2014.” This wording will allow the two countries to put the relocation on […]
The New York Times reported, less than five hours before a scheduled prime time nationally televised speech, that President Obama has indeed decided to drawdown the 30,000 surge troops out of Afghanistan. 10,000 are scheduled to leave Afghanistan by the end of this year; the other 20,000 by summer of 2012-just before the November election. […]