A Radio Program by America Abroad Media As citizens rise up across the Middle East, they fear more than reprisals of their own rulers. Many worry that leaders from Iran are looking to capitalize on a de-stabilized Middle East. They fear Iran wants to acquire more power and influence in the region. The balance appears […]
Given their increasingly vocal stance on the Bahraini matter, and pressing regional issues, perhaps Iraq’s role at the helm of the contested Arab League summit might suit them after all.
The following is the U.S. State Department’s assessment of Bangladesh’s human rights record over the course of the last year. Without pulling any punches, at lenght: “Security forces committed extrajudicial killings and were responsible for custodial deaths, torture, and arbitrary arrest and detention. The failure to investigate fully extrajudicial killings by security forces, including several […]
It is abundantly clear that the Pakistani military intends to use the recent Raymond Davis affair as a bargaining chip that it hopes will keep rolling back to the negotiating table. Raymond Davis, a 36 year old man revealed to be a CIA contractor fatally shot two Pakistani men on the streets of Lahore earlier […]
Can the Swazi King withstand the pro-democracy uprising or will he be toppled down? It seems like the Swazi kingdom yesterday spend most of its efforts trying to thwart an Egypt and Tunisia like uprising. Police reportedly rounded up activists, and fired teargas at pro-democracy protestors demanding an end to Mswati’s monarchy in Swaziland’s main […]
Japan ranked the severity of the Fukushima nuclear crisis a level 7, the highest possibly rank on an international scale, putting the situation at Fukushima on the same level as Chernobyl. But as FPA blogger Jeff Myher pointed out in his Energy blog, there is a quantitative difference between the ongoing crisis at Fukushima and […]
The Following piece is written by a Yemeni-based journalist who writes for Foreign Policy Association (FPA) and, due to serious security concerns, remains anonymous. Only a few days after having had its offer rejected by the embattled Yemeni President, the GCC is putting together a new proposal. Although some might describe the attitude of the Persian […]
Since 2009, NASA’s Operation IceBridge has researched changes in sea ice at the North and South Poles. This year’s Arctic expedition, which is based in Thule, Greenland kicked off last month by taking images of the northwest region of the island. As IceBridge gathers data using instruments flown in an airplane, it is different than […]
A new study by The Economic Strategy Institute (ESI), commissioned by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, called “The Evolving Role of China in International Institutions”, takes a thorough look into China’s growing influence in international organizations. The report contains two truisms, ten trends, seven recommendations, and a number of case studies on China’s […]
Fifty years ago today, the Soviets blasted off the first man into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, deep in the heart of the Kazakh steppe. His name was Yuri Gagarin, a 27-year old outstanding test pilot selected out of the 19 final candidates for the first human spaceflight. He came from very humble roots, born […]
U.N. Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction Margareta Wahlstrom had nothing but praise for Japan’s preparedness for natural disasters, which apparently includes drills, building codes and risk assessment. Wahlstrom said Monday strong building codes, constant drills among the population and an effective warning system saved lives when the massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on […]
50 years ago today, a man in a gleaming white helmet and bright orange jumpsuit approached a peasant woman in a field of potatoes, and asked where he could find a phone. “Could it be that you’ve come from outer space” asked the woman, crossing herself? “As a matter of fact, I have”, replied Yuri Gagarin. […]
When Laurent Gbagbo’s endgame seemed imminent, the U.N. peacekeeping director Alain Le Roy hastily declared that the “war is over” in the western African nation of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), a headline that was splashed across TV screens, newspapers, news radio stations, and social networks around the world. But it turned out that Laurent Gbagbo, […]
In the past few weeks, Israel has had a few significant firsts. Amidst the upsurge in violence erupting almost daily between Hamas and Israel, Israel has been rolling out some new, and very impressive, defense programs. Israel has implemented a long-sought defensive shield for its hard-hit south. They have dubbed it the Iron Dome, and […]
Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara was voted in for a fourth term in Sunday’s election. Voter turnout was 57.8 percent, and Ishihara got about 43 percent of the vote. The 78-year-old, far-right incumbent, who has been an independent governor of Tokyo since 1999, played up his role in handling the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake […]