Are you ready for this? Brace yourself and hold on to your seats because the winner of the most competitive, unpredictable, and exciting election in the history of Kazakhstan (sarcasm intended) is….Nursultan Nazarbayev. Really?! Same guy that has been in power since the late ’80s? Yup! This reads like an article from the Onion, but […]
In 2002, Saudi Arabia put forth its Arab Peace Initiative. The plan consisted of the following: Israel would withdraw to the Green Line and cede all lands conquered during the Six Day War in 1967. They would also allow any refugees displaced by the creation of the State to return should they so choose. In […]
President Medvedev ‘outs’ Vladimir Putin’s sexuality before attacking the Prime Minister’s plane with a sub-machine gun, but it’s the more improbable sight of John Cusack savouring Putin’s rendition of Blueberry Hill that finally gives away the fictional nature of Russia’s most talked-about election video. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://www.youtube.com/v/PL1SQhnqgI4″ width=”425″ height=”344″ allowfullscreen=”true” fvars=”fs=1″ /] The spoof trailer, a hilarious tribute […]
The Japanese government defended Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s dumping of radioactive water into the ocean by claiming the action violates no international laws Tuesday. The government claims TEPCO’s dumping of 11,500 tons of low-level tainted water does not violate the 1986 Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident or the U.N. Convention on the […]
The controversy over Joseph Lelyveld’s new book on Mahatma Gandhi has at least had the salutary effect of illuminating both the virtues and vices of the Indian polity.
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. As Yemen enters its third month of protests against the regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the 32 year-long ruler, a resurgence of violence is sweeping across the country, leaving a trail […]
A recent BBC article highlights an increasing shortage of low-skilled labor in Malaysia after the government imposed stricter policies for legal immigration. The situation is similar to that in many Western countries where governments have reduced the inflow of foreign labor by instituting minimum education requirements for immigrants, making visa application processes longer and more […]
With the election of President Obama, many in Europe thoughts that the ‘hawks’ or neoconservatives, conservative American politicians emphasizing on the ‘exceptional’ character and role of America, would have understood that their times ended with the final minutes of the Bush’s presidency in 2009. Unfortunately, they have just stayed underground waiting for the right moment […]
The Awami League government has sped ahead to put together a working International Tribunal to try individuals accused of committing war crimes during the conflict-ridden events of 1971. So far the procedures though seemingly smooth haven’t measured up to international legal norms and values- values that one might suppose stands behind the “International-ness” of the […]
Radiation leaking into the ocean from the faulting Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant following the Mar. 11 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami has apparently been stopped. Tokyo Electric Power Co. spokesman Naoki Tsunoda announced the company’s injection of 1500 liters of sodium silicate into a seaside pit that has been leaking radioactive iodine into the ocean […]
The situation in Cote d’Ivoire qualifies as one in which the best options are the least bad options. Once Laurent Gbagbo decided not to step down peacefully or even with a nudge after refusing to yield after his opponent, Alassane Ouattara, clearly won last November’s presidential election there was bound to be violence that turned […]
Azerbaijan experienced the latest in a series of rallies on Saturday, with several hundred (or perhaps several thousand, depending on the source) people attempting to demonstrate against the government of President Ilham Aliyev in central Baku. Police arrested as many as two hundred protesters during what was billed as a “Day of Rage” or “Day of […]
While the Turkish Justice and Development Party’s (AKP’s) record on democracy and foreign policy is less than perfectly in accord with European or U.S. preferences, the Turkish opposition has often appeared even worse, given its chauvinistic nationalism, shortsightedness, and anti-Western views. Signs indicate, however, that this dynamic is changing. Since taking over as chair of […]
Libyan officials aren’t the only ones seeking to defect to neighboring countries these days. Like the Qadaffi clan in Tripoli, the regime of Cote D’Ivoire’s Laurent Gbagbo has come under international pressure as violence between the incumbent and the opposition escalates. Top level officials, including the head of the country’s armed forces, are apparently seeking […]
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s reminded the world of the unchanged US support for Morocco’s “serious, realistic, and credible” compromise autonomy proposal to end the three-decades old Western Sahara conflict. Days after, two more countries officially withdrew recognition and support of the “Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic” (SADR) “the pseudo country” run […]