Before Russia can expand ship traffic along its Northern Sea Route, the government must inspect and clean up its waterways. After all, the country wouldn’t want a ship ramming into a hidden radioactive submarine part. Consequently, the rescue tug boat Neotrazimy has embarked on a 74-day expedition from Arkhangelsk, in western Russia, to Anadyr, situated […]
Last week’s visit to New Delhi by the U.S. national security advisor offered a preview of some of the deliverables that will come out of President’s Obama upcoming visit but also illuminated areas of discord that could forcefully intrude upon the proceedings.
This year’s Presidential candidates are increasingly resorting to fear and competing claims of victimization to win over the electorate. Today Jose Serra’s running mate (and de facto attack dog) Indio da Costa furthered allegations tying Dilma Rousseff’s Workers Party (the PT) to organized crime and drug trafficking. Indio da Costa not only reiterated previous claims […]
Ok, I know I suppose to be posting about news-driven materials, but after revisiting my Africa travel notebook, I couldn’t resist the temptation. Despite the reality that America is in the middle of the recession as well as fighting two wars, what struck me most, during my three-month visit to Namibia (via South Africa) in […]
The incomparable FiveThirtyEight, which looks at politics with a particular emphasis on polling data, has increasingly taken time away from its bread and butter of American politics to look at global politics, especially election issues. Renard Sexton, 538’s international affairs columnist, has a post about Friday’s third leg of Burundi’s three-part election saga, which up […]
Afghan soldiers are killing American contractors and British troops. The recent news from the field is causing no less than rushed panic in strategy and policy circles: How can we draw down when the team we’re supposed to be handing off to in 2014 is infiltrated through with the enemy? It’s no surprise then that […]
Consider for more than a breath that about 50% of children under 5 years of age in Bangladesh are malnourished. That hard to picture statistic masks more than 8 million hungry, often starving children. These babies often do not eat for stretches, born without fault in a country where the median age floats around 22. […]
A paragraph in an otherwise fine post from Chris Blattman, “Africa’s Coming Disaster,” rubbed me the wrong way. In the post, Blattman argues that “the next decade could be remembered as the one derailed by the drug trade.” Ok. Fair enough. Africa’s porous borders, loads of corruption among the various people tasked with policing those […]
To preface today’s post, I’ll be honest…there haven’t been a lot of “glass-is-half-full” stories coming out of Iraq, recently. Between the political impasse, and the precipitous rise in sectarian violence, it seems like forever since there’s been a plain-old feel good story to put the focus back on the good and decent Iraqi people who […]
Middle East leaders held two meetings this week that exemplify recent foreign policy crises and personality clashes between Israel and its allies, along with internal disputes. Israel has been embroiled in, what is turning into, a years-long dispute with Turkey. Since the ascension of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, the […]
A belated happy birthday to Nelson Mandela. Madiba and all of South Africa celebrated his 92nd birthday on Sunday.
On economic policy, the smart money is on Brazil’s 2011 government to spend and regulate the same — or more — but surely not less.
India and Pakistan held another round of diplomatic exchanges last week when India’s Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna visited Pakistan and held meetings with his Pakistani counterpart, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi. The bilateral talks were a continuation of the recently resumed dialogue process between the two countries. The meeting was not expected to throw up any […]
Although there are hopeful signs that coalition talks between Iraq’s two major Shi’a blocs, the question of leadership remains squarely focused on Prime Minister’s Nouri al Maliki’s incumbency…