At the beginning of the year, FPA blogs each announced a “Person of the Year,” with abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit obtaining the title from the Israel Blog. Ha’artez took it one step further and held a “Person of the Decade” contest. For that “honor,” the Israel blog selected former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for […]
This blog has also been crossposted with FPA’s Latin America Blog. The Council on Hemispheric Affairs recently published an interesting article online discussing the EU policy towards Cuba, and its effectiveness in balancing trade, human rights and US-EU policy regarding Castro’s Cuba. COHA research associate Evgenij Haperskij points out that the EU’s “Common Policy” towards […]
Most observers are weary of new calls for peace talks. And that is due to a very good reason. Past peace talks led nowhere. And most of us are equally skeptical of any prospect of development, peace, freedom and equality for all in Arab World. The people of the Middle East have been ruled by […]
Guinea’s interim president, General Sekouba Konate, has named Rabiatou Serah Diallo, secretary general of Guinea’s National Workers Confederation, to head a council charged with managing the country’s long-awaited transition from military to civilian rule. The National Transition Council will consist of 101 Guineans from civil society, political parties, religious groups and members of the ruling […]
South Africa’s Congress of the People has weighed in on Jacob Zuma’s recent revelations about his out-of-wedlock child. The upstart party, facing its own internal turmoil, plans to call for a motion of no confidence in Zuma when Parliament resumes this week. The gesture is almost certain to amount to symbolic grandstanding, though if all […]
We are fast approaching the year anniversary of the fragile alliance that is Zimbabwe’s Unity Government,” and while the worst aspects of the country’s economic disaster have stabilized, virtually no progress has been made on breaking the impasse that has set in between Robert Mugabe and his ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC. And of course […]
Now that Yanukovich has won, has Ukraine finally rejected the Orange Revolution and returned to Russia’s fold? Not so fast. In one of the great ironies of the election, Yanukovich’s clean campaign and victory in the most transparent election in his country’s history embodied the values of the 2004 revolution that ousted him, while Timoshenko’s […]
Both houses of Nigeria’s National Assembly have passed a motion asking that Umaru Yar’Adua hand temporary power to his deputy President, Goodluck Jonathan. Yar’Adua has been out of the country (and by most accounts out of contact) since November and speculation has run the gamut as to just how sick he is. He has been […]
Brazil’s success in diplomacy, international commerce, and becoming a world player have been in part dependent on President Lula’s success during his administration. Now, with an election coming up this year, there is a possibility that the tides will change and Brazil may change its course with new leadership. José Serra, the governor of São […]
As I mentioned in my previous post, Iran has made a significant announcement regarding its nuclear program. Iran’s ambassador delivered a letter to the IAEA announcing Iran’s plans to begin enriching Iran’s stockpile of uranium to 20%. This is significant because once Iran can enrich Uranium to 20%, the required 90% enrichment threshold for weapon- […]
Some good stuff to stuff your brains with! Troops, Troops, and Less Troops – To supplement the 30,000 American soldiers headed to Afghanistan this year in President Obama’s Afghan plan, it was expected approximately 10,000 other NATO troops would also follow suit. Unsurprisingly, this is turning out to be difficult to accomplish. Germany has ponied […]
The Iran issue is coming to a head. On the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian Supreme Leader announced his country would deliver a “punch” to the world that would stun world powers. It is a matter of time before knowing what exactly he is referring to, and this message comes hours following an […]
The media in Bangladesh is awash in ink reporting on the highest level U.S government delegation to Bangladesh. U.S. Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Judith McHale congratulated Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s attempt to reaffirm the rule of law and pluralist democracy in Bangladesh and asserted that, going forward, Bangladesh would be amongst the […]
I opened my email today to find, once again, a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece of commentary from PacNet, the newsletter maintained by the Center for Strategic and International Studies’s Pacific Center in Hawaii. Since signing up a year ago I have consistently enjoyed fresh looks on political affairs in the Asia-Pacific and have often found […]
After years of decisions and appeals before the World Trade Organization, Brazil is preparing to levy sanctions on U.S. imports and intellectual property rights because of illegal export subsidies provided by the U.S. government to domestic cotton producers. Brazil initially brought the case before the WTO to demonstrate the harmful impact of such subsidies upon […]