The State Department sent out a press release today detailing the upcoming first-ever joint session of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting and the Arctic Council. The meeting will be held on April 6 in Baltimore, Maryland, marking the start of the 32nd Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM). The ATCM will take place during the fiftieth […]
As President Obama tours Europe trying to get support for his iniatitives, especially in Afghanistan – one commentator says the most successful method of getting what the US wants from Europe is to ignore it and wait for it to come around to your policy. According to Stephen Sestanovich writing in this month’s Foreign Policy […]
Legendary Middle East historian Bernard Lewis penned an oped today in the Wall Street Journal describes the inadequacies of the Israeli electoral process. Lewis commends the democracy as, in and of itself, an accomplishment due to the failures of this type of system in the rest of the region. However, he still encourages electoral reform. He […]
In some ways the run-up to the South African election has all of the characteristics of an internecine squabble turned public. The Congress of the People has its origins in the ruling African National Congress, so it is no surprise that the very fact of that dissidence and the still-ongoing defections from the ANC to […]
KABUL, March 31 — The reclusive commander of the Pakistani Taliban said Tuesday that his fighters had carried out Monday’s bold assault on a police academy in eastern Pakistan and boasted that he was planning a terrorist attack in Washington that would astonish the world. Baitullah Mehsud, an Islamist leader from the South Waziristan tribal […]
Hardly had the implications of Obama’s new approach to the war in Afghanistan sunk in that the carping began in Pakistan. The words that most stuck in the establishment’s craw were those that warned our generals that they could no longer expect a blank cheque from the Americans. Thus far, the Pentagon has been underwriting […]
With a ‘hello‘ between US Envoy Richard Holbrooke and an Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister garnering the most media attention, the International Conference on Afghanistan was underway at The Hague in Netherlands. This major conference features a geopolitical who’s who of actors influenced by the conflict, including representatives from Pakistan, Iran (wow, I didn’t know they […]
The State Department intends on pursuing a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, an inter-governmental working group dedicated to human rights. Notably, the council often criticizes Israel for human rights violations, thereby drawing critiques from pro-Israel advocates. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman released the following statement, noting his interest in altering the […]
WASHINGTON: The attack on a police academy in Lahore indicates that religious terrorism, once confined to Pakistan’s tribal belt, now threatens political stability nationwide, The Washington Post observed on Tuesday. ‘The precisely orchestrated assault … was also a likely sign that militant groups in Punjab, once tolerated and even supported by the Pakistani state to […]
LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif denied in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday that he has had links with religious hardliners. He said the accusations were propaganda unleashed by General Pervez Musharraf, who deposed him in a coup in 1999. Although members of the PML-N sometimes characterise the war on terror as […]
It should be clear by now that we are at war with ourselves as the enemy within grows more audacious by the day. Yet there are educated people in this country who continue to blame American foreign policy and the ever-potent ‘foreign hand’ for the wave of terrorism sweeping the country. This argument is deeply […]
“In Pikalevo, something unusual for modern Russia is happening: the people are taking a stand against the government and its economic policies, blaming them as much as the factory-owners for their plight”. So states today’s BBC report by Richard Galpin, which chronicles recent industrial unrest stemming from the shut down of factories that serve as […]
New Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with The Atlantic on his first day in office, declaring the need for the United States to prevent a nuclear Iran. Netanyahu did not reject President Barack Obama’s attempts to use diplomacy with Iran, instead focusing on the eventual outcome of a nuclear-free Iran as the only important […]
On Sunday, the Afghan Supreme Court ruled in favor of extending the legality of Hamid Karzi’s term as president all the way until new elections, which are set to occur in late August. This is obviously a delicate matter as the country’s young constitution states that Karzai’s legitimate rule should end in May and opposition […]
Australian approval for Valin-Fortescue deal Australian authorities approved $438 million Chinese investment in Fortescue Metals Group, Australia’s third-largest iron ore miner. China’s state-owned Hunan Valin Iron and Steel Group received approval to take up to 17.55 percent of Fortescue. The Australian decision was relatively unexpected as a similar Chinese mining investment bid was blocked on […]