Foreign Policy Blogs

Regions

Suicide bomber kills 30; target was "some other place'

PESHAWAR, Sept 6: At least 30 people, five of them policemen, were killed and 79 wounded after a suicide car bomb ripped through a police checkpost and nearby markets on Saturday. The explosion was so powerful that it left the checkpost and two markets in the Zhangali area of the provincial capital in ruins. A […]

read more

Abu Ghazala Dies

The pool of possible successors to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak became smaller today with the death of former minister of defense Abdel-Halim Abu Ghazala. The Associated Press is reporting that Abu Ghazala died late Saturday at age 78 (President Mubarak is 80). Field Marshal Abu Ghazala would not have been a real contender for the […]

read more

Asif's gatecrashing into presidency

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan Sept 5: An assorted majority of a parliamentary electoral college will on Saturday deliver a divisive presidency to Asif Ali Zardari, whose double march to succeed former president Pervez Musharraf in what is now Pakistan's most powerful office is marked by political skill and broken promises. The vote by the two houses of […]

read more

Woodward and Gentile in agreement?

Today, the Washington Post announced that the US government is spying on Iraqi President Nouri Kamal al Maliki. This revelation comes from Bob Woodward's forthcoming (Monday) book The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008. Phew. That is … surprising. The Post's early redux of Woodward's book also includes a bit of analysis related […]

read more

New helmsman for Pakistan's war on terror

New Delhi – A high-ranking Pakistani official has alleged that American ground forces crossed over from Afghanistan to carry out an attack on Pakistan soil. While the United States has frequently been connected with missile attacks in Pakistan , usually carried out by pilotless drone aircraft , this claim, if true, would mark “a threshold […]

read more

Tasks for Zardari

Less than a year ago, Asif Ali Zardari would have hardly been considered a likely candidate for high office. His image was that of a flamboyant polo-playing former businessman who had to fight allegations of corruption and shake off the nickname of "Mr Ten Per Cent". But tomorrow he is widely expected to become the […]

read more

Pakistan yearns for political saviour

Saturday's Pakistan presidential contest is the final stage in the consolidation of power over the past year by the Pakistan People's party, which used to be led by Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister. It also marks the return of the presidency to genuinely civilian hands for the first time since the 1999 coup […]

read more

Breathing Space for Georgia = Breathing Space for Central Asia?

Breathing Space for Georgia = Breathing Space for Central Asia?

So with one billion dollars in aid combined with a diplomatic visit by Vice President Dick Cheney, featuring many strong rebukes to Russia and a statement arguing for the nation's inclusion in NATO, the US appears to have anted up or at least called Moscow's hand in the Georgia-Russia conflict. Here are couple Cheney quotes […]

read more

Walid Jumblatt: "We have no other choice than to abide by reality"

An interview that you may find interesting. There is a story behind the interview. Maybe someday I will share it. Walid Jumblatt: It is important to have President Michel Sulayman convene the national dialog session to discuss the issue of the arms of Hizballah. It will take a long time to settle it, as it […]

read more

Russia, Iraq, and counterinsurgency

Gian P. Gentile has a piece in the Christian Science Monitor this week arguing that the Russia/Georgia standoff of August 08 indicates the importance of maintaining a military with strong conventional warfare capabilities. A conventionally trained military can quickly adapt to a counterinsurgency environment, he says, but deemphasizing conventional preparations in favor of a focus […]

read more

What to Expect from the Mexican Government?

As suggested by James Surowiecki in the Financial Page of the New Yorker (July 7, 2008): "When bad things happen, it's always nice to have a scapegoat". Since it is not possible to ask for the resignation of the economy or the media (at least not in democratic countries), Presidents and Prime Ministers have become […]

read more

Zero hour for Zardari

By common consent Pakistan stands at a critical juncture. The Islamist insurgency in Afghanistan has spread into its western tribal areas, where al-Qaida and Taliban militants are now firmly established. The “war on terror” alliance with the US is under severe strain as Washington noisily criticises the army's failure to curb extremism. Meanwhile 71% of […]

read more

American Operation in Wazirstan

American Special forces entered South Wazirstan to target Al-Qaeda early Wednesday morning. This is a new and significant development because prior to this attack, Americans and NATO forces normally used air power to bomb suspected terrorists in Pakistani tribal areas. This attack signals that Americans and NATO forces are increasingly taking matters in their own […]

read more

PR Battle: NATO/Afghan Government Vs. The Taliban

For the past year and half the US media has been dominated by the 2008 presidential election. This is in many ways a good thing as we need to know who these candidates are and what they stand for and against, but the coverage has become so saturated that we are starting to miss coverage […]

read more

Spotlight on Syria

At a press conference in Damascus following a quadripartite meeting that joined Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy alongside Assad, the Syrian president commended the Doha Agreement, which he said had erased the specter of civil war in Lebanon. "Yet the situation in […]

read more