“We do not give up the North Pole. Canada’s claims to the North Pole are no more than ambition.” So declared Russian polar explorer and scientist Artur Chilingarov on December 11, whom President Vladimir Putin named a “Hero of Russia” after he famously planted his country’s flag on the seabed underneath the North Pole in 2007. […]
There are many—both in the East and the West—who have been confidently betting on the overt plan to marginalize, and, in due course, eradicate the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) as a sociopolitical movement. In light of the on-going vicious Ikhwanophobia and emboldened brutality of the coup regime, it is hard to counter such contemptuous optimism. But, […]
A Lack of Credible Opposition Candidates Has Stalled Democratic Progress Along the Black Sea Since late November, ever since Ukraine’s President, Victor Yanukovych, refused to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union, protestors have congregated in downtown Kiev, defying what they see as a blatant attempt to maintain a post-Soviet world order in a […]
The Chinese Communist Party has issued guidelines calling for tightened control of media and education in China, according to a report by the state-run Xinhua News Agency on Dec. 24. These guidelines were issued in the name of “bolstering core socialist values and pooling positive energy to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.” Included […]
Days prior the Defense december summit (see Part 1 here and Part 2 here), the EU is finally trying to educate European citizens about the Common Security and Defense Policy. In a 10 minutes web documentary accessible on the EEAS website, here, the EU is finally attempting to explain CSDP the way NATO has been […]
Last week Egypt’s secular military dictatorship continued its increasingly brutal campaign to suppress dissent. In the span of just a few days it formally accused the deposed Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood associates of participating in a far-fetched terrorist plot and sent security agents to raid the office of the Egyptian Center for […]
“…President [Yanukovych] has repeatedly said he is committed to putting Ukraine on a European course. That course does not have to conflict with a robust trade relationship with Russia. This is not a zero-sum game…” U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey R. Pyatt, December 20, 2013 The statement above may be narrowly true, but if we […]
In a piece on Foreign Policy’s website the other week, Tim Roemer, the immediate past U.S. ambassador in New Delhi, urged Washington officials to pay closer attention to India as a geopolitical and economic partner. In his view, the country needs to be at the center of the U.S. strategic pivot to Asia and both capitals must, among […]
Over the next year Latin America will likely redefine the region’s relationship with the rest of the world for the next decade. As many saw 2008 as the year China gained its current international reputation, Brazil and Latin America will likely become more important to those of us who live outside the region beginning in 2014. […]
After more than a decade of conflict, America is reducing its footprint in Afghanistan. Although it seems likely that America and Afghanistan will come to terms on a security agreement to ensure a residual force of 8,000 to 12,000 soldiers remains in country to carryout counter-terrorism missions and training for the Afghan National Army, the […]
The competition for emerging markets has been fierce among the members of the Euro-Atlantic community. Brazil and India have been the main targets for western defense companies, directly representing their respective governments. The four main competitors selling fighter jets are Sweden’s Saab Gripen, France’s Dassault Rafale, US’s Boeing F/A-18, and the Eurofighter. In the case […]
This is something rare. Knowledge of a rapidly deteriorating situation in Africa and a somewhat timely, actual action by those in the world with the power to intervene. The situation is in the Central African Republic. And that intervening is the first step to stabilizing the slaughter and – hopefully – stopping another genocide from […]
The BBC reports that approximately 52 people, including five police chiefs and three sons of cabinet ministers were arrested yesterday for their alleged involvement in a bribery scandal. The operation is believed to be a part a larger political offensive led by Fethullah Gulen, a prominent Turkish Muslim leader currently living in exile in the U.S., and […]
As ordinary Americans are continuously distracted by Holiday shopping deals, Dancing With the Stars, and things in their own, personal lives, the wealthy one percent class of elites that we hear so much about has kept its eye on the prize. Ordinary Americans might be wondering if the Dow Jones Industrial Average is at record […]
I attended the American Geological Union (AGU) Fall Meeting this week in San Francisco. It’s billed as “the largest worldwide conference in geophysical science,” with over 20,000 attendants. There was a vast number of talks on the cryosphere, which I’ll try to cover over the next few days. One session I attended, “Frontier Science from Extended Continental […]