It’s been a busy week for the United States regarding engagement with Asia; President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping concluded a two-day meeting — or “summit” with a small “s” — at Sunnylands, the former Annenberg Estate in California. This came after the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, and both events signify that U.S. […]
PHNOM PENH — As one approaches the intersection of Norodom and Sihanouk Boulevards in Phnom Penh’s Boeung Keng Kang 1 District, a mansion of impressive size and grandeur can be observed. Located adjacent to, of all things, the North Korean embassy to Cambodia, this awesome house belongs to Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia. That title […]
The hyper-expansion of the BRICS nations was seen by some as an overreaction to instability in the global economy in the late 2000s. Countries like Brazil became a hot commodity for investors when Europe and the US economy were faltering. With some normalcy in the US economy returning recently, Brazil’s high growth rates have began […]
Nawaz Sharif’s return to the helm in Islamabad is sparking optimism that a more stable and constructive India-Pakistan relationship is in the offing. But South Asia is a rough-and-tumble neighborhood that regularly eviscerates the best of intentions. Indeed, given the potent brew of pernicious forces acting on bilateral affairs – contiguous but bitterly contested territory, sharp historical […]
The Arctic Council, the most important multilateral organization in the circumpolar north, opened the offices for its permanent secretariat in Tromsø, Norway on Monday. This is an important moment for the now 17 year-old body because it visibly signifies to the rest of the world that the Arctic Council exists outside of the ethereal alphabet […]
Jamshid Barzegar on the Authenticity of Iranian Elections Jamshid Barzegar is a Senior Iran Analyst and Editor at the BBC Persian Service. He was previously head of BBC Persian Radio and Online Service as well as Editor-in-Chief of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Persian service known as Radio Farda. Mr. Barzegar is currently pursuing a PhD degree at […]
Reza Taghizadeh on Iran’s Energy Policy in Disarray Reza Taghizadeh is a senior Iran analyst at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, covering Iranian geopolitical affairs and energy policy. Dr. Taghizadeh’s expertise is sought by major news organizations and foreign governments on Iran’s foreign and energy policies. He sat down with Reza Akhlaghi of Foreign Policy Association to […]
After mostly sidestepping the global financial crisis in 2008, many in Latin America welcomed the 2010s as “Latin America’s decade.” But it’s been quick to fizzle out. Now, with the World Bank and IMF projecting ho-hum growth over the near future, come the excuses. Brazil stood first in line for comeuppance. Since 2011, the economy […]
Credit: Jim Young/AP, Pool Much attention has been paid to United States Secretary of State John Kerry’s recent visits to Israel and the Palestinian territories. As Kerry shuttled back and forth between officials on both the Arab and Israeli sides, reporters have scrambled to provide details about the meetings. Yet the only concrete thing that […]
[Reuters. Robert Mugabe signs Zimbabwe’s new Constitution into law in Harare in May 2013.] In the wake of a court order mandating that Zimbabwe hold Presidential elections by the end of July, President Robert Mugabe has vowed to do just that. Many opposition figures hoped the court would allow for a delay, believing that the […]
Two decades of international community administered talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijani territory, have failed to reach a resolution. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s petro-dollar aided exponential increase in defence expenditure amid pitched rabble-rousing and frequent sniper skirmishes in the region has led many to fear that the disputed landlocked mountainous […]
Dear Readers, You’ve probably heard of or seen the massive protests in Turkey. Started out as a small protest in a public park called Gezi Parki located in Taksim district, the protests have reportedly spread to at least 15 Turkish cities. Ankara and Izmir saw massive crowds gathering at dawn on June 1st. I won’t […]
DefenseNews has a thought-provoking analysis of NATO’s announcement earlier this month that it had no plans to establish a direct presence in the Arctic. On May 6 and 7, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and ambassadors from the North Atlantic Council visited Bodø, Norway, where the Norwegian Armed Forces’ operational command center is located. Rasmussen […]
The rise of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a telling story of how the Islamic Republic under the leadership of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei operates. Ahmadinejad has been mistakenly perceived as the man of the people. The ascendancy of the son of a poor blacksmith to the […]
Pamela K. Starr of the Pacific Council looks toward the future of Cuba and of the relationship between Washington and Havana in a new report, just released yesterday. I’ll say it again: Cuba is on a trajectory to becoming something very different — politically and economically — from what it has been for decades. Walking the […]