The U.N. Security Council is currently debating a draft resolution on whether or not to extend the peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara (MINURSO) ahead of the April 30, 2013 deadline. For more than 20 years, the U.N. Security Council has debated, then renewed the mandate of this U.N. body rather perfunctorily—needlessly prolonging a nearly […]
How can the EU still advertise itself on the global stage as being the embodiment of democracy and human rights? This question should be raised and asked in Brussels as many of EU member states are seriously flirting with the extremes. The latest developments in Greece – only to name one out of the group […]
Farideh Farhi on Iran’s Power Dynamics Farideh Farhi is an Independent Scholar and Affiliate Graduate Faculty at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. Dr. Farhi is a regular contributor to Lobe Log Foreign Policy, the U.S. foreign policy blog of the Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS News), writing on U.S. and Iranian foreign policies and Iran’s internal […]
One fact that is often presented in the classroom of fresh MBA students is that out of all the markets for carbonated beverages in the world, Mexicans stand as the number one consumers of sodas. So much is the love of those sugary drinks that it placed the former head of Coca-Cola in Mexico, the […]
Mehdi Khalaji on Iran’s Crisis of State Ideology Mehdi Khalaji is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, focusing on the politics of Iran and the Middle East. Mr. Khalaji is considered one of the leading scholars on Islamic thought and Shiite Islam. He is also one of the pioneers […]
“Of course, there is a lot of resistance to change, especially when some of the largest recipients of contracts in Haiti are the for-profit development companies that hired a lobbyist to push back on these reforms,” declared Research Associate Jake Johnston, who co-authored “Breaking Open the Black Box: Increasing Aid Transparency and Accountability in Haiti” […]
The latest twist in the drama that is Venezuelan presidential politics concerns the highly contentious election of last Sunday, April 14. In an election called for by the constitution following the death of sitting President Hugo Chavez, the country faced a choice between Chavez’s hand-picked successor Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Henrique Capriles Radonski, whom […]
An Istanbul Court found Fazıl Say (pronounced as Sai), an internationally-renowned Turkish pianist and composer, guilty over “insulting religious values” over messages Say posted in his Twitter last year. Condemned by European Union, Amnesty International, PEN and others, Say’s case came to a rather disturbing finale with the court sentencing him to a ten-month suspended […]
Last month, I discussed Japan’s designation of Masuo Nishibayashi as Arctic Ambassador — the second Asian country to create such a position. While Japan joins Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Russia and Singapore as countries with Arctic ambassadors or equivalent positions, the United States still does not have a similar role. Canada once had an Ambassador […]
The results of the April 14 presidential election in Venezuela were polemic but not surprising. The real test comes in the days ahead and the degree to which the opposition demands a recount. Despite mental preparation for an electoral battle, the news of defeat was still met with despair by Venezuelans supporting opposition candidate Henrique […]
Asia really does matter for America, and the East-West Center initiative Asia Matters for America / America Matters for Asia has the empirical data showing it. However, this initiative goes beyond just data, it is designed to be a credible resource for information, graphics, analysis and news on U.S.-Asia Pacific relations at the national, state and […]
Haleh Esfandiari on Iran’s Election Dyamics Haleh Esfandiari is the Director of the Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. Dr. Esfandiari taught Persian language at Oxford University and, prior to coming to the Wilson Center, she taught Persian language, contemporary Persian literature, and courses on the women’s movement in Iran […]
This Is Not a Film, the 2011 documentary by Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, recently and belatedly worked its way to the top of my Netflix queue. The film was smuggled out of Iran for submission to the 2011 Cannes Film Festival before Panahi’s six-year prison sentence and 20-year ban from filmmaking was upheld late that […]
The insufferable Thomas Friedman has been ranting in recent columns about how North Korea threatens to step over a “red line” in the country’s latest belligerence towards the West which would disrupt the world’s conflict-free period. The New York Times’ champion of neoliberalism explains: “Think about what a relative luxury we’ve enjoyed since the Great […]
On August 6, 1945, President Truman announced the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He said: It is an atomic bomb. It is a harnessing of the basic power of the universe. The force from which the sun draws its power has been loosed against those who brought war to the Far East. Before 1939, it was […]