Apparently, 11,000 Brazilians have been killed by the police over the last six years. Yikes. Brazil’s future as one of the next major powers—indeed, the B in BIC* stands for Brazil—over the next few decades looks almost assured. It faces no credible threats, possesses a large population and a significant allotment of natural resources. If […]
Robert Art’s America’s Grand Strategy and World Politics, published earlier this year, is a collection of essays on U.S. grand strategy that Art wrote over the past couple decades. In one essay, “U.S. Foreign Policy and the Fungibility of Force,” Art states: …[M]y goal is to show that arguments about the severely diminished utility of […]
Copenhagen climate conference opened today. 1) Mayor of Kabul sentenced to four years for corruption. 2) Russia and India signed a nuclear agreement. 3) Iraq election law dispute resolved—for now. 4) Somalis are protesting the brutal bombing last week that killed three government ministers along with medical school graduates and their families. Al Shabbab, the […]
Starting this week, the rough schedule for this blog will follow something along these lines: On Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, I’ll be accumulating some of the most interesting editorials in foreign newspapers, and linking them here. Too often we look at the world through an American-centric view. Especially with a topic of Transitional States, it […]
With the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty last week (as the FPA European Union Blog reports), I am inclined to revisit Victoria Tin-bor Hui’s book, War and State Formation in Ancient China and Early Modern Europe. Published in 2005, Hui’s book compares Ancient China during the Warring States Period (in which the balance […]
For all the debate over the American immigration system, nothing can compare to the terrible institutional injustice that Germany is putting Mohammad Eke through. Seriously, how could this policy make any sense?
Authorization Bill Kills Big US Defense Programs This year congress has vetoed a half dozen weapons programs and plans to specifically target missile defense, reports the Armed Forces Journal. General Dynamics Wins $16M US Defense Contract General Dynamics’ Information Technology arm has won a five-year $15.6m contract from the Department of Defense’s Defense Acquisition University […]
For all the consternation and moaning in much of the European press regarding the selection of Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, and British EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton, for respectively as the President of the European Council and High Representative of the Union for Common Foreign and Security policy, you would think the European […]
1) Anders Aslund in FP writes that including Russia in BRIC isn’t accurate. I made a similar point here. 2) India is floating withdrawing a “significant” number of troops from Kashmir, a move which could only help the tattered Indo-Pakistani relationship. 3) The EU has been increasingly vocal lately on East Jerusalem, most ominously—in Israel’s […]
One cannot swing a virtual cat this morning without hitting an analysis of Obama’s Afghanistan speech. (I recommend reading Juan Cole, who has posts here, here, and here. Also, Patrick Frost of the Afghanistan Blog shares his thoughts.) In lieu of further commentary, I simply offer you Wednesday Morning Videos: 1) John Norton Moore on […]
The sum of the twelve largest population centers in Afghanistan is 5,649,162—and this is counting rural areas surrounding cities, not just the urban area itself. That total is 21% of the population of Afghanistan (28,150,000). Remind me again how ISAF and NATO forces are supposed to protect the population of Afghanistan by not protecting 80% […]
I’m going to reserve final judgment until I see text of President Obama’s remarks, or the speech itself, but here are a few things to watch for tonight: 1) How many times Obama uses the word “India” or “Indian”—focusing on Afghanistan and Pakistan is fine, but leaving the elephant in the room (the Indo-Pak relationship) […]
After the 2005 London bombings, Thomas Friedman wrote an op-ed criticizing Muslim religious leaders for not condemning jihadist suicide attacks. He wrote: The Muslim village has been derelict in condemning the madness of jihadist attacks. When Salman Rushdie wrote a controversial novel involving the prophet Muhammad, he was sentenced to death by the leader of […]
A lot of big things happened over the holiday break. Here are some of them: 1) The Kingdom of Buganda rejected a land law passed by the Ugandan parliament. The law gives tenants more rights to resist potential evictions by landlords. Read about it here. 2) The governments of Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia are blocking […]
1) Louis Uchitelle, in the New York Times, despairs about the lack of infrastructure superprojects. I’m in firm agreement. 2) Indian business practices are apparently not up to par, according to this piece on Indian-Americans returning to their home country. Money quote: “Some very simple practices that you often take for granted, such as being […]