Investors have largely shrugged off several of these unexpected developments recently, including the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, but the situation in Egypt has the potential to cause more widespread uncertainty in Global Markets, especially if oil and other commodities keep surging or the unrest spreads to more countries in the Middle East.
The thing to watch in Egypt is the military. It all goes back to Crane Brinton’s observation, made in The Anatomy of Revolution, that: …it is almost safe to say that no government is likely to be overthrown until it loses the ability to make adequate use of its military and police powers. That loss […]
I don’t ever want my name as a journalist to be prefaced with the phrase “Pulitzer-prize winning reporter.” It’s not that I am against winning the Pulitzer Prize for my work someday, or that I think the Prize is the mark of a bourgeois journalist. There are simply too many people in the world doing […]
By Sean Patrick Murphy This excellent and moving documentary reveals the plight of Zimbabwean white farmers under the rule of President Robert Mugabe. It centers on 75 year-old Michael Campbell, who has lived in Zimbabwe since 1974. He is the victim of invasions of his property, intimidation, and brutal violence for not agreeing to leave […]
Last week I blogged about Human Rights, China, and National Security Policy; in light of ongoing events in Egypt I thought I would expand on those thoughts as applied to the Egyptian uprising. As I write this, President Mubarak has asked his cabinet to resign and has appointed for the first time since coming into […]
UPDATE: Violent protests continue to rock Egypt this week, with demonstrators demanding the ouster of the country’s longtime autocratic president, Hosni Mubarak. The tension increased today when Mohammed El-Baradei, a former top official at the UN’s nuclear watchdog agency and a high-profile Mubarak opponent, who had returned to Cairo in a bid to provide a […]
NOTE: This post was co-authored by guest blogger, Robert R. Gosende. Mr. Gosende is a retired Foreign Service Officer who now serves as the John W. Ryan Fellow in International Education at the University at Albany. He was President Clinton’s Special Envoy for Somalia in 1992. —————————————————————————————————————————————— In case you weren’t paying attention before, the […]
I have to admit that I feel very conflicted about this week’s State of the Union speech by President Obama. On the one hand, I was greatly impressed with the inspirational and uplifting tone of the speech. The White House went to great pains in advance of the speech to signal that it would be […]
Over the past several weeks the debate over lifting Europe’s ban on arms sales to the PRC Government has gained momentum. Enacted following the Tienanmen Square massacre of 1989, the ban was initially effected with the concern that such arms might be turned against China’s domestic population. Most recently, however, the European Union’s nominal High […]
To be fair, the White House was clear that President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday would not be focused on foreign policy, and so the basically-perfunctory treatment of international issues during the speech was not much of a surprise. Obama is clearly more focused on domestic policy than foreign affairs, but in […]
I read yesterday that a private organization had graded the White House on its performance in cybersecurity policy. It seemed to me to be an interesting exercise. (Note: It is not my intention to judge the integrity of the report, as the organization is new to me. If you Google “cyber” “whitehouse” and “grade” you […]
Back in December I chose Mary Ellen O’Connell as my Person of the Year for 2010. She’s the Robert and Marion Short Professor of Law at Notre Dame, an opponent of the CIA’s drone program, and a strong proponent of international law. For those curious about her work and views, I recommend reading her book, […]
Once a year, as mandated by the Constitution, the President of the United States gives an address to Congress updating them on the state of the union. Over time, much ceremony and tradition has been attached to the State of the Union and every year it is broadcast on television, radio, and internet with […]
This week found myself in a bit of a winter storm which took my power and left me unable to accomplish much work, not to mention that I found myself burring my food in the snow, piling on the blankets and reading by candle light. In many ways it was kind of relaxing to have […]
The return of former president Jean-Claude Duvalier was a shock to Haiti, both in terms of surprise as well as the frisson that it sent through much of the population. Associated by some with a time of stability, “Baby Doc” Duvalier was more commonly known for the brutal legacy he continued in his father’s footsteps. […]