After a few months of observing the global phenomenon that is Obamania, I thought I would put forth a few theories on why Senator Barack Obama is so strongly favored as the next US President by people living outside the US. First, a note on why people outside the US care about the US election […]
This post collects sage advice for US policy toward the Middle East: one aspect of US foreign policy that could really use a jump-start. First, a new analysis by Carnegie Endowment for International Peace's Middle East Scholars Marina Ottoway and Mohammed Herzallah assess the diplomatic efforts of Arab regimes seeking to fill the power vacuum left by the absence […]
Hezbollah's media relations department stated today that the group would release a MOU with salafist groups this coming Monday at the Safir hotel in Beirut. Note that the most of the various salafist entities in Lebanon are not tied to jihadist terrorism (see here). This move by Hezbollah will likely be cause for concern within […]
The terrorist activity of the past week has been particularly violent, as well as illuminating. Wednesday's bombing in Tripoli, Lebanon saw at least 12 people dead and over 50 injured. The next day, 19 Shia pilgrims were killed and over 75 hurt a mere 50km south of Baghdad. These attacks, while inflicting similar damage, reflect […]
Now that the dust is settled we can reflect on the past week or so and see where we stand in this ongoing Georgian crisis. We have learned: – Georgia started the conflict. – Russia reacted in a more or less predictable manner. – The U.S. armed and trained Georgia and therefore can't feign surprise […]
The European media devoted heavy coverage to the relatively lenient prison sentence (five and half years) for terrorist offenses given to Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden's former driver, by a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay August 7. But while the European media has been virtually unanimous in denouncing Guantanamo and everything to do with […]
“A society in which adults are estranged from the world of children, and often from their own childhood, tends to hear children's speech only as a foreign language, or as a lie…. Children have been treated … as congenital fibbers, fakers and fantasisers.” – Beatrix Campbell, British journalist. Do we hear the voices of the […]
As Jurist notes, Georgia has filed a complaint against Russia at the ICJ, and Russia is seeking evidence of war crimes by Georgian forces.
The Center for Religious Freedom of the Hudson Institute, with the Institute for Gulf Affairs, published this year an extended brief titled, "2008 Update: Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance." The Introduction describes the Center for Religious Freedom as an institution that "promotes religious freedom as a component of U.S. foreign policy." It joined the Hudson […]
Many heard the buzz and outrage over China's now infamous lip singing little girl at the opening ceremony. The 7 year old, Yang Peiyi, had won a national song contest to sing at the Opening Ceremonies, was replaced by 9 year old Lin Miaoke, who was deemed as more attractive, and suitable for the world […]
I’d like to make a modest proposal to banish the word “need” from U.S. policy statements about other countries. We have fallen into the habit of telling other countries what they need to do as if authoritatively defining their need makes it so. Take, for example, this recent statement by Secretary Rice (AFP – […]
When Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili traveled to the Georgian-Abkhaz ceasefire line last year, he promised a crowd of Georgian refugees their return to Abkhazia within a year. But Saakashvili's promises to Georgian refugees rang hollow, even before the current crisis. A combined total of some 250,000 Georgians fled Abkhazia following the 1992-1994 war and the […]
How will the Georgian conflict involve and influence the U.S. Presidential election campaign? What efforts are governments undertaking in this conflict to influence international public opinion? This subject spans the topic headings of several categories of our “Foreign Policy Blogs” — but let's consider briefly the public information dimension. Against the backdrop of a real […]
According to public diplomacy expert Nicholas Cull, (see this review of his new book) the very act of listening is one of the primary functions of public diplomacy. As an example Cull cited the US Information Agency's research and analysis of foreign opinion, which the director shared with policy makers. More recently, former Undersecretary of State for […]