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Lieutenant General Robert L. Caslen, Jr. on Defense

Lieutenant General Robert L. Caslen, Jr. on Defense

Hosted by Sarwar Kashmeri, the Foreign Policy Association’s Great Decisions podcast series will headline issues together with the leaders whose decisions today will mold the foreign policy of tomorrow. Each podcast will deal with a different Great Decisions topic in the 2014 series, a list of which can be found here. Our first podcast will […]

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Surprises in the Kennan Legacy

Surprises in the Kennan Legacy

The cover photo of George Kennan on the paperback edition of  John Lewis Gaddis’ biography shows a man of ease and erudition – an approachable professor. By contrast, the initial hardcover edition shows an expressionless man in hat and overcoat, stoic and still as a bronze statue. Gaddis writes a life of Kennan that illuminates […]

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HIV/AIDS Is Changing: Let’s Pick Up The Pace!

HIV/AIDS Is Changing: Let’s Pick Up The Pace!

Photo Credit: blog.lib.umn.edu The International AIDS Conference- a biennial event that is the largest gathering of HIV professionals across the globe- will be convening again this July, 2014 in Melbourne, Australia. The theme to this year’s conference? “Stepping Up the Pace”, which seems to already convey a time appropriate message of non-complacency. Indeed, we are […]

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A reform of the U.N.? Think again

A reform of the U.N.? Think again

In a recent communication (see below) from the French Foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, announced a possible new reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Such announce is not surprising as France has been for quite some time been in favor of an enlargement of the U.N. Security Council, when declaring “France is in favour of […]

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Egypt’s Repressive Model and Muzzling Soltan

Egypt’s Repressive Model and Muzzling Soltan

  While the coup and the ensuing repressive bloody outcome was, by and large, propelled by indigenously Egyptian political dynamics, it is naïve to assume that there were no geopolitical dynamics at play. The monarchies that poured petro-dollars into Egypt to support the coup regime were nervous about the long-term effect of any democratically elected […]

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Why El Chapo Owns Chicago

Why El Chapo Owns Chicago

Chicago is the murder capital of America. Why? Because in Chicago, drugs rule. Which is the same thing as saying Joachim “El Chapo” Guzman rules. Is this news? NPR seems to think so — in a recent interview, NPR’s Steve Inskeep asks Bloomberg reporter John Lippert if “El Chapo” Guzman, the leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa […]

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Can Business Help Build International Harmony?

Can Business Help Build International Harmony?

The United Nations Global Compact Says, “Yes, Indeed!” By John Paluszek Is “Business For Peace” a non-sequitur? Not at all, especially  for all who participated in the United Nations Global Compact’s “Business For Peace” launch event during the Compact’s mid-September “2013 Leaders Summit” in New York City. The two-day Summit — with some 1,500 registrants and  […]

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Supporting Promise with Action in Africa’s Rise

Supporting Promise with Action in Africa’s Rise

It started with a simple drink, or more accurately, the inability of Senegalese-born Magatte Wade to find it when she returned to Senegal. In searching for a hibiscus drink she remembered fondly from her childhood, it was nowhere to be seen in Dakar. The reason, she discovered, was that as Senegal’s wealth increased so did […]

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(You gotta) fight for your right

(You gotta) fight for your right

Crystal balls, horse-drawn carts, headscarves and tarot cards. If we were playing a word-association game, what group of people would spring to mind? If your brain is leaning toward ‘gypsy’ then you get a point. In Europe, gypsy is a common way of describing Roma and travellers; however, this fairground fairytale image of a freewheeling […]

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Private Enterprise and the U.S.-China Power Contest

Private Enterprise and the U.S.-China Power Contest

A central focus of this blog is handicapping the global power sweepstakes between the United States and China. And a regular theme here is the role private enterprise is playing in revitalizing U.S. strategic power – whether it’s in the resurgence of the manufacturing sector or in launching the oil and natural gas boom (here […]

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Post-Windsor Progress

Post-Windsor Progress

Federal agencies are beginning to revise their policies in the wake of the decision in United States v. Windsor, where the Supreme Court of the United States struck down the controversial definition of marriage contained in the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). This paradigm shift has the potential to promote a rapid change in the […]

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Beyond Air and Missile Defense: Modernization of the Polish Armed Forces

Beyond Air and Missile Defense: Modernization of the Polish Armed Forces

Executive Summary
Poland has developed an ambitious plan to modernize its armed forces over the next decade. The air and missile defense initiative has certainly become a flagship project of the effort, but the modernization agenda is much broader and should be put into a clear strategic, military, economic, as well as industrial perspective. The modernization process will also not be taking place in a strategic vacuum, and will therefore lead to the creation of a new Polish strategic narrative both in NATO and the EU.

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The World without US (2008)

The World without US (2008)

Now that the U.S. has been poised to strike Syria militarily, it is helpful to consider the United States’ role in the world. The premise of this documentary is intriguing: what if the United States removed all of its troops and military hardware from the dozens of bases it has all over the world? The […]

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A Candid Discussion with Ron Deibert

A Candid Discussion with Ron Deibert

Ronald J. Deibert, is Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Canada Center for Global Security Studies and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs,at the University of Toronto. Dr. Deibert is also a co-founder and a principal investigator of the OpenNet Initiative and Information Warfare Monitor. Considered one of the world’s leading experts on cyber […]

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Repatriation Still a Far Cry in Bhutan, Says Exiled Journalist

Repatriation Still a Far Cry in Bhutan, Says Exiled Journalist

Evicted from Bhutan at the age of 11, Vidhyapati Mishra spent two decades in U.N.-funded Bhutanese refugee camp in eastern Nepal before resettling in the United States. Just a week before his departure from Nepal to Charlotte of North Carolina, self-learned journalist Mishra also featured in the New York Times with his powerful narrative story […]

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