This weekend’s meeting in the California desert between a re-elected President Obama and his new Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will likely leave a large imprint on one of the world’s most important relationships in the years to come. Though the six-plus hours of meetings spread over two days will be unscripted, one important topic of […]
In 2011, the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and the BMW Group forged a partnership to create a new model for collaboration between the private sector and the UN. Founded in 2005 under the leadership of the Governments of Turkey and Spain with former Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the head of a group of experts, […]
“More than ever, foreign policy is economic policy. The world is competing for resources and global markets.” John Kerry Considering the positive trend of the past eighteen months, Somalia is en route to recovery, and, in due course, to re-engineer a better state from the ground up. The caveat being: in the long term, this […]
This last week I watched part of Niall Ferguson’s “Civilization: The West and the Rest” series, one of two video segments exploring aspects of Western culture that have set it apart from others. The show is visually rich, with splices of early 20th century footage and modern cityscapes, with Ferguson himself often on camera and […]
After more than a year of planning, much diplomatic hype, and thousands of attendees, last month’s UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro produced what one activist called a “failure of epic proportions.” The few agreements—including yet another “universal intergovernmental high level political forum” to talk some more—seemed to fall well short of the challenge […]
The following is a guest post by Director and Founder of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD) Mark C. Donfried. Governments in the twenty-first century are faced with a variety of global security risks including terrorism, war and conflicts, stereotypes/ misconceptions and ideological conspiracies, to name but a few. These risks have manifested themselves in […]
The New York Times reported this morning that Secretary of Defense Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey voiced their concerns over a possible military operation in Syria. From the Times: General Dempsey and Mr. Panetta spoke two days after Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, who lost to Mr. Obama in 2008, […]
In last evening’s Republican Debate, the issue of Iran’s attempt to develop fissile material for a nuclear weapon was brought up as it has been in most of the previous debates. To be certain, this is neither a Republican nor Democratic issue, but one of national security. One candidate posited that instead of typical American […]
UNITED NATIONS – On the final day of a three month deadline set by the Quartet – Brussels, Washington, Moscow and the UN – for Israelis and Palestinians to resume bilateral peace talks, Israeli attorney Daniel Seidemann convened an exclusive briefing with the UN Correspondents Association to unveil a grim message he will deliver to […]
Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has amassed a loyal legion of followers. Congressman Paul’s libertarian-leaning views on domestic issues seem to resonate with many voters. For the record, I like Congressman Paul. However, his views on foreign policy are very skewed. Nevertheless, Paul’s isolationist rhetoric has gained traction amongst the war-weary, especially within the younger […]
On New Year’s Eve, President Barack Obama signed into law the post-9/11 practice of detaining terrorist suspects indefinitely without charge. Shock and awe waves rippled through the blogosphere in response to the move, not least because Obama had threatened to veto an earlier version of the bill. Other grumbles included its lack of temporal or […]
In October, the War in Afghanistan reached its 10-year anniversary. Our invasion of Afghanistan was launched as a direct result of the events of 9/11, with a goal to eradicate Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the various terrorist factions based there. Rushing headlong into the fray, driven by a righteous fervor to exact revenge or […]
It is still too early to determine which Arab Spring countries will eventually become successes in their government reforms and transitions and which stagnate or descend into chaos. Tunisia. With a homogeneous and well-educated citizenry, distaste for Islamist extremism, and recent free and fair elections, Tunisia stands the most to gain from the “Arab Spring.” […]
The year 2011 has been marked by a continued, if not official, recession in the U.S., while other Western nations have turned to austerity measures to fight off national bankruptcy. Developing African states have suffered through famine and extreme violence, while the youth in the Middle East have raised their voices and fists to proclaim […]
2011 evidenced our inability to predict substantial change and respond to tumultuous events. The ramifications of foreign policy decisions will not show their true colors for some time. Below, I discuss notable states – Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Cuba, Burma, Ivory Coast, Norway, Israel, and Palestine – that I believe are important because of their effects on peace […]