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Latin America often receives secondary attention with the world’s focus on the Middle East. For North Americans, however, issues with regional partners may have more weight on the average person in the U.S. and Canada than problems in Iraq and Ukraine.

The following is a response by the government of Djibouti to the Oct. 17, 2014 post “China’s war for Africa’s hearts and minds”

A silent controversy is taking place in my community in Canada as the leaders of some of the Provinces in Canada plan to set off on a trade mission to China.

It was 38 years ago, in 1976, that scientists first identified the virus. It had been found in a small village in northern Zaire (as the Democratic Republic of the Congo was called in those days) along the banks of the Ebola River.

In his most recent flamboyant sign of making a clear break with the past, Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s Prime Minister, has taken the unexpected step of moving out of the Hungarian equivalent of the White House, choosing instead a not-too-shabby castle in the historical Buda Castle District, the former place of residence for Hungary’s kings of yore.

Our favorite longreads and blog posts from the past week.

Neither Russia’s violation of its international legal obligations nor its institutional blockade of the U.N. Security Council can possibly be in the interest of the other U.N. member states, least of all in the interest of the less mighty among them. Hence, when the world’s leaders gather for this year’s opening of the United Nations’ 69th General Assembly they would be well-advised to address this dual attack on the foundations of global governance.

Far from being an anomalous event, Russia’s coercive military pressure on Ukraine in the aftermath of the Maidan revolution is typical of the way great powers, including the United States, have behaved in the past.

As the leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) convene in Wales for a two-day conference, the world watches how the most important and powerful joint-military and political alliance will handle the myriad of problems it must face in many corners of the globe. With Russia knocking on the door of Eastern Europe  and […]

Our five favorite longreads and blog posts from the past week.

Sanctions are all the rage in contemporary foreign policy circles. Following interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, Western populations rightly are less and less supportive of direct military action, especially of any initiative involving “boots on the ground.” Sanctions provide a tempting policy solution to decision makers all too conscious of public opinion; a sort of “financial […]

Investments in Colombia in the ’80s and ’90s were often limited to large multinational companies. These companies would take the risks to mine in Colombia’s regions despite the dangers present to their employees. On many occasions, Colombians and foreign nationals were kidnapped for ransom, and many international workers and influential Colombians would not survive or were […]

  Reza Marashi is Research Director at the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).  Prior to NIAC, Mr. Marashi worked in the Office of Iranian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State.  He was also a political analyst at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS), covering China-Middle East issues, and previously a consultant at a Tehran-based […]

  G20 Trade Ministers met July 19 in Sydney, Australia, and reported the proceedings in a Chairman’s Summary. The only major media coverage of the event highlighted a joint report, of the OECD, World Bank, and WTO, on “Global Value Chains (GVCs).” For those acquainted with trade policy, the ministers’ call for trade-supporting measures is familiar. […]

The last three weeks in world politics has been nothing less than a complete disaster of the international community. Since the end of the 2014 World Cup, it appears that anything that President Obama would have considered to be a major issue has appeared as a crisis upon a crisis. Unfortunately, there has been mostly […]