In my inaugural post for the FPA blog I would like discuss recent events in the country where I have most recently been: Liberia. On Tuesday the 23rd Liberians went to the polls for a referendum vote on three issues. One of them was whether Supreme Court justices should retire at age 70 as is […]
After Gaddafi Libya may not find what it is looking for. As I write this, the majority of pro-Gaddafi forces have lost, or are in the process of losing their resistance against the mostly civilian rebels. The pictures and stories coming from Libya are not incomparable to Egypt and/or Tunisia. Young men holding rifles in […]
China and the U.S.: Who’s winning? The IMF’s prediction earlier this year that China will have a larger economy than the US in 2016 has gotten a lot of press. The validity of this forecast depends on two factors — how you value a country’s output or GDP and what your forecasts for GDP growth […]
Overnight on Sunday, the news from Libya turned from questionable progress (on any front), to reports of jubilation, as rebel forces drove through Tripoli, securing the majority of the city and arresting two of Qaddafi’s sons. Reports Monday claimed Qaddafi loyalists control a mere twenty percent of the Mediterranean city, localized to the ruler’s expansive […]
For the past 8 months, Yemen has been thrown into the midst of a popular uprising of such intensity that it has left its governmental institutions in tatters and its economy in ruins. Enthralled in a fight against alleged Islamic militants in the south and a tribal war in the north, Yemen has had to […]
Yesterday, at the suggestion of my older brother I went to see the movie The Help. Since he’s Gulf War Vet and a real man’s man and wouldn’t normally go see what many had said would be a “Chick Flick”; that got my attention. I had been a little reluctant to read the book or […]
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under pressure to ensure stability two weeks after replacing the military’s high command, warned that Turkey’s “patience” was exhausted and ordered airstrikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party after the group killed nine soldiers and militiamen. The attack by the PKK, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and […]
In a historic televised event, former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appeared in his own court, facing hundreds of lawyers defending Egyptian protesters who helped oust the dictator from decades of unabated power. Yet is the trial an expression of justice, or a show, symbolic perhaps only in image? Mubarak has been charged with corruption, and […]
I recently interviewed Nasser Maweri, a Yemeni pro-Democracy activist with a serious understanding of Social Media. Be it Facebook or Twitter, Nasser has been from the get go a permanent fixture of the online Yemeni revolution. A fervent defender and promoter of peace, Nasser represents Yemen’s brightest and vibrant youth. And because he is willing […]
Brigadier General Yehia Mohamed Abdullah Saleh, one of President’s Saleh nephews and head of the Central Security Forces recently told Reuters in an interview that although he was willing to engage into talks to get Yemen out of the current political stand-off, he was also ready to “break the necks” of whoever would try to […]
A few days ago, the London based Saudi paper, Asharq al-Awsat, published that officials in Saudi Arabia are claiming that the US and the KSA have successfully convinced President Saleh to remain in Riyadh for good. The paper further wrote that under the pressure of both of his strongest allies, the US and the KSA, […]
Wanted to finish up my thoughts on the Aspen Institute’s Security Forum. Thought I would begin where I ended my last blog with comments from the former Director of National Intelligence (DNI), retired Admiral Dennis Blair. There was quite a bit of talk during the forum revolving around the history and purpose of the DNI […]
So here we are my fellow Americans, starting a fresh week after learning some pretty dark news. For starters, we learned that the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s on Friday downgraded the credit rating of the United States, stripping us of our gold medal and replacing it with a tarnished silver pennant. Yes, we […]
Since the beginning of the popular uprising, Yemen’s government has had to intensify its military recruitment campaign. With the recent waves of defections and the opening of several new fronts, the army is in great need of fresh blood. But most importantly, the government is trying to gather new loyalty under its banner in order […]
Just as the Saudi officials announced that President Ali Abdullah Saleh was being discharged and moved to a private residence in Riyadh, the most senior Yemeni spokesman, al-Ganadi, declared that the President would be returning home before the end of Ramadan. Since Saleh failed to return to Sana’a on the anniversary of his appointment as […]