Suspicions surrounding Martelly’s nationality snowballed the national press for months, as he taunted senators and even dared them to dislodge his passports from his pockets. “The president’s passport will remain in the president’s pockets,” joked Martelly to journalists. “You have no legal authority to investigate my nationality,” he later sniped at persisting senators. However, when […]
Despite many promises from the international community that the “Friends of Yemen” would help this poorest country of the Arabic Peninsula to jump start its battered economy after having endured a catastrophic years in terms of the meltdown of its financial institutions, its industry sector, its currency and its dire humanitarian situation. With a chronic […]
An almighty Head of State cornered by a trigger-happy parliamentary firing squad must obtain a senate majority to see his designated Prime Minister Laurent Salvador Lamothe through the ratification process. Many senators, namely John Joel Joseph who represents the West Department, exhorted resigning Foreign Affairs Minister Lamothe, rather than relying on President Michel Martelly, to […]
The following session was held at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Friday February 24. http://carnegieendowment.org/2012/02/24/battle-for-power-in-iran/9ojx Mehrzad Boroujerdi is Associate Professor of Political Science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs where he also serves as the Founding Director of the Middle Eastern Studies Program and Founding Co-Director of the Religion, […]
Until the Arab spring movement and its legion of revolutionaries came to clash with President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime, demanding an end to decades of autocracy and repression, the Americans considered Yemen’s autocrat a “bulwark” against terrorism, a strategic ally in the region in the fight against al-Qaeda, the well-known Islamic organization. When it became […]
In an ideal world, the search for justice would always trump the pragmatic workings of politics. However rarely do we live in that world. Instead amnesties are granted in the hopes of a peaceful regime change, dictators are allowed to flee their counties for the permanent and well financed vacations exile while their victims remain […]
“In much of the world, and especially in our region, the military has been the source of the most thankless collective memories,” read a letter addressed to Haitian President Michel Martelly from former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias Sánchez, who advised his Excellency to reevaluate his military plans through a historical lens. “In the best […]
Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s administration announced Thursday that it would fire three senior policy officials over allegations that the government had grown too friendly with the nuclear power industry. The three officials that the Trade and Industry Minister, Banri Kaieda, canned were Kazuo Matsunaga, Vice Minister for Economy, Trade and Industry; Nobuaki Terasaka, head of […]
The Japan blog had been offline for several days last week due to updates to the Foreign Policy Association’s blog site. We’re up and running now. Thank you for your patience! Please take time to check out the new features, including Facebook content! Ryu Matsumoto stepped down last week from his post as reconstruction minister, […]
Repression, certainly. The news coming out of Rwanda doesn’t look good. As the country prepares for elections in August (which current president Kagame is almost certain to win) dissident voices and opposition party leaders are feeling the heat. Last week editor-journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage was shot dead outside his house. He worked for Umuvugizi, a banned […]
Brazil’s success in diplomacy, international commerce, and becoming a world player have been in part dependent on President Lula’s success during his administration. Now, with an election coming up this year, there is a possibility that the tides will change and Brazil may change its course with new leadership. José Serra, the governor of São […]
Lula, o Filho do Brasil, the film by Fabio Barreto that was recently released in Brazil, has been controversial since its release. The biopic about President Lula da Silva has come under fire for various reasons, including the plot and the political message. While President Lula is a popular president with high approval ratings, the […]
Happy 2010, dear readers! May it be joyful and successful! We humans are impatient beings, so it is a natural that we seek crumbs about the future from East European fortune tellers in gloomily-colored headscarves, uptight Englishmen wearing purple ties and friend victims who know how to shuffle those Tarot cards. Here are some bold […]
Last week, in a December 22th Wall Street Journal op-ed, Ibrahim Bahr Al-Uluom, a former Iraqi oil minister and current member of the Iraqi National Alliance (a political party), lamented the recent Iraqi oil lease auctions and suggested transferring as much of Iraq’s oil wealth directly to its citizens in the form of shares in […]
Journalism 101, that is, the very first lesson of journalism is impartiality. In other words, journalists, at least in civilized societies don’t take any position on issues. And editors make sure that personal opinion don’t seep into the work that the journalists are assigned. This is common practice, and even in India, if you read […]