[Reuters. Robert Mugabe signs Zimbabwe’s new Constitution into law in Harare in May 2013.] In the wake of a court order mandating that Zimbabwe hold Presidential elections by the end of July, President Robert Mugabe has vowed to do just that. Many opposition figures hoped the court would allow for a delay, believing that the […]
Two decades of international community administered talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijani territory, have failed to reach a resolution. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan’s petro-dollar aided exponential increase in defence expenditure amid pitched rabble-rousing and frequent sniper skirmishes in the region has led many to fear that the disputed landlocked mountainous […]
Dear Readers, You’ve probably heard of or seen the massive protests in Turkey. Started out as a small protest in a public park called Gezi Parki located in Taksim district, the protests have reportedly spread to at least 15 Turkish cities. Ankara and Izmir saw massive crowds gathering at dawn on June 1st. I won’t […]
DefenseNews has a thought-provoking analysis of NATO’s announcement earlier this month that it had no plans to establish a direct presence in the Arctic. On May 6 and 7, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and ambassadors from the North Atlantic Council visited Bodø, Norway, where the Norwegian Armed Forces’ operational command center is located. Rasmussen […]
The rise of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a telling story of how the Islamic Republic under the leadership of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei operates. Ahmadinejad has been mistakenly perceived as the man of the people. The ascendancy of the son of a poor blacksmith to the […]
Pamela K. Starr of the Pacific Council looks toward the future of Cuba and of the relationship between Washington and Havana in a new report, just released yesterday. I’ll say it again: Cuba is on a trajectory to becoming something very different — politically and economically — from what it has been for decades. Walking the […]
Is it in the interest of the European Union to arm Syrian rebels? Here is the real question. After almost two years of vicious civil war, over 80,000 deaths and 1,5 million refugees, the EU once again led by Paris and London has received flexibility for actions if needed through eventual shipment of weapons to […]
Two weeks ago, I used this space to lament the austerity measures currently being implemented in Europe. With the European Common Currency Zone stuck in six consecutive quarters of recession, it’s easy to understand just how sick the continent’s economy is on a macro scale. One country which is certainly not sick these days is Thailand. […]
Citizens of Balochistan protesting the election results Photo Credit: Facebook Balochistan Balochistan – the province comprising some 44 percent of the entire land mass of Pakistan and merely five percent of the population, it is possibly the most ignored province in Pakistan. Balochistan remains the poorest province, while also the most naturally rich with massive […]
President U Thein Sein of Myanmar visited Washington, D.C. last week and met with President Barack Obama in what was billed by many in the media as “an historic event,” taking into account that President Sein is the first president of Myanmar—also known as Burma—to come to the United States in almost fifty years. US-Myanmar […]
“Asia’s rice bowl.” That was the name of Burma (now called Myanmar) some time ago. Now isolated and under stern military rule, Burma has lagged behind other Asian nations. What this documentary shows is the rich history of Burma, its strong Buddhist traditions, and its struggle against occupiers. When it comes to revealing the many […]
Nigeria increased its offensive last week against the insurgence group Boko Haram in an attempt to reclaim the northwest region where the rebel group has attempted to carve out an Islamic state for the last four years. The conflict has left more than 3,000 people dead and thousands living in a state of fear as […]
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