Vladimir Putin was at a ceremony a few days ago at which he pressed the button that began the process of delivering natural gas to Germany through the Nord Stream pipeline. According to Gazprom, Nord Stream is the first direct link between Russia and the European gas transmission system. It runs under the Baltic Sea, […]
Yemen’s popular uprising started on the wake of the Tunisian and Egyptian’s revolution, in a movement now know as the “Arab Spring”. Just as Egyptians were celebrated the ouster of their dictator, Husne Mubarak, following weeks of mass protests, Yemenis gathered in solidarity near the Egyptian Embassy, wanting to express their joy. The World watched […]
Japan was alerted to Russian military air drills being conducted “unusually close” to its airspace near the disputed Kuril Islands, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Thursday. Fujimura said the Russian military had designated an area within Russian airspace as dangerous for aviation northeast of Japan’s Hokkaido island as it continued drills above the Sea […]
Imagine all the traffic lights going off, no more electric power, a shut down of all communication systems, disruption of nuclear power plants, and a nuclear launch all at the same time with one problem, the government is not in control and has been a victim of a cyberattack. What would be the consequences? Cybersecurity […]
An apparel manufacturing facility in Gurgaon Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has just completed a high-profile trip to Bangladesh. Although domestic politics in India prevented the visit from being as fruitful as it could have been, Mr. Singh nonetheless made good progress on issues that have divided the two neighbors for decades. Yet even greater dividends […]
As I wrote in May, Quebec’s Plan Nord was supposed to build 500 new housing units in Nunavik, the northern, mostly indigenous region of Quebec, over the next five years. 300 social housing units and 200 individual homes would be built for the region, which is in a severe housing crunch. At least […]
The Middle East is known for its wars. Often, Israel is at the center of the conflict, whether through being attacked by its neighbors, launching a preemptive strike to ward off an impending assault or merely subject to the verbal tirades of its opponents. Some critics of the state also argue that Israel has launched […]
There is good news on that eternal South African bugaboo, crime. The country’s police minister, Minister Nathi Mthethwa, has announced that South Africa’s murder rate — perennially one of the worst in the world — fell by 6.5% in the period from March 2010 to April 2011. In that same time span the number of […]
We are now just about a week into the Noda administration and a new foreign policy landscape is beginning to take shape. We have a clearer picture of PM Noda’s stance on Futenma; a commitment not to visit the Yasukuni Shrine; and a better sense of his personal politics, what might be called “moderate nationalism.” And now […]
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) recently released the latest figures for Arctic sea ice extent. According to the Center, the average sea ice extent for the month of August 2011 reached the second lowest level since satellite-based observations began in 1979. Mean ice extent for August was 5.52 million square kilometers, about […]
Exactly one week after an American delegation spearheaded by Kenneth Merten, U.S. ambassador to Haiti, met Haitian political actors in Petionville, news of a nomination invaded the Haitian airways. Leaders, the media and sources close to the president sang in unison: the designation of a third prime minister would, over the labor day weekend, escape […]
What is more important: Securing Pakistan’s strategic relationship with the United States or asking what some may call the “tough questions”? The presence of Osama bin Laden in the country’s garrison town of Abbottabad may not have been in the knowledge of the top Pakistani military authorities but it is no coincidence that many other […]
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