Regions

As the introductory post to the Japan foreign policy blog, I pose the question, “Is Japan still relevant?” Twenty some years ago, no one would have thought to raise this question. In 1989, Japan was at the height of its asset price “bubble.” Japan’s post-war economy was dubbed an “economic miracle,” and it maintained the […]

A hearty congratulations to Laura Seay, who many of you know as Texas in Africa, for making the leap to contributing to The Atlantic with a fine piece on the failed assassination/coup attempt in the DRC.

As a growing superpower, China is interested in projecting its power in maritime regions like the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is also turning its eye towards the Arctic Ocean. An Asia Times article entitled “China, a Snow Dragon in the Arctic,” states, “While Beijing’s interests and policy objectives there remain unclear, […]

Has the Lost City of Atlantis been found off the Atlantic Coast of Africa near the Canary Islands? Google Ocean seems to lead to that possible conclusion: The perfect rectangle – which is around the size of Wales – was noticed on the search giant’s underwater exploration tool by an aeronautical engineer who claims it […]

This is a post on Somali pirates that I wrote for the American Enterprise Institute’s Enterprise Blog. I thought would be good to upload here too since it focuses on lessons for Somalia from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore’s strategy for combating piracy in the Strait of Malacca. Arthur Herman published an impassioned article in the […]

Shortly after Hosni Mubarak stepped down from the Presidency of Egypt, Iran requested permission from Egypt to cross through the Suez Canal. This had not happened since the Iranian Revolution and the fall of the Shah over thirty years ago. Obviously, many people – Israel most particularly – were concerned. This would bring the Iranian […]

Recently there has been some heated discussion on who is ‘morally qualified’ to write about India. Socio-economic changes have made India the apple pie of global literary – fiction and non-fiction – circle. Patrick French’s India: A Portrait and Anand Giridharadas’s India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation’s Remaking have invited the ire of […]

Benjamin Netanyahu recently stated that “The Palestinians aren’t ready to reach a final-status agreement to end the conflict, in light of the instability in the region,” referring to the current unrest raging throughout the Middle East. In light of this, he had been reportedly considering a Palestinian state with temporary borders in order to work […]

Dr. Mohammad Yunus has been fired from his role as managing director of Grameen Bank, essentially because he did not seek approval of his leadership role from Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh, from the moment he turned 61.  Really, that’s the reason he was fired earlier today. According to the New York Times: […]

President Calderon arrives today on a two-day trip to Washington. The Mexican president will meet with President Obama, Speaker John Boehner, and members of the U.S. business leaders. Though it is a snap visit, it could prove pivotal. Shannon O’Neil of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote over the weekend, “It will, assuredly, be a […]

The Awami League government just let H.M. Ershad have a pass–it dropped charges brought against him by the BNP led government of the 1990’s.  Along with 75 others withdrawals out 836 politically motivated cases,the case against former President Ershad’s moves to buy radar techinology from the United States at a higher price, presumably pocketing the […]

Tehrik-e-Taliban, Pakistan’s contagion across the Kush, is bent on taking down the government in Islamabad by destroying the foundational liberal and multicultural bases that it had long promised to cherish.  Militants have shot and killed the minorities minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, a man who had for some time challenged the fundamentally intolerant and morally insecure and […]