The President Karzai-President Obama relationship was bound to be an uncomfortable one from the get-go, but things are getting ridiculous, and it is not helpful for either side. In case you haven’t heard, ever since Obama’s visit to Kabul last week, which included a personal meeting with Karzai, a diplomatic (more likely undiplomatic) row has […]
What is so wrong about this equation? In the Western media, Iran’s influence in Iraq is mostly viewed as being inimical and harmful. After all, what good can come from a country bend on getting nuclear weapons and spreading its radical influence across the region? But there is something positive about the new Iran-Iraq relationship. […]
The BDR Special Tribunal convicted 29 BDR members for mutineering and committing reprehensible acts that really just begin at murder. The Times has published a Reuters piece that runs through a good chunk of the relevant facts and the pertinent history behind the mutiny. The verdicts were expected, and I might even think less severe […]
Israel has a vibrant democracy, where political representation in the Knesset is directly proportional to the votes cast throughout the country. While there have been some criticisms of restrictions on who is permitted to vote (Palestinians are generally not), Israel still maintains stringent free speech guidelines. In fact, many criticisms of Israel stem from internal […]
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has just released its annual Bluebook, which is available in Japanese here. (Unfortunately, if past years are any indication, it will be months before a proper English language translation comes out.) [Clarification: what I’m discussing here is the executive summary of the Bluebook, not the 200+ page report. […]
A state of emergency has been declared in response to massive protests over a spike in utility costs. Kurmanbek Bakiyev seems to have stepped down, left the country, and the opposition has claimed control over the government. 100 people have been killed, the police are firing live rounds into crowds, protesters have stormed parliament. Video […]
General V.K. Singh assumed charge as India’s new Army Chief last week. Though appointment of Army Chiefs in India does not attract as much media, the trend is gradually changing. The Indian Army continues to remain apolitical but has gained greater visibility in the public domain recently. Comments by military men and issues of corruption […]
The rating agency Standard & Poor’s gave Bangladesh its first BB sovereign credit rating. More specifically the S&P assigned Bangladesh its first BB- for long term international credit and a B for short term credit. This means that S&P thinks the outlook for long term international credit to Bangladesh is fairly stable, second in South […]
Throughout the world, there are 49 countries that have forced marriage or child bride problems. Forced marriage is simply breach of basic human rights. It is a form of domestic violence and child abuse that contributes to a society’s problems. Afghanistan is one of the Islamic countries where people hold strongly tight to customs and […]
Indonesia: Last week, this blog looked at the reality of Indonesia’s capacity to aid the United States in the Islamic world. Ahead of Obama’s June visit to the archipelago, it is also valuable to consider how the Indonesian – American relationship is viewed on the Indonesian street. Recently, some right wing Muslim groups have joined […]
Henry Hoyle, the China blogger at FPA, has done a bang up job explaining this week’s Nuclear Security Summit and its implications for US-Chinese relations – and Chinese diplomacy in general. As Hoyle suggests, a number of events prompted Chinese President Hu Jintao’s last-minute decision to attend the Summit, including the Department of Treasury’s decision […]
“Easier to spot a splinter in another’s eye than a log in one’s own” –Russian proverb Sometimes this blog gets accused of being too soft on Russia, despite my consistent criticism of its government’s political ideology, human rights abuses, authoritarianism and economic, social, journalistic, cultural, education, environmental, law enforcement, religious and foreign policies. Yet what […]
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