The Eurasia Group, Ian Bremmer and Co.’s global policy think tank, has just published the Top Risks of 2010, its annual attempt to identify and characterize the most pressing global challenges for the year ahead. It should comes as no surprise that East Asia figures prominently into their calculations. The top risk of 2010, according […]
The onset of closer relations between Bangladesh and India has set off quite a bit of celebratory humming in the blogosphere concerned with South Asia–some of it distinctly emanating from my neck of the woods. Though the new developments are promising, nevertheless we may be calling the game too soon. Whatever the merits of the […]
FPA Africa 2009 Year in Review Overview: It is a fool’s errand to try to summarize the events of an entire continent of 53 nation states and hundreds of millions of people in a few hundred words. Nonetheless, there are some generalizations that hold for the continent, particularly for its politics and international relations. Sadly some […]
On December 14th, in Samandepe in eastern Turkmenistan, the starting point of the Central Asia-China gas pipeline, the President of China opened the valve that will send natural gas from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to China. This is the first major gas pipeline that will be an alternative to Russian pipelines. 40 billion cubic […]
Alright, I couldn’t complete the alliterative headline. But, I got close. The year-long feud between Israel and Turkey spiked once more after months of quiet signalling potential repairs in the relationship. Speaking alongside Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan lambasted the Israeli government for violating Lebanese airspace and water. Earlier this year, Erdogan […]
We’ve only just begun/Before the rising sun we fly/ So many roads to choose/ We start out walking/ And learn to run/ And yes! We’ve just begun. The Carpenter’s pedigree is gleefully appropriate today: Bangladeshi domestic and foreign has been a planar patchwork of sawed and hacked retro-fitted pieces of woodwork and sawdust. The Awami […]
Good news for President Karzai, the Afghan army, and US/NATO fighting forces in Afghanistan can be found in a poll commissioned by the BBC, ABC News and Germany’s ARD. 1500 Afghans from 34 provinces showed a surprising 70% affirmative that their country was headed in the right direction, a full 40% jump from last year. […]
In a goodwill gesture aimed at improving relations with its eastern neighbor, India will make available a line of credit of $1 billion to Bangladesh. This was announced during a three day visit by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India. The two countries also signed agreements on mutual assistance in fighting terrorism, organized crime […]
You’ve already read the first post of the FPA Middle East Blog’s newest contributor. Now let me introduce her to you formally: Anna Smushkovich is a graduate of New York Law School and Hunter College in New York City. She specialized in Foreign Policy and the Middle East while in College. She has traveled extensively throughout […]
Finally the Middle East is engaging in peaceful warfare. Israel and Lebanon have been fighting over who can create the best and largest dish of Hummus. Israel is currently edging ahead with a sattelite dish of over 4 tons of freshly made Hummus. The Hummus was made by an Arab-Israeli restaurant owner, Ibrahim, in the […]
Today the BBC published an article regarding the growing gender gap in China. The article highlights a report by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which states that 24 million Chinese men of marrying age could find themselves without spouses by 2020. Currently, for every 100 girls born in China, 119 boys are born. In […]
Reports indicate that Nigerian President Umaru Yar’Adua is suffering from brain damage and cannot recognize his wife, never mind govern the country. Suffice it to say that the situation has fast created a leadership vacuum. And if we know anything it is that leadership vacuums create political crises.
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