Hundreds of Lebanese Shiites Expelled from UAE
October 1, 2009 3 min. read

Scores of Lebanese Shiites have recently been expelled from the United Arab Emirates, allegedly for their refusal to inform on Hizballah. The expulsion of the Lebanese nationals started after the June 7  parliamentary elections in Lebanon, but had not been widely known or reported on until the group went public. Lebanon’s President Suleiman reportedly traveled […]

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Italian Business Delegation To Pakistan Later This Year
October 1, 2009 4 min. read

After a meeting between Pakistan’s President Asif Zardari and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, It was announced that an Italian Delegation led by Italy’s Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi will visit Pakistan sometime this year to explore business and investment opportunities. President’s spokesman told the media after the meeting that president Zardari had requested Italian Prime […]

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Michael Crowley on Bush & Obama at War
October 1, 2009 2 min. read

As the Obama administration deliberates on what strategy and how many resources to commit or implement in Afghanistan, there has been growing comparisons between Obama’s dilemma and Bush’s prior to the Iraqi surge.  Though the comparison has several important leaks, there is much to discern in both President’s leadership styles and decision making methods.  The […]

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Expanding Influence of the Southern Hemisphere, but Under Whose Lead?
October 1, 2009 2 min. read

Countries within the Southern Hemisphere are on the move. This past weekend member states of UNASUR and the African Union met on Margarita Island, Venezuela, in order to strengthen ties between their countries and continents. One of the ideas proposed by President Hugo Chávez, as well as Moammar Gadhafi, of Libya, is an alliance among […]

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Why the US Needs Africa
September 30, 2009 1 min. read

Last week in an op-ed in The Washington Post Rwandan President Paul Kagame put forward an argument as to why the United States and Africa need one another. It’s a compelling argument, one that many of us have been making for years yet has not gained all that much traction.

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A Summary of the U.S.- Iran Relationship
September 30, 2009 5 min. read

Tomorrow Obama administration’s essay at diplomacy with Iran will take place.  While some are applauding this move as a new era in the Iran- U.S. relationship, the Wall Street Journal is reminding people that this is not the first time the United States has reached across to negotiate with Iran.  In his Op-ed, We’ve Been […]

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Shalit Video-Prisoner Swap
September 30, 2009 3 min. read

Hamas and Israeli officials, via Egyptian and German mediation, agreed to swap on Friday a video of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit for 20 Palestinian female prisoners currently held in Israeli jails. A German mediator with access to the video attested that the footage includes segments with Shalit moving, thereby reassuring Israeli officials that Shalit […]

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Threatening Human Rights in Gambia
September 30, 2009 1 min. read

At the FPA’s Human Rights Blog Kimberly Curtis has a great post on how recent comments by Gambian President Yahaya Jammeh threaten human rights not only in in his country but regionally.

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Navigating the Land of the Lost
September 30, 2009 6 min. read

Myanmar – There seems to be a lot in the news lately concerning the “hermit kingdom” of the south.  On Monday, the Burmese PM met with U.S. Senator Jim Webb, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific.  Webb, in a continuation of the new pragmatic Obama foreign policy for SE Asia, […]

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Zuma Zigs Instead of Zags
September 30, 2009 1 min. read

My travel continues with a trek to LA tomorrow to play the role of talking head for a documentary that you may see on PBS someday soon. In the meantime, you might want to check out this article in The Economist arguing that Jacob Zuma is confounding some of his most concerned critics by not […]

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Conference on peaceful uses of nuclear energy begins in New Delhi.
September 29, 2009 2 min. read

A three day ‘International Conference on Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy‘ began in New Delhi today. Addressing the conference IAEA Chief, Mohamed ElBaradei called upon the global community to hear India’s voice on nuclear disarmament. He expressed optimism about achieving complete nuclear disarmament and said that “we have to start laying the groundwork for a […]

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Israel and the Gulf
September 29, 2009 2 min. read

In the midst of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s clandestine trip to Moscow earlier this month, initial rumors surfaced falsely indicated that the Israeli leader met with Arab leaders. These rumors raised some eyebrows of potential coordination between Israel and Arab countries without ties to the Jewish state, particularly Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf […]

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