Regions

The latest issue of the City Journal includes an article on the unmatched economic and scientific accomplishments achieved by Israel in its short history. The high-tech industry dominates the Israeli economy and the author includes some interesting statistics regarding the country’s global standing in the technology sector. As of 2007, Israel houses more foreign NASDAQ-traded […]

Jendayi Frazer, who currently teaches at Carnegie Mellon and who was assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2005-2009 has an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal laying out “Four Ways to Help Africa.” I’ll briefly address each in turn: 1) Place Eritrea on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Eritrea does indeed […]

I’m swamped with meetings and classes and meetings and appointments and meetings and so the last few days have seen me get buried with a whole host of stories and links I’ve wanted to write about but have instead let pile up in my Firefox tabs, surely to ill effect of my computer’s memory and […]

Looks like the United States will not be alone in pushing for tough sanctions on Iran.  Both French and German leaders have warned Iran that it could face new sanctions if it does not show a willingness to negotiate on its nuclear program.  Speaking after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Berlin, the […]

I have been studying, talking about, discussing, speaking about and writing about Pakistani politics for about 20 years and I have to admit that I still don’t have a clue about who runs the show in Pakistan. However, now, I have started to understand why almost every Pakistani is obsessed with the role of intelligence […]

There are plenty of legitimate arguments as to why more sanctions on Iran should not be pushed- they will not work, they hurt ordinary people while strengthening the leaders etc.- but the argument that sanctions should not be pushed because Iran can retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz is not one of them.  The […]

Clinton tried it, but failed miserably.  Similarly Bush gave it a shot and was unable to get any results.  Now it is Obama’s turn.  But this time the U.S. administration is taking a different approach on the Israel- Palestine conflict.  The Guardian reported that the Obama administration’s strategy is to use Iran as a bargaining […]

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, better known as the founder of Pakistan when India was divided in 1947 is making headlines today with controversy surrounding ex-Indian Parliamentarian Jaswant Singh’s recent book: India – Partition – Independence. Immediately following the books release, Singh was expelled from his position in the Bhartiya Janata (BJP) party,  protests wherein the book was […]

The former project director of India’s 1998 nuclear tests has created a controversy by claiming that the tests were not entirely successful and did not yield the desired results. According to media reports K Sanathanam has also recommended that India conduct additional nuclear tests for security and strategic needs. “We can’t get into a stampede […]

I had planned to write a somewhat-lengthy post about the death of Ted Kennedy and his role in the anti-apartheid debate in the United States, including his 1985 trip to South Africa, but Texas in Africa beat me to the punch with a post pretty close to what I’d have written. I will only add […]

The new issue of Bitterlemons International includes two great articles on the relationship between Israel and Egypt. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak touts his role in the peace process, negotiations for the return of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, and Palestinian reconcilliation. Moreover, as Mubarak faces growing opposition from the Muslim brotherhood, the Egyptian leader has […]

(Belated Happy Birthday! This was my 1000th post for the FPA Africa Blog!) Even as Jacob Zuma plans to head to Zimbabwe to try to channel negotiations and perhaps play the role of peacemaker the dynamic north of the Limpopo might be set to change radically — and not, as many might assume, for the […]