Regions

**Welcome!!!  My Foreign Policy Association ‘Afghanistan and Central Asia’ blog has been split in two and I will be the main blog writer for this Afghanistan blog.  I will write up a quick summary of what I plan to cover and emphasize on this site in the next couple days.  Glad you’re here.** President Obama fulfilled one […]

The Obama Administration faces its first truly divisive decision regarding its relationship with Israel and promises for a changed U.S. posture towards the Arab World. Delegates from the U.S. Department of State attended this week preparatory and planning sessions for the second antiracism Durban Review Conference in April, a forum largely heralded as a platform […]

Yesterday Ayman Nour was released from prison. Mr. Nour, Egypt’s most famous secular opposition politician, was imprisoned several years ago after performing a bit too well in the first multi-party presidential elections. Ostensibly jailed for forging a few hundred petition forms supporting his candidacy, Mr. Nour’s arrest effectively dampened a cautiously optimistic mood amongst established […]

More stimulus packages for struggling industries China’s State Council announced plans for further support packages aimed at helping struggling industries and boosting domestic demand. Stimulus packages for six industries–auto, textile, steel, shipbuilding, electronics, and machinery–were already announced earlier. Following the new announcement China will provide support packages for ten more industries, among them the oil […]

“It is better to start building a popular secular base, which starts with non-sectarian gatherings in schools and universities in all regions and builds up to civil society, and then we can begin to change the laws and system of the country,” said Greek Catholic Bishop Gregoire Haddad. Wise man! One of  Ziad Baroud’s smart […]

Shimon Peres intends to stress the importance of a moderate unity government with Kadima Chairman Tzipi Livni and Likud Chairman Benyamin Netanyahu tomorrow. Netanyhu is slowly solidifying a coalition that now includes Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, who backed Likud yesterday. Due to this rightwing partnership,  Kadima has virtually no viable coalition partners, leaving Livni […]

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, due to try the suspected killers of ex-Premier Rafiq Hariri, it will open in a suburb of The Hague on March 1 reported NAHARNET. More here.

President Barack Obama should meet Professor Zedillo, former President of Mexico and Director of the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization, because Zedillo might provide valuable advice on how to approach the current economic crisis in the United States. Former President Zedillo, after being elected into office in 1994, inherited a country plagued by […]

The New York Times has an interesting interview with S. Frederick Starr, Professor and Chairman of John Hopkin’s Central Asia-Caucasus Institute that provides more context for the recent announcement of the closure of the US base in Kyrgyzstan. He argues that the US was far too dependent on the base and the best route is […]

Martin Indyk of the Brookings Institution and, formerly, the Clinton administration echoes the widely held sentiments that 1. now is the time to advance a sustainable solution to the Palestinian/Israeli conflict and 2. Barack Obama is the best man for the job. (You can also read this article at Time Magazine if you prefer red […]

CBS News World Watch has a story about the future of summer ice in the Arctic, along with a video. Three scientists from Great Britain, together forming the Catlin Arctic Survey, will head to the North Pole at the end of the month. They will attempt to discern whether summer ice in the Arctic will […]

… in an interview with the Guardian. He will meet with Senator John Kerry next week, and looks forward to the possibility of a future meeting with General Petraeus. One of the effects of the Gaza incursion of this December/January has certainly been the catapulting of the peace process to the front of everyone’s minds. […]