Pretzel contortions are part of the diplomatic game. In the Rising Powers Year in Review (read here), we called North Korea’s violence against the South and advanced uranium enrichment program the biggest surprise of 2010. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s New Year’s message today (see BBC article) has kept up the West’s diplomatic contortions — stand […]
Been spending the holidays with my 83 years young Mom so have been over eating and not blogging. I’m on my net notebook and still have not figured out how to do spell check! Sorry. Here are my thoughts on 2010. Overview 2010 saw Afghanistan become the top defense issue as the US and NATO […]
In the Rising Powers Year in Review this week, we cited North Korean aggression as the most unexpected development of 2010 and China’s tightrope walk over the issue as a key dynamic to watch in 2011. China is at once the nuclear rogue’s chief benefactor and a rising power with global responsibilities; hence the high wire act. An interesting NYTimes […]
In the Rising Powers Year in Review, we highlighted North Korea’s heightened belligerence and the advanced state of its uranium enrichment as 2010’s most unexpected developments. Today, the NYTimes reports that the North appears to be threatening to use nuclear weapons and the South continues its military exercises. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, who has […]
The Senate’s ratification today of the New Start treaty comes as an immense relief, not mainly because of considerations directly associated with nuclear arms control or with U.S.-Russian relations, but because of what defeat would have said about the state of U.S. politics. So trivial and senseless were the objections advanced by Republican critics of […]
Renowned Iranian filmmaker receives harsh prison sentence and banned from making films for the next twenty years. The oppression of Iranian activists in all shapes and sizes continues. Jafar Panahi, whose passionate speech in court was reproduced in a previous blog post, is one of the latest opponents of President Ahmadinejad’s government to be firmly […]
I’ll be on holiday break until after the new year. In the meantime, the WWI Christmas truce story never fails to get me in the holiday spirit. Perhaps it will do the same for you. Click here to give it a listen. Until next year…
Overview 2010 is nearly gone, so what’s in store for the world’s rising powers and their status quo partners? 2011 threatens to be a year of discord. Keep an eye on two fronts: economic policy and geopolitics. Will the great and the good continue to coordinate policies to improve the functioning of the global economy […]
An interesting debate has begun over at Foregin Policy. Last Tuesday, Israel’s vice premier and minister of strategic affairs Moshe Ya’alon wrote a provactive article that blames Palestinians for stalling the peace process. He writes that Palestinians, “instead of concluding a deal with Israel…have demonstrated a total unwillingness to compromise, often favoring terrorism, as witnessed […]
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, the arc of history is long, but in terms of international relations, it remains unclear to which direction it bends. A continuation of the nation-state system? A move toward world government? A hybrid of the two? In 2010, we’ve seen movement. But toward what? The International Criminal Court (ICC) […]
The Economic Commission for Latin America Monday said it expects GDP growth to slow in the region to 4.2% from 6% this year. This forecast makes sense. A slowdown will be driven by tighter macro policies across the region that seek to stem inflationary pressures, as well as slower growth in the advanced economies and China, limiting demand for […]
Japan’s new National Defense Program Guidelines “will shape Japan’s defence policy for the next 10 years.” A BBC article today outlines the crux of Japan’s most compelling strategic document: Defences will be scaled down in the north, where they have been deployed since the Cold War to counter potential threats from the former Soviet Union. […]
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