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Human rights lawyer and women’s rights activist Shadi Sadr was arrested in Tehran on Friday.  She was approached by several plain clothed officers who pushed her into a car while she was walking with friends to Friday prayers.  In a call to her husband, she confirmed that she was under arrest and being held at […]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is off to India to talk of many things, not the least of which is climate change.  In a session at the Council on Foreign Relations earlier in the week, she said “We know that India and China have understandable questions about what role they should be expected to play […]

Around 500 different groups of Indians still in the vast forest of the Amazon. Some have never had contact with the outside world.  Last year, a small prop plane flying over forests in Peru spotted on such group.  The images that came from that venture were truly astonishing. It is hard to imagine that in […]

“We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do.” – Brigham Young Children look to adults for guidance, we are no only care takers, but natural role models. Children watch closely those adults around them for examples of how to act, how to behaveand what paths […]

“After decades of frustration, miscalculation, unrealized potential, India is now emerging as a factor in the global balance of power,” writes Shakti Prasad Srichandan in a Foreign Policy Association Feature published yesterday. He is a scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. “In the coming years, it will have an opportunity to shape outcomes […]

The writers and supporters of the War Crimes series for the Foreign Policy Association honor July 17 as International Justice Day. July 17 marks the anniversary of the drafting of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The U.N. General Assembly launched a five-week diplomatic conference in Rome in June 1999 to establish an […]

A event on July 15 put on by the PEN American Center provided a fascinating look inside the recent protests following elections in Iran. Iran: A Conversation About Elections, Protest, and the Future, was co-sponsored by the New York Review of Books at the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center in Manhattan. Shaul  Bakash moderated […]

Are India’s foreign policy institutions undermining the country’s rise? Daniel Markey, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, writes in this month’s issue of Asia Policy that “India’s own foreign policy establishment hinders the country from achieving great-power status.” He argues that India needs to reform and expand the foreign service and develop […]

When traveling abroad, Americans are often reminded that many people don’t love the United States. In fact, some seem to dislike or even hate the world’s superpower. But shouldn’t a president who is popular around the world improve America’s image? Sure, but President Barack Obama hasn’t improved the global view of the US. At least […]

Earlier this week, the Israeli human rights group Breaking the Silence released a report containing the anonymous testimonies of 54 combat soldiers who served in 2008-2009 Gaza War, codenamed Operation Cast Lead by the Israeli military.  The testimonies detail numerous human rights abuses and violations of international laws of war including the use of human […]

The Special Court for Sierra Leone is in a dire financial situation according to Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp who appealed to the U.N. Security Council today for more funds. Mr. Rapp described the situation as “an impending crisis” and warned of a break-down of the courts functionality without additional resources: Even if all pledged donations […]

This AP wire report notes that Secretary of State Clinton has returned to the national stage with a major foreign policy speech after a long absence recovering from her fractured elbow. I thought the report was interesting because it notes her absence from Obama’s recent trip to Russia, Europe and Africa and speculates about her […]