A Candid Discussion with Peter Jones
February 22, 2013 17 min. read

Dr. Peter Jones is an associate professor in the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. He is also an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He has held various positions related to international affairs and security at the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, the […]

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North Korea, Iran and Obama’s Big Bluff
February 14, 2013 6 min. read

North Korea’s nuclear test this week, coming on the heels of last December’s launch of a long-range ballistic missile along with reports (here and here) that Pyongyang is developing a mobile missile launcher, underscores a point I’ve argued in earlier posts (here and here): It is exceedingly difficult for Washington to stop a rogue regime […]

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Iran’s March toward Presidential Elections: New Priorities, New Strategies
February 10, 2013 5 min. read

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest contributing piece by Jamshid Barzegar. Mr. Barzegar is a Senior Iran Analyst with the BBC Persian Service. Mr. Barzegar will be one of the participating guests in the upcoming FPA series on the Iranian elections:A Candid Discussion on Iran’s Presidential Elections   ____________________________________________________________________ by Jamshid Barzegar The recent […]

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A Unique App for Journalists, Bloggers, Photographers and Activists
February 5, 2013 2 min. read

Editor’s Note: The following is a guest contributing piece by Adam Hedengren. Mr. Hedengren is co-founder and managing editor of YourMiddleEast.com ____________________________________________________________ Young surfers on the beaches of Gaza, war in Gaza, media censorship in Tunisia, a Libyan boxer and an Algerian painter, youth unemployment, startups in the Emirates, Lebanese pop stars, food crisis in Yemen […]

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Israel Strikes Again
January 31, 2013 10 min. read

  Yesterday’s strike on a convoy heading from Syria to Lebanon is but one act in an ever constant drama. Israel, for better or for worse, has had a history of violating both the air space and the territorial integrity of neighboring countries. Given that the Jewish State’s geographical location and the fact that it […]

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A Candid Discussion on Iran’s Presidential Elections
January 30, 2013 2 min. read

The eleventh Iranian presidential election is scheduled to be held this June. Local council elections will also take place at the same time as presidential elections. To take an analytic look at this year’s Iranian elections from a number of relevant angles, the Foreign Policy Association (FPA) will be discussing the elections with leading observers and […]

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Venezuela Re-engaging Through Security Reform
January 18, 2013 4 min. read

The Economist’s Venezuela correspondent put out an informative video on the succession of the next possible leader in Venezuela, that can be found here. I also encourage everyone to read the last few posts on FPA’s Latin America blog for information on Venezuela as well. The consensus among many experts in the region is that […]

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Iran Admits Sanctions Hurt Revenue
January 14, 2013 3 min. read

Iran’s revenue from oil exports is off by 40% thanks to the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and EU over the Iranian nuclear program.  Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi told the budget commission of the Iranian parliament, “There has been a 40 percent decrease in oil sales and a 45 percent decrease in repatriating oil money.” […]

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Chuck Hagel on “A Republican Foreign Policy”
January 9, 2013 2 min. read

Nearly nine years ago, Senator Hagel charted out “A Republican Foreign Policy” in the July/August 2004 issue of Foreign Affairs. Hagel summarized this foreign policy with seven principles: 1)      Leadership in the Global Economy: “The rule of law, property rights, advances in science and technology, and large increases in worker productivity all have contributed […]

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A Candid Discussion with Siamak Dehghanpour of VOA
January 8, 2013 11 min. read

Siamak Dehghanpour is an Iranian-American journalist and television personality. He is the host of the “OFOGH”, a news television talk show program on the Voice of America (VOA) television’s Persian News Network (PNN). OFOGH (Horizon) covers a wide range of issues in Iranian affairs as well as geopolitics of the Middle East. Mr. Dehghanpour is […]

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The Bahá’ís in Iran Are Systematically Abused
January 4, 2013 5 min. read

On Wednesday, January 2, the U.S. House of Representatives, in a unanimous resolution, condemned the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its systematic abuse of Iran’s Bahá’í minority. Resolution 134, or H. Res. 134, “calls on President Obama and Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, “to immediately condemn the Government of Iran’s continued violation […]

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A Critical Look at Iran’s Out-of-Country Voting Program
January 3, 2013 5 min. read

The upcoming presidential elections in Iran is scheduled for June 14, 2013. Iran’s 2009 presidential election was fraught with accusations of fraud and irregularities. While the elections inside Iran received significant international media attention, the results of Iran’s out-of-country voting (external vote) in 2009 did not receive a well-deserved scrutiny. With Iran’s preparations to hold […]

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