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Saturday, April 20, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
Floridians Lead U.S. in Favouring Normalisation with Cuba
If President Barack Obama wants to move more quickly to normalise ties with Cuba, it appears he has gained the political space to do so, according to analyses of a major new bipartisan public-opinion poll released here Tuesday by the Atlantic Council.
World Bank Arm Admits Wrongs in Honduras Loan
In an unusual statement, the World Bank’s private-sector arm has threatened to cancel a controversial investment in a Honduran palm oil company that has been implicated in serious human rights abuses, including numerous killings, over the past five years.
Top Israel Lobby Group Loses Battle on Iran, But War Not Over
Eight years ago, Stephen Rosen, then a top official at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and well-known around Washington for his aggressiveness, hawkish views, and political smarts, was asked by Jeffrey Goldberg of the New Yorker magazine whether some recent negative publicity had harmed the lobby group’s legendary clout in Washington.Israel Lobby Thwarted in Iran Sanctions Bid For Now
In what looks to be a clear victory - at least for now - for President Barack Obama, a major effort by the Israel lobby and its most powerful constituent, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), to pass a new sanctions bill against Iran has stalled in the U.S. Senate.
Major Parts of World Ignored by U.S. TV News in 2013
If people outside the United States are looking for answers why Americans often seem so clueless about the world outside their borders, they could start with what the three major U.S. television networks offered their viewers in the way of news during 2013.
Fall of Fallujah Refocuses U.S. on Iraq
Two years after the last U.S. combat soldiers left Iraq, the past week’s takeover of the western city of Fallujah by the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has refocused Washington’s attention on a country that it had hoped to put permanently in its rear-view mirror.
Many More Snakes Than Ladders for U.S. Policy in 2014
If U.S. President Barack Obama conceived his foreign policy prospects for 2014 as a popular child’s board game, the snakes he will have to jump over significantly outnumber the ladders that can propel him to success.
Iran Sanctions Bill Big Test of Israel Lobby Power
This week’s introduction by a bipartisan group of 26 senators of a new sanctions bill against Iran could result in the biggest test of the political clout of the Israel lobby here in decades.
Syrious Paralysis on Pennsylvania Avenue
Three months after averting a military strike against Syria with a last-minute deal to deprive it of its chemical weapons arsenal, U.S. policy toward the world's most violent conflict appears increasingly at sea.
WHO Celebrates Major Progress in Fighting Malaria
Enhanced efforts to fight malaria have saved an estimated 3.3 million lives and nearly halved the disease's global mortality rate since 2000, according to the latest edition of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) annual "World Malaria Report", released Wednesday.
Iran Deal Looks Safe from Lawmakers’ Attack for Now
Ten days after the signing in Geneva of a groundbreaking deal on Iran’s nuclear programme, the agreement appears safe from any serious attack by the strongly pro-Israel U.S. Congress, at least for the balance of 2013.Public, Elite See U.S. Power in Decline
For the first time since the end of the Vietnam War, both the U.S. public and the foreign policy elite see Washington as playing a less important and powerful role in the world than it did a decade before, according to the latest quadrennial survey released here Tuesday by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Pew Research Centre.
Health Gaps Between Most Countries Could Close by 2035
The gap in health standards between the world’s poorest countries and the more advanced middle-income nations could close by the year 2035, according to a major new report published Tuesday by Britain’s The Lancet medical journal.
From Tehran to Tokyo, U.S. Geo-Strategic Shifts in Motion
From the Middle East to the East China Sea, the last week’s events have offered a particularly vivid example of the much-heralded shift in foreign policy priorities under the administration of President Barack Obama.Iran Deal Gains Traction Despite Netanyahu and Republican Dissent
Despite strenuous objections by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and mostly Republican lawmakers here, the new accord between the Iran and the U.S. and five other major powers on Tehran’s nuclear programme appears to be gaining support here and abroad.
Stakes over Iran Talks on the Rise
As Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers of at least four other major powers prepared to join talks with Iran in Geneva Saturday, the stakes over the eventual success or failure of the negotiations seem very much on the rise here.Scowcroft, Brzezinski Urge Iran Accord
Two pillars of the U.S. foreign policy establishment urged Congress Monday to forgo any new sanctions legislation directed against Iran, warning that it will risk “undermining or even shutting down” ongoing negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme.Obama Gets More Time for Iran Nuclear Deal
The administration of President Barack Obama appears to have succeeded in preventing Congress from enacting new sanctions against Iran before the next round of nuclear-related talks between the U.S. and other great powers and Tehran scheduled for Geneva Nov. 20.
Cracks Widen in U.S.-Saudi Alliance
While Monday’s meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi King Abdullah may have helped calm the waters, the latest anxieties and anger expressed by Riyadh toward the United States has reignited debate here about the value of the two countries’ long-standing alliance.
U.S.-Iran Poised for Breakthrough on Hostage Crisis Anniversary
On the 34th anniversary of the seizure by Iranian militants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, a growing number of experts here believe Washington and the Islamic Republic may be moving toward détente, if not rapprochement.
Iraq Retakes Washington Centre-Stage, Briefly
Ten and a half years after invading U.S. troops ousted President Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime, Iraq re-emerged here this week, if only briefly, as a major foreign policy agenda item.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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