Global Geopolitics

Foreign Policy Elite Frets over Washington Shutdown

By Jim Lobe
Three days into the partial shutdown of the federal government, foreign policy mavens are voicing growing concern about the closure’s impact on U.S. credibility overseas.

OP-ED: Saudis Should Welcome a U.S. Move Toward Iran

By Thomas W. Lippman
Shortly after President Obama’s startling telephone conversation with Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, a Saudi Arabian journalist wrote that “The phone call between Obama and Rouhani shocked the Gulf states, Jordan, Turkey, Israel, and other countries.” No matter which president initiated the call, he wrote, “What is important to know is what stands behind the conversation and how deep the ties are between America and Iran.”

Banning Nukes Still a Political Fantasy

By Thalif Deen
The General Assembly's first-ever high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament closed last week on a predictable note: the longstanding proposal for the elimination of nuclear weapons remains firmly in the realm of political fantasy.

Cybercrime Treaty Could Be Used to Go After Cyberespionage

By Emilio Godoy
Governments of countries that engage in large-scale electronic espionage, like the United States, and companies that develop spying software could theoretically face legal action for violating the Convention on Cybercrime.

U.S. Expels Three Diplomats in Tit-For-Tat Measure with Venezuela

By AJ Correspondents
The United States has expelled Venezuela's chargé d'affaires and two other diplomats in Washington in reprisal for the expulsion of three U.S. diplomats from Caracas, both countries said late Tuesday.

Q&A: “Guinea Bissau Is Dangerously Close to Becoming a Failed State”

By Mario Queiroz
Guinea Bissau is “close to becoming a failed state,” but not due to ethnic or religious violence, which has never existed in that small West African nation, argues Nobel Peace laureate and United Nations envoy José Manuel Ramos-Horta.

Netanyahu Stakes Out Maximalist Position on Iran

By Jim Lobe
Like the proverbial skunk at the garden party, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his turn at the podium at the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday to pour scorn on Iran’s new president, 96 hours after a smiling Hassan Rouhani departed New York after a momentous four-day stay that raised unprecedented hopes for détente with the United States and the West.

Q&A: “This Is Not Huntington’s World”

By Rousbeh Legatis
While a fine wine might get better with age, the same is not true for flawed political theories.

WTO: Stingy with the Poor, Generous with the Rich

By Martin Khor
A fight taking place in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations towards the Bali Ministerial Conference shows how the rules on agriculture allow developed countries to continue to shell out huge subsidies while penalising farmers in developing countries.

‘Interrogating’ an Assad Militiaman

By Shelly Kittleson
The prisoner is led, handcuffed and dirty, into what until last year served as a school. “A shabiha,” said one of the anti-regime rebels in the room. “We found him two days ago at a checkpoint.”

Weakening Al-Shabaab Finds New Aggression

By William Lloyd-George
Strong action now expected against the al-Shabaab group may well end up strengthening the group rather than weakening it, local people fear. The extremist group is suspected of involvement in the attack on the Westgate mall in Nairobi.

OP-ED: The U.S.-Iran Wrestling Match

By Alireza Nader
From Tehran’s perspective, the current negotiations between Iran and the United States may be best described as a wrestling match.

Sudan’s “Wanted” President Skips U.N. General Assembly

By Thalif Deen
Sudan's beleaguered president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who threatened to visit the United Nations despite an arrest warrant for war crimes, has backed out at the 59th minute of the eleventh hour.

Extremism Beckons Kenya’s Young

By Miriam Gathigah
Ali Hassan Gitonga, 33, a recent convert to Islam from the Meru community in Kenya’s Eastern Province, is said to have travelled to Somalia for training with Al-Shabaab in 2011. He is under arrest for alleged involvement in the Sep. 21 Westgate Mall terror attack in Nairobi.

Breaking U.N. Protocol, Brazil Lambastes U.S. Spying

By Thalif Deen
Throwing diplomatic protocol to the winds, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff launched a blistering attack on the United States for illegally infiltrating its communications network, surreptitiously intercepting phone calls, and breaking into the Brazilian Mission to the United Nations.

Cracks Widen Among Syrian Rebels

By Shelly Kittleson
Scorching flames from a makeshift oil refinery sting eyes and the fumes choke throats near the top of a hill in northwestern Syria, where Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters gather for fuel, coffee and phone calls as darkness falls.

U.S., Iran Trade Cautious Overtures at U.N.

By Jasmin Ramsey
While the U.S. and Iranian heads of state have yet to meet, the 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly may mark a new era between the two countries.

Speculation over Iran-U.S. Détente Continues Apace

By Jim Lobe
On the eve of a possible – if seemingly accidental – encounter between U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in the corridors of the U.N. Secretariat building Tuesday, speculation over the possibility of détente between Washington and Tehran has become rampant.

Israel Silent on Chemical Weapons

By Pierre Klochendler
“Does Israel have chemical weapons too?” is the question posed by the U.S. publication Foreign Policy, citing a newly uncovered CIA document from 1983 which alleged that Israel is likely to have developed such weapons.

Philippines Struggles With Muslim Rebels

By Richard Heydarian
With the administration of Philippines President Benigno Aquino III devoting much of its political capital to resolving the conflict in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, which has claimed around 150,000 lives over decades, many came to believe in the genuine possibility of a new era of stability and economic prosperity in the region.

It’s Afghanistan Again in a Turkish Town

By Karlos Zurutuza
People run back home at dusk, just when the shooting intensifies. To Sha Mehmed the experience is familiar. He was 11 when he left his native Afghan village to settle in this small Turkish town on the border with Syria.
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