Global Geopolitics

The World Trade Organisation after Eight Transformational Years

By Pascal Lamy
On Aug. 31, I will be stepping down after eight years as Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

U.S., China Talk Peace but Still Frenemies

By George Gao
U.S. Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel welcomed Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan to the Pentagon Monday as part of Chang’s four-day tour of U.S. defence compounds.

Little Islands Take On Australian Dominance

By Kalinga Seneviratne
A new Pacific islands forum will seek to challenge the dominance of Australia and New Zealand in a regional body. The new grouping’s approach is being billed the ‘Pacific Way’, and also the ‘green and blue’ way for its commitment to environmentally sustainable oceans as well as land.

The Role of the State in Developing Countries under Attack from New FTAs

By Martin Khor
Two new trade agreements involving the two economic giants, the United States and the European Union, are leading a charge against the role of the state in the economy of developing countries.

Protests in Portugal Going Grey

By Mario Queiroz
The elderly have taken to the streets in Portugal to protest drastic public sector pension cuts announced this week by the government of conservative Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.

U.S. Arms Industry Would Lose Big from Egypt Aid Cut-Off

By Thalif Deen
The United States, which has refused to cut off its hefty 1.3 billion dollars in annual military aid to Egypt, continues to argue that depriving arms to the 438,500-strong security forces will only "destabilise" the crisis-ridden country.

OP-ED: Israeli-Palestinian Talks: Why Now and to What End?

By Emile Nakhleh
The recently restarted talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority are the only peaceful political activity amidst ongoing violence in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Bahrain and elsewhere in the Arab world.

Obama Cancels Joint Exercises with Egypt

By Jared Metzker and Jim Lobe
One day after the killing by the Egyptian army and security forces of hundreds of civilian protestors, U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday announced the cancellation of joint U.S.-Egyptian military exercises scheduled for September.

OP-ED: EU and Azerbaijan, Setting the Record Straight

By Eldar Mamedov
At a cabinet meeting in mid-July, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev lashed out at the European Parliament for supposedly conducting a “dirty campaign” against Baku. The shrill tone of Aliyev’s comments indicates that European pressure on Azerbaijan to respect basic rights is stinging the Aliyev administration.

Israel Defiant on Settlements as Peace Talks Open

By Mitchell Plitnick
Against the backdrop of two major announcements of Israeli settlement expansion, U.S.-brokered peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians resumed Thursday in Jerusalem.

OP-ED: Egyptian Military Scuttles the Revolution

By Emile Nakhleh
The revolutionary aspirations for justice, dignity and hope that Egypt’s young people brought to the world in January 2011 were crushed Wednesday by the military’s bloody crackdown.

U.S. Condemns Military Crackdown in Egypt but No Aid Cut-off

By Jim Lobe and Jared Metzker
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has denounced in unusually harsh terms Wednesday’s bloody military crackdown against supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

U.N. Chief Lambastes Egypt’s Army but Refuses to Affirm Coup

By Thalif Deen
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has refused to describe the Egyptian army's ouster of a democratically-elected government last month as a "military coup", lambasted the country's security forces for Wednesday's massacre of civilians in the streets of Cairo.

U.S. Needs More Forthcoming Approach to Iran: Report

By Jim Lobe
With the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, the United States should take a more flexible approach toward Tehran to increase the chances of a successful resolution of the latter’s nuclear programme, according to a new report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) released Tuesday.

U.S.-Russian Rift May Play Out at U.N.

By Thalif Deen
When the Cold War peaked in the late 1960s and '70s, the United States and the then-Soviet Union were armed with one of the most effective non-lethal weapons in their diplomatic arsenal: a veto in the U.N.'s most powerful body, the Security Council.

Five Theses about Assange-Manning-Snowden

By Johan Galtung
THESIS ONE: The leaks are not about "whistle-blowing", but about a nonviolent, civil disobedient fight against huge social evils.

Critics Question Obama’s Vows to Reform Spying Programme

By Jared Metzker
Civil liberties advocates are expressing doubt that promised reforms to a vast and controversial U.S. surveillance programme will allay concerns that the spying infringes on certain rights.

Spanish Workers Hit Hard by Madrid-Gibraltar Row

By Alberto Pradilla
"The situation is messed up. Spain is on the verge of a civil uprising and the government is trying to divert attention" by tightening border controls to Gibraltar and provoking tension, complained Manuel Márquez, a delegate for the Socio-cultural Association of Spanish Workers in Gibraltar (ASTECG).

Freeing Prisoners, at a Price

By Pierre Klochendler
Standing in front of the makeshift memorial corner of his deceased children that he arranged in the room , Tzion Swery says to himself, “How ironical that we mark the 12th anniversary of their death on Tuesday just as Israel starts releasing Palestinian prisoners.”

Egypt Military ‘Split’ Over Morsi

By Hisham Allam
Divisions are opening up within the Egyptian military over the controversial takeover from the ousted government of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Morsi, a senior party leader says.

Corruption Scandal Fuels Calls for Strict Party Funding Rules

By Inés Benítez
The corruption scandal enveloping the governing conservative People's Party in Spain and its leader, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, calls into question the funding model for political parties and points towards the need for strict controls, experts say.
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