Diplomacy & Politics Archive

From the start, the eurozone crisis has been a battle over who will ultimately be liable for the billions worth of actual and potential losses on sovereign debt held by European financial institutions. With neither the issuance of collectively backed Eurobonds nor the use of the European Central Bank (ECB) as lender of last resort initially available as options, the European Union, the ECB and the International Monetary Fund decided to protect bank bondholders at all costs, choosing instead to impose losses on taxpayers, even at the risk of stretching governments’ solvency to the breaking point. But because voters’ tolerance […]

Taiwanese voters will head to the polls on Jan. 14 to cast their ballots in a close presidential race that has focused largely on how to address relations with China, which claims Taiwan as a province. Ma Ying-jeou, the incumbent and chairman of the Kuomintang or Chinese Nationalist Party, has worked to strengthen ties across the Taiwan Strait. With James Soong, a candidate who trails a distant third, expected to bleed off some potential Kuomintang support, Ma is neck-and-neck with Tsai Ing-wen, the opposition candidate whose Democratic Progressive Party favors independence from the mainland. Expanding beyond the media focus on […]

With fewer than 100 days left until the first round of France’s presidential election, President Nicolas Sarkozy is behind in the polls (.pdf) and facing an uphill battle for re-election. Although his principal rival, the Socialist Party’s François Hollande, has been losing ground at an alarming rate, Sarkozy’s numbers have stagnated, suggesting he will have his work cut out for him if he is to convince French voters to trust him with a second term at a time when his divisive and jarring style seems at odds with the country’s need for reassurance and unity. And in an election that […]

CAIRO — Increased hostility from Egypt’s ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) over the past few months has led the United States to begin preparing for a future without the Egyptian military. On Dec. 29, Egyptian security forces raided the offices of three U.S.-affiliated NGOs, in addition to 14 others, in what was widely seen as a politically motivated crackdown on pro-democracy and human rights organizations. “Actions like these are another reason why my Appropriations subcommittee refused to give a blank check of foreign aid to the Egyptian military,” U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy said […]

A Russian naval flotilla, including an aircraft carrier, left the Syrian port of Tartus Monday after a six-day call, described by the Russian government as a routine stop. In an email interview, Mark N. Katz, a professor of government and politics at George Mason University, discussed Russia-Syria relations. WPR: How committed is Russia to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and how deep are its contacts with other political actors in Syria? Mark N. Katz: Moscow had especially close relations with President Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez — who ruled from 1970 until his death in 2000 — during the […]

Tokyo has said that it will support the U.S.-led sanctions on Iran, and will steadily reduce its orders of Iranian oil. World News Videos by NewsLook

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad meets Cuban President Raul Castro but a bomb attack that killed an Iranian nuclear scientist is not discussed during the meeting. World News Videos by NewsLook

Last week, in the Gulf of Oman, the Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer USS Kidd seized an Iranian fishing dhow that had been hijacked and used as a mother ship by Somali pirates. In the course of the seizure, 13 Iranian hostages were freed, and 15 Somali pirates were taken into U.S. custody. The Iranian crew has now returned home after more than a month in captivity. In and of itself, the rescue was not extraordinary. Other vessels participating in the U.S.-led multilateral naval task force fighting Somalian piracy in the region — known as CTF-151 — carry out such rescues […]

This week, a general strike has paralyzed much of Nigeria’s economy while anti-government protests have occurred in many of the country’s major cities. The protests were triggered by the federal government’s decision to remove a subsidy on fuel on Jan. 1. The ensuing rise in the cost of a liter of fuel, from approximately $0.45 to $0.94, dealt a powerful blow to most Nigerians, many of whom live on less than $2 a day. Some protesters, fearing for their economic survival, feel they have no choice but to take to the streets. But the protests also encompass concerns that extend […]

It has been 10 years since the first prisoners arrived at the Guantanamo detention center in Cuba. Some 779 prisoners have passed through the U.S. Naval base since it was designated as a location for holding men suspected of involvement in al Qaeda.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has asserted his power over the past 18 months by reducing the influence of independent institutions and increasing that of his ruling Fidesz party. In addition to passing a new constitution, which went into effect on Jan. 1, the government pushed through laws consolidating power over the judiciary and the central bank, while also restricting freedom of religion and freedom of the press. “Orban is trying to cement the place of the Fidesz party in the government,” said Balázs Jarábik, an associate fellow at FRIDE, a European think tank based in Madrid. “This democracy deficit […]

Both the Obama administration and its opponents have exaggerated the significance of the Pentagon’s new Defense Strategic Guidance (.pdf) that was issued last week. The administration wants to take pride in its new creation and demonstrate to potential congressional budget-cutters that the Defense Department has already made all the financial sacrifices that the Pentagon can prudently afford. Meanwhile, the administration’s domestic opponents attack it from both the left, which calls for more radical cuts, and the right, which accuses the administration of deliberately trying to reduce U.S. military power in order to discourage future U.S. military operations. The truth is […]

President Bashar al-Assad has said that foreign parties are seeking to destabilize Syria, as pressure mounts for the United Nations to take the lead in efforts to end 10 months of bloodshed. World News Videos by NewsLook

Outbreaks of violence between the Lou Nuer and Murle tribes in South Sudan, which began last month and continued into this week, have left hundreds dead and tens of thousands displaced in one of the most remote corners of the youngest nation in the world. The intertribal fighting in Jonglei state, near the South Sudanese-Ethiopian border, serves as a reminder that South Sudanese independence does not mean an end to conflicts within its own borders, said Alan Goulty, former U.K. Special Representative for Sudan and Darfur and a senior scholar in the Africa program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center […]

From the start of 2011 to the year’s end, corruption dominated India’s headlines and enflamed public opinion like no other issue. Three developments in particular brought corruption to the fore. First, in late-2010, the office of India’s comptroller and auditor general released a report stating that the Indian exchequer had lost more than $20 billion in revenue in the auction process allocating 2G telecommunications airwaves. Second, a 70-year-old Gandhi-esque figure led an anti-corruption movement that captured the nation’s attention and garnered global coverage. Third, an increasing number of India’s powerful elite began calling the country’s most famous prison, Tihar jail, […]

Although extended periods of one-party dominance may be endorsed by voters in free and fair elections, they can also prove detrimental to the health of democratic government in various ways. Corruption — in particular, the misappropriation of public resources for private gain — is a pronounced feature of dominant-party systems and one of the more obvious means by which those systems can pose a threat to clean, transparent and efficient government. As South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC) celebrates its 100th anniversary and enters its 18th year in power, its experience in government is largely serving to confirm this familiar, […]

In supporting her proposal to reverse the Australian ban on uranium exports to India at the Australian Labour Party’s conference in early December, Prime Minister Julia Gillard argued that, “We should take a decision that is in our nation’s interest, a decision about strengthening our strategic partnership with India in this, the Asian century.” The proposal, which was successfully passed at the conference, comes at a time when U.S. President Barack Obama is orchestrating Washington’s strategic pivot to Asia and signals that further space is being negotiated for India in the existing regional order. Washington seems to be using its […]