Diplomacy & Politics Archive

Pacific Rim leaders met Sunday for the last day of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in Vladivostok, Russia. As reported by the Associated Press, the 21 APEC members pledged “to fend off the deepening damage from the European crisis and revive flagging growth in the region by supporting open trade, reforming their economies and strengthening public finances.” Alan Oxley, chairman of the national Australian APEC Study Center at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia, and managing director of ITS Global, told Trend Lines that, with Russia “keen to showcase its new free trade credentials following its recent accession to […]

It is common wisdom that foreign policy does not decide U.S. presidential elections, and few issues inspire less enthusiasm these days than a Europe stuck in a currency crisis that it seems unable to fix. Europeans are also very familiar with the growing American belief that Europe no longer matters at all in the global arena. As a result, few were expecting any emphasis on Europe or the European Union as one of America’s most steadfast strategic partners in President Barack Obama’s keynote speech at the Democratic Party convention last week. Still, Obama’s only reference to Europe came as a […]

With daily reminders about pandemics, transnational crime, weapons proliferation and other evils associated with the “dark side” of globalization, it’s good to remember that the connectivity that defines globalization also offers opportunities for new approaches to combating these challenges. In developing countries, policy creativity, often in the form of nontraditional partnerships, can mean the difference between life and death. In Mozambique, one of the poorest countries on the planet, cooperative initiatives that combine the capabilities of the government, international institutions and regional neighbors offer just such an example of how strange bedfellows can make for effective partnerships. Mozambique is rich […]

Few countries have benefited more from China’s rise and the global commodities boom of the past decade than Australia. One of the only major economies to escape the global financial crisis without going into recession, Australia’s newfound wealth and huge resource endowments have been major factors driving a marked increase in its strategic significance within the Asia-Pacific. However, with China’s commodities demand experiencing a major fluctuation, concerns are rising that Australia’s economy cannot sustain the current rate of expansion — and that an economic bust could curtail the country’s integration with Asia. For a country so long defined by its […]

President Barack Obama accepted the nomination of the Democratic Party to stand for a second term last night in Charlotte, N.C. But by adhering to the traditional schedule for the party’s convention, he excluded the possibility of attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok, Russia. Obama declined the invitation to attend this year’s APEC conclave because he would not have been able to deliver his keynote address in time to fly out to Russia’s Far East for the meetings. But, ironically, a key reason for speaking in Charlotte — to personally address tens of thousands of party activists […]

Colombia and the leftist rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced Tuesday that they had signed an agreement to launch peace negotiations. Chile and Venezuela will be observers at the talks, which will begin in Oslo, Norway, and continue in Havana, Cuba. As the Washington Post reported, the talks represent a “new attempt to end the Western Hemisphere’s longest-running conflict” and the first such effort since three years of negotiations “ended disastrously in 2002.” Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, offered several reasons why the talks could possibly succeed this time around. “The Colombian security forces […]

The Indian financial capital of Mumbai is struggling to realize its dream of becoming the South Asian nation’s version of China’s Shanghai. Ill-equipped and underpaid, laborers working on the expansion of Mumbai’s infrastructure face the greatest risks.

Last year, shortly after being named managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde delivered a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in which she noted that the fund needs to look beyond purely economic factors in evaluating issues that may threaten macroeconomic stability in borrowing countries. Unfortunately, in its handling of the Greek debt crisis, the fund failed to implement Lagarde’s more holistic approach and instead limited itself to economic considerations in addressing the country’s woes. The results so far in Greece demonstrates the urgent need for deep reforms of IMF conditionality. In particular, moving forward, the […]

The Colombian rumor mill has been spinning for years with stories about secret negotiations between the government and Marxist guerrillas. With the buzz of speculation recently growing even louder, President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed in a speech to the nation on Aug. 27 that exploratory talks had, in fact, taken place. On Tuesday, Santos again went on national television to announce that peace talks between the Colombian government and the country’s main armed rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), will begin next month in Oslo, Norway, before moving later to Havana, Cuba. “It’s time to turn the […]

Talk of a U.S. attack on Iran is like a late-summer thunderstorm that rumbles ominously in the distance without ever drifting further away. Few American observers advocate an immediate attack, but a growing number hint that the question is when, not if, a strike takes place. The distance from saber-rattling to war is narrowing. As is often the case in the prelude to war, the discussion has so far been informed more by passion than by analysis, stoked by popular distrust of the Iranian regime. As the United States found when contemplating the invasion of Iraq in 2002, such an […]

HONG KONG — A group of 10,000 demonstrators has surrounded government headquarters in Hong Kong to protest a controversial new National Education class being introduced in schools this fall. The course, the protesters argue, is just the latest example of Beijing’s attempts to control political discourse in the city. The government in Hong Kong claims it simply wants to boost students’ knowledge of and attachment to China. But the push to ensure that Hong Kongers are sufficiently patriotic comes straight from Beijing. Indeed, Chinese President Hu Jintao suggested introducing just such a course following huge street protests that toppled Hong […]

Angry Greek pensioners took to the streets in protests as the so-called “Troika” of inspectors from the European Commission returned to Athens this week. The inspectors are on a mission to oversee nearly 12 billion euros in cuts that the Greek government must deliver this month if it hopes to continue receiving funds from International Monetary Fund, European Union and European Central Bank lenders.

After talks in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, Chinese Defense Minister Liang Guanglie and Indian Defense Minister A.K. Antony announced an agreement to resume joint military exercises, a move that signaled “a thaw in relations.” The two countries had suspended joint military exercises two years ago. But while this latest agreement seems to signal a renewed effort to improve ties, serious strains remain in the relationship between the two emerging Asian powers. For Jagannath P. Panda, a research fellow at the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, the major points of contention in the defense and security realm between China […]

Australia recently signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates to provide uranium for the Persian Gulf country’s planned nuclear power plants. In an email interview, Fethi Mansouri, the director of the Center for Citizenship and Globalization at Deakin University, Australia, and the author of “Australia and the Middle East: a Frontline Relationship,” discussed Australia-Middle East relations. WPR: What is the recent history of Australia’s diplomatic and trade relations with the Middle East? Fethi Mansouri: Australia’s interest in and relationship with the Middle East was initially shaped by its early involvement in the imperial defense system led by Britain, which […]

Qatar is reportedly in discussions with Germany to purchase 200 Leopard-2 tanks at a cost of roughly $2.5 billion. In an email interview, Christian Mölling, an associate in the international security division of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), discussed Germany’s arms industry. WPR: What is the current state of Germany’s arms industry? Christian Mölling: German defense companies produce world-class products in the areas of armored vehicles and tanks as well as submarines and to some extent surface ships and electronics. There is no purely German company left in the aerospace sector, since they have been integrated […]

When Mali announced the formation of its latest transitional civilian government on Aug. 20, the new cabinet pointedly excluded representatives of the Islamist coalition that controls much of the territory in the country’s north. The new government, which retains interim President Dioncounda Traore and interim Prime Minister Cheick Modibo Diarra, has made fighting the Islamist rebels — including the Tuareg-led Ansar al Din movement, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and al-Qaida offshoot the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA) — a top priority. However, the government and external actors face barriers to success on the battlefield, […]

Last month, the Center for Strategic and International Studies released the report of a bipartisan study group co-chaired by Richard Armitage and Joseph Nye on improving the U.S.-Japan relationship. The report, titled “U.S.-Japan Alliance: Anchoring Stability in Asia,” received little media attention, and some of its suggestions seem impractical, at least for now. However, its findings deserve consideration by policy analysts interested in strengthening the most enduring U.S. alliance in Asia at a time when Washington is seeking to reinforce its interests in that region. Although the report finds flaws with various U.S. policies, most of its concern is directed […]