WPR Blog Archive

This next one comes off the first Bob Marley record I ever bought — vinyl, for those of you keeping track at home — back in 1982. It’s hard to grasp, really, how much the world has since changed in ways unimaginable to my then fourteen-year-old imagination. Back then, the lingering effects of colonialism were not only so very tangible in the way the world was organized, but still present in South Africa and elsewhere. With so much energy and attention directed towards defeating an ideology based on racism, it was easy to forget that the corrupting influence of power […]

The other day, Steve Clemons cited this Daniel Levy quote (from a Guardian article) on how George Mitchell might use his experience in Northern Ireland to forge an effective approach to Hamas: In Northern Ireland, a distinction was drawn between the political wingof the Republican movement, Sinn Fein, and its military wing, the IRA.The same might be done with Hamas’s political wing and its armedmilitia, the Izz-Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, Levy said. I ran that by our very own Frida Ghitis, who sent me this link to a piece she wrote on Hamas for McClatchy, along with these remarks, which she […]

For all the diplomatic fallout of the Gaza War, the deterioration in Israeli-Turkish relations might be the most alarming. This YouTube video of the Davos Forum where Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stormed off the stage (at the 1:01:30 mark) after not being permitted to respond to Israeli President Shimon Peres’ remarks, is stunning. Peres’ remarks, too, are remarkable for their passion at a forum that is known for its collegial calm. (They begin at the 39:30 mark.) Notice, too, the body language of Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa during Peres’ remarks. Erdogan’s anger was directed at panel […]

A new IISS report (via the Times of London) finding that, despite symbolic demonstrations of force, the Russian military still suffers from the effects of twenty years of neglect will come as no surprise to WPR readers, as Richard Weitz covered that ground already. Same goes for this Jamestown Foundation report on the impact of the financial crisis on Russia’s defense industry and much-needed military modernization program, which Richard foresaw as well. (Although the news that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is now targeting the defense industry for mismanagement and inefficiencies makes running a Chinese dairy seem like a secure job.) […]

A friend of mine in Uganda, journalist Angelo Izama of the Daily Monitor, got a look at solid evidence the appointee for Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs will be former ambassador and National Intelligence Council officer Johnnie Carson. He will replace outgoing secretary Jendayi Frazer. It appears Laura Rozen broke this a few days earlier at her new home with Foreign Policy. As Izama notes, Carson has an extremely solid background, most notably having served as an ambassador to Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Uganda. Carson’s more detailed bio is here. Since 2006 he’s headed the Africa desk at the […]

There’s not really a whole lot to take issue with concerning the content of President Barack Obama’s interview with Al Arabiya. In terms of the scripted aspects — Israelis’ right to security, Palestinians’ right to a state — he was on point, and where he ventured off the script, it was to offer some compelling improvisation. For me, three things stood out: the remarks about his Muslim family members; his reference not to Israelis and Palestinians, but to Israeli and Palestinian children; and his emphasis on listening. What they all had in common was the way in which they personalized […]

The chances that Air Force One will actually be replaced as scheduled in 2017 were just dramatically improved. And yes, while hating on the EU is frowned upon at the WPR blog, EADS is fair game.

I mentioned last week that France is facing severe budgetary pressureson its military deployments abroad. In the last few days, PrimeMinister François Fillon and Defense Minister Hervé Morin have announced the goal of reducing foreign deployments, now numbering 13000troops, by roughly 20 percent, or 3000 troops. So far, thecuts announced have been in African missions that are largely completed(Ivory Coast) or that will be relieved by the UN (Chad, where 600 outof 1800 French troops will remain). In addition, the two navy vesselsdeployed to the UNIFIL maritime mission in Lebanon are being removed,although it’s not clear if they will be […]

There are more important foreign policy subjects to weigh in on, I know, and I’ll try to get to some of them today. But I thought I’d add a couple observations to Matthew Yglesias’ and Spencer Ackerman’s objections (via the New Atlanticist) to the National Interest cover depicting Hillary Clinton, Janet Napolitano and Susan Rice as “Obama’s Angels.” First, while there is something a bit obvious to their reactions (Ackerman preemptively calls it “humorless”), that doesn’t necessarily make them wrong. But more than outrage, I think what will ultimately make the media stop going to this particular well is that […]

The European press (Guardian here, Le Figaro here, and EU Observer here) is citing a Russian Defense Ministry source who claims that Russia has suspended its plans to deploy Iskander missiles just across the border from Poland following American signals that Washington would “reconsider” European-based missile defense. The Russian state press agency, meanwhile, is citing a Russian Defense Ministry source who claims that “. . .it is inappropriate and premature to talk about practical steps to implement or suspend these plans.” The WPR blog, for its part, is citing a gut feeling that this — along with the now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t agreement […]

World Politics Review’s managing editor, Judah Grunstein, appeared on the French-language edition of France 24’s panel discussion, Le Débat, alongside European Parliament Member Véronique de Keyser, historian Anne Graatz and Bassam Tayara, Paris bureau chief for the Lebanese daily Al Akhbar. Topics of discussion were President Obama’s Al Arabiya interview, Middle East policy and the appointment of George Mitchell as Special Envoy. Part one of the program can be found here. Part two can be found here.

Patrick Frost at the FPA’s Afghanistan and Central Asia blog flags a meeting of high-level participants in the EU’s Nabucco pipeline project. Frost’s rundown on the state of play is about the most thorough and concise analysis I’ve read of the issue, and well worth clicking through to read. Most Nabucco observers remain skeptical for two principal reasons. On the demand side, the commitment level of the European consortium torealizing the project has never met the threshhold to make it worth thepolitical risks (i.e. Russian retaliation) for the supplier and transitcountries involved. On the supply side, it’s unclear whether Turkmenistan […]

Guess what happens to Chinese products once destined for Western economies that can no longer afford them? They find destinations closer to home (via 2point6billion): Indian markets saw a flood of Chinese made toys in the second half of2008 after many western countries decided not to import toysmanufactured in China anymore. Besides a lack of capital, westernimporters decided to “buy American” also due to recent qualityproblems. Guess what happens to Chinese products that try to find destinations closer to home? They get turned away: India on Friday banned Chinese-made toys for six months in order toprotect the domestic industry which […]

I did another appearance on France 24 this evening, my first in French. (I’ll have a link when it goes online tomorrow.) And while waiting in the green room — which is neither green, nor really a room — I chatted with an American journalist here in Paris. He was very dismissive of Nicolas Sarkozy’s efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire, saying that in conducting an independent diplomatic mission that simultaneously overshadowed and undermined the EU’s concurrent mission, Sarkozy had effectively signalled the death knell of the EU’s common foreign policy. And I responded by saying that if so, perhaps […]

Andrew Sullivan cites this passage from Michael Totten: . . .While a final peace with the Arabs and Palestinians is as elusive asever, most Israelis expect a period of relative quiet now thatdeterrence has been established on its eastern border with the WestBank, on its northern border with Lebanon, and on its southwesternborder with Gaza. Totten conveys a sense of guarded pessimism. But seriously, if that’s not a time when Israel can afford to make a generous peace gesture, when is? Israel will never negotiate with an enemy it has just been “defeated” by, because that would be a sign […]

Patrick Barry at Demcoracy Arsenal says, “Not so fast,” on those Russian supply routes for Afghanistan. Seems like the Russians are denying that any formal agreement was reached. Frankly, I’d been surprised by the initial reports that the Russians had given the go ahead. President Obama has yet to clarify his stance on European-based missile defense and NATO expansion, and I doubt anything on the U.S.-Russia agenda will budge a whole lot until he does.

While browsing the State Department’s Website for an open source photo of Evo Morales to accompany Sasha Chavkin’s WPR Briefing on the Bolivian constitutional referendum, I came across this archived country description for Bolivia, from March 2006: In the 2002 national elections, former President Sanchez de Lozada(MNR) again placed first with 22.5% of the vote, this time followed byillegal-coca agitator Evo Morales (Movement Toward Socialism, MAS) with20.9%. (Emphasis added.) By the following March, that same passage had been updated to read as follows: In the 2002 national elections, former President Sanchez de Lozada(MNR) again placed first with 22.5% of the […]