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In a recent WPR feature essay on economic integration and security competition in Asia, Amitav Acharya used our article in Foreign Policy, “A Tale of Two Asias,” as a conceptual framework for thinking about the future of this dynamic and important region. But his piece, “Why Two Asias May be Better Than None,” misunderstands or fails to address many of our key arguments. On some points, we agree with Acharya. For example, he notes that Japan “started the process” of economic integration in Asia, or what we call “Economic Asia,” and “still plays a vital role in it.” We made […]

We are rapidly approaching the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. For some politicians, their initial stance on the war is something they might prefer to overlook. It will be interesting to see, for instance, if, during their nomination hearings, either Secretary of State-designate John Kerry or Secretary of Defense-designate Chuck Hagel is asked whether they still stand by their yea vote in October 2002 to give President George W. Bush the authorization to pursue military action against Saddam Hussein. For others, the inevitable retrospectives will fall into one of several predictable categories. Some will attempt to […]

Since the election of reformist President Benigno Aquino, the Philippine economy has been on an unprecedented upswing, defying almost all earlier forecasts. Today, the country is among the fastest-growing economies in the world, expected to grow by up to 8 percent this year. No wonder the Philippines is seen as the next Asian tiger economy and is expected to attain a much-coveted “investment grade” rating this year. The emerging consensus among experts is that the increasingly positive economic outlook is a result, first, of the Aquino administration’s good governance agenda focused on tough anti-corruption reforms and, second, of the larger […]

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — On Wednesday evening, hours before she flew to Havana to symbolically visit regional ally Hugo Chávez, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner was in Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires province, to celebrate the return of the naval ship Libertad. The ship had been impounded in Ghana at the request of NML Capital — an unpaid creditor from Argentina’s $100 billion default in 2002. The frigate’s homecoming, facilitated by an international maritime court ruling, was a victory for Kirchner’s self-proclaimed “national and popular” project. Her government refuses to pay so-called vulture funds such as NML, which bought up debt […]

In January, the United Arab Emirates arrested a group of Egyptians on suspicion of forming a Muslim Brotherhood cell in the country, prompting tensions with the Muslim Brotherhood-led Egyptian government. In an email interview, Frederic Wehrey, a Middle East program senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discussed Egypt-UAE relations. WPR: What has been the trajectory of relations between Egypt and the UAE since the fall of Hosni Mubarak? Frederic Wehrey: Throughout 2011, bilateral relations were strained by mounting concern in the UAE over Egypt’s potential warming to Iran. For their part, Egypt’s new leaders have cast a […]

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s efforts to portray an image of moderation for himself, for the Muslim Brotherhood and for Egypt under the Brotherhood’s rule threaten to come undone once again. This time, the curtain has been drawn back by a spate of video clips of the former Muslim Brotherhood leader making bluntly anti-Semitic statements. The statements cannot be dismissed as old rants from an over-enthusiastic young radical. They are recent, dating to just a few months before the January 2011 uprising that ultimately brought Morsi and his political allies in the Muslim Brotherhood to power in Egypt. If Morsi wants […]

In December, Canada announced it was considering alternatives to the long-planned purchase of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fighter jet, in part because of the quickly rising expense of the American aircraft. In an email interview, Srdjan Vucetic, an assistant professor at the University of Ottawa specializing in Canadian and American foreign and defense policy, discussed the foreign policy implications for Canada of considering alternatives to the F-35. WPR: How seriously is Canada considering aircraft other than the F-35, and what are the main contenders? Srdjan Vucetic: According to the Public Works and Government Services Canada, the department that in April 2012 […]

On Dec. 5, the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia heard testimony from American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Michael Rubin on Iran’s influence in the South Caucasus. While Rubin detailed Iran’s close ties to Armenia and contrasted them to Iran’s uneasy relationship with Azerbaijan, he closed his testimony with unexpected warnings of a potential Georgian alignment with Iran (pdf). “The victory of [Prime Minister] Bidzina Ivanishvili’s Georgian Dream party in October 2012 elections threatens to radically reorient the Republic of Georgia, which, under President Mikheil Saakashvili, has been reliably pro-Western,” cautioned Rubin, adding that Ivanishvili’s pledge to […]

In the most direct admission by a high-ranking Iranian government official that international sanctions are imposing a heavy burden on the economy, Iranian Minister of Industry Mehdi Ghazanfari called the latest round of sanctions “crippling” at a gathering of provincial governors on Jan. 10. His remarks were a clear break from his previous statements, in which he downplayed the impact of sanctions. Ghazanfari said the latest round of sanctions have been far more costly than previous ones, pointing in particular to three new sets of sanctions imposed in 2012: financial sanctions, especially those targeting Iran’s central bank; oil export restrictions; […]

Last week’s meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai felt like a last desperate attempt to salvage a crumbling marriage: With the relationship clearly dying, the two sides quibbled over the pace of U.S. disengagement and the extent of future American aid and assistance. But as U.S. involvement in Afghanistan winds down, Americans should already be thinking about what they can learn from their longest war. U.S. national security strategy, as I explained in my book “Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy,” is shaped by the lessons drawn, rightly or wrongly, from previous conflicts, wars […]

The Turkish government recently reported “important progress” in talks with Abdullah Ocalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group seeking greater Kurdish autonomy from the Turkish government. In an email interview, Gulistan Gurbey of the Free University of Berlin explained the political context and prospects of the talks. WPR: What is the political context, in terms of risks and opportunities, for Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his party, the AKP, in pursuing a deal with the PKK now? Gulistan Gurbey: Erdogan’s readiness for a deal with the PKK results from the escalation of […]

In 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an important speech condemning government censorship, calling for greater Internet freedom and reiterating that freedom of expression was a vital U.S. value. But during the past two weeks, as issues of press censorship in China have become front-page news, the State Department has remained noticeably silent, even as that censorship has impacted the U.S. media. On Dec. 31, 2012, the New York Times announced that the Chinese government had failed to process the journalist visa of one of its Beijing correspondents, Chris Buckley, before his old visa expired. Without a valid […]

Russia’s next-generation nuclear-powered ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN), equipped with the new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), officially entered service with the Russian navy’s Northern Fleet on Jan. 10. Christened the Yuri Dolgoruky, this first Borey-class sub was under construction at the Sevmash shipbuilding company from 1996 to 2008. The ship had originally been intended to carry the much larger Bark SLBM. When the Bark’s development problems led the Russian governmentto abandon it in favor of the smaller Bulava, Russian shipbuilders had to redesign the entire Borey class to accommodate the Bulava — before the missile had even moved beyond the drawing […]

Contemporary Vietnam, officially known at the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), was formed in 1976 after a four-and-a-half decade armed struggle led by the Vietnam Communist Party (VCP) against French colonialism and U.S. intervention. When the war against France came to an end in 1954, Vietnam was partitioned, and North Vietnam became Southeast Asia’s first communist state, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. During the early years of the Democratic Republic, China was its chief provider of foreign assistance as well as its main model of development. For example, Vietnam carried out land reform in the mid-1950s and then reorganized the […]

Yesterday, the president of Sri Lanka formally ordered the removal of the country’s chief justice from office, capping a controversial impeachment process against the chief justice. In an email interview, Erik Jensen, professor of the practice of law and senior research scholar at Stanford University’s Center for Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, explained the circumstances surrounding the constitutional crisis. WPR: What are the circumstances surrounding the impeachment of Sri Lanka’s chief justice? Erik Jensen: The critical events surrounding the impeachment rapidly evolved over the course of only four months: from the precipitating act — a Supreme Court ruling […]

The United Nations Security Council has had a lot of rebellions to worry about since 2013 began. Islamist insurgents in Mali launched a new offensive, provoking a military response by France. Tentative negotiations in the Central African Republic have persuaded rebels to pause their advance on the capital, Bangui, at least for now. There have been more fierce battles in Syria, extinguishing hopes for U.N. mediation there. While trying to keep track of these events, diplomats at the U.N. have also found time to debate military technology, peacekeeping and another unresolved rebellion in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Last […]

For the first time, Colombia’s civil society has been invited to contribute to peace negotiations between the government and the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), with the discussion focused on the root cause of the country’s war: land reform. Hosted by the United Nations and the National University of Colombia, the Forum for Integral Agrarian Development was held in Bogota from Dec. 17 to 19. Not only did the forum place land reform at the center of peace negotiations, at least for the moment, it also has the potential to give the peace process legitimacy in the eyes […]