Global Politics

I sat down with the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission for the U.K., Minister Elizabeth Dibble, to discuss the Obama visit, the Middle East and the complex Iran-Saudi relationship. The Obama Visit to the U.K. D.M.: You touched on President Obama’s visit in your talk and what he said about the EU referendum. What for […]

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It’s official: Australia’s “Stop the Boats” campaign is a success. Or so the government claims. Back in 2013, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott ascended to his post in part because of his pledge to “stop the boats,” or, in less catchy rhetoric, to prevent asylum seekers – mostly arriving by sea from the Middle East […]

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  Vladimir Putin’s Russia has, especially in recent years, come under heavy criticism from many in the West. Much of this criticism, however, deals with Russian aggression toward Ukraine, the extrajudicial killings of critics of the Putin regime such as Alexander Litvinenko, or accusations of widespread corruption. All of these issues are clearly in violation […]

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  By Amanda Beal and Maria Sofia This past September, many of the world’s leaders gathered in New York to sign the United Nations (UN) new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Numerous man-hours and unspeakable amounts of money have been used to promote this transition and enhance the global partnership for development. However, no one yet […]

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The Atlantic explores President Obama’s decision not to bomb Syria after Bashar al-Assad’s army killed more than 1,400 people with sarin gas. It offers a new and insightful evaluation of Obama and his legacy.

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Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is clearly starting to believe his own (Turkish) press, which is increasingly unlikely to tell him anything he doesn’t want to hear. Foreign Policy magazine reports here on the German satire show that has got Erdogan so worked up. The video shows footage of Erdogan’s most absurd public moments, intercut with crackdowns […]

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Xi Jinping’s recent pledge to “resolutely contain the ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist activities in any form” has commentators and politicians worried that tensions may be rising. Indeed, given that this comes only two months after Taiwan’s presidential election – where Beijing’s preferred KMT candidate, Eric Chu, was convincingly beaten by pro-independent candidate Tsai Ing-Wen – cross-strait […]

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Image by United Nations Photo Urging caution in light of Myanmar’s new president. His selection leaves many questions unanswered. Following on from Monday’s vote in parliament, Htin Kyaw has become president of Myanmar. Does he represent a new dawn for a nation which has languished in the shadows of poverty and authoritarianism? He is a […]

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  I take my home for granted. There, I said it. Chances are you do, too, if your conception of home – like mine – does not include worrying about the daily dangers of a civil war playing out on your doorstep; the mortar shelling that has left your family homeless; or the stability of […]

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QZ reports that “Confessions of a Republican” has been making a comeback online. Watching this, one can possibly feel sympathy for the memory of Senator Barry Goldwater, who was an intellectual titan compared to Trump. Nevertheless, this Johnson campaign video will doubtless hit home with many Republicans  today in the same way. A great piece of American political […]

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  War will never again be the same. Autonomous weapons have nearly arrived, and so far nothing has been able to stop them. At the 2015 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, an open letter—signed by over three thousand of the world’s most relevant robotics experts, and endorsed by luminaries including Stephen Hawking, Nobel Laureate […]

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When U.N Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested in a recent Security Council speech that an Israeli drive to build settlements beyond its territory partly fueled Palestinian extremism, it drew ire from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “There is no justification for terror,” responded Netanyahu. “The comments of the U.N. Secretary-General encourage terror.” In the epochal ‘war […]

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Introduction At the time of India’s independence in 1947 the world had just witnessed the end of the Second World War and was slowly being engulfed in a new power struggle with the Cold War. The brewing trend of the time was that of alliance forming with either of the blocs led by the United States (US) […]

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Recent attacks by extremists have not dampened enthusiasm for future. By Mohammad Ziauddin, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States Bangladesh is headed in the right direction. That’s the conclusion of a new survey conducted by the respected International Republican Institute. IRI, an independent, non-partisan U.S. based organization that assists political parties to achieve good […]

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14,000 feet beneath the frozen surface of the Arctic Ocean at the North Pole, a Russian flag forged in titanium rests on the seabed. The flag, planted by a manned submersible during a 2007 expedition, was conceived as a publicity stunt intended to promote Russia’s territorial claims in the Arctic. The expedition was immediately rebuked […]

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The execution of a renowned Arab Shi’a cleric, Sheikh Nimr, just after the New Year has set long-standing rivals Iran and Saudi-Arabia on a new collision course. Radical elements in Iran attacked the Saudi diplomatic compound in the country prompting Riyadh to sever its relations with Tehran. While the Iranian government condemned the attacks, immediately dismissing some officials […]

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By Mustapha El-Khalfi – Minister of Communications, Spokesman of the Government of Morocco With difficult global headwinds and regional instability, now is the time to embrace a new era of national unity Since 2004 $1 billion has been invested in the Moroccan Sahara, which is evident in the construction of more than 150 new local […]

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20D will go down in Spanish history. 20th of December – the Spanish write all of their most important dates in this manner – was the first time voters rejected the duopoly that had governed the country since democracy was reintroduced in 1975. For 40 years power in Spain has been held by either the […]

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The recent creation and sudden conquests of the so-called “Islamic State” have astonished policy-makers, military strategists, and foreign affairs analysts. The self-proclaimed caliphate of Abû al-Baghdâdi went from a broken outfit of Iraqi insurgents to a feared theocracy that currently threatens the established order of the Middle East. One can be forgiven for thinking such a movement as being […]

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One of the most striking trends of modern times, the concentration of global wealth in hands of the very few, has been popularized by Thomas Piketty in his hugely influential Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Piketty argues that the rate of return on capital consistently exceeds the rate of economic growth. In the absence of […]

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