In The News

Google Restricts Huawei’s Android Use: BBC

BBC May 23, 2019
The Trump administration’s latest move in the US-China trade war is blacklisting Chinese company Huawei. The US placed the maker of telecommunications equipment on a list of entities blocked from trading with American firms without a license. Huawei, the world’s second biggest smartphone provider after Samsung, is now set to lose access to the upcoming version of Android, after Google took action...

Rohingya Crisis and Ambivalence: South Asia Journal

Kalam Shahed May 19, 2019
The United Nations labeled persecution of Rohingya people in Myanmar as ethnic cleansing. More than 3 million Rohingya fled with one-third living in makeshift, isolated camps along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, and two-thirds living throughout Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Myanmar’s nationalism and hatred for the minority has not subdued. “While there has been a considerable Western outcry...

Pompeo, Putin, Venezuela: OilPrice.com

Tsvetana Paraskova May 16, 2019
Russia and the United States have been on opposite sides on who should lead Venezuela, a nation that should be prosperous with the world’s largest oil reserves. Russia has supported the Nicolás Maduro regime, in office since 2013, despite mismanagement and corruption, and the United States supports opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets with...

US Warns on EU Defense Cooperation: Deutsche Welle

May 15, 2019
Since entering office in 2017, the Trump administration embraced America First policies, urging Europe to spend more on its defense and raising doubts about US commitment for the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance. European Union member states have since pursued greater cooperation on defense and self-reliance. “The United States has decried ‘poison pills’ embedded in proposed rules which could shut...

European Allies Reject US-Iran Escalation: Al Jazeera

May 14, 2019
The United States and Iran are escalating tensions in a region already wracked with conflict, repression, economic struggle and millions of displaced people. Inspectors report that Iran is in compliance with an international nuclear deal, but the United States withdrew from the agreement and re-imposed sanctions. Most recently, the United States sent a aircraft bomber group to the region. Iran...

Iran-US Tensions: Financial Times

Andrew England and Najmeh Bozorgmehr May 9, 2019
Iran and the United States test each other. The US president withdrew from the 2015 accord to limit Iran’s nuclear weapons development, increased sanctions and most recently dispatched a aircraft carrier group to the region after suggesting that Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq threaten US troops. Iran’s president suggested that the country could step back from the accord, too. International...

The US, Iran Inch Toward War: Syndication Bureau

Dnyanesh Kamat May 6, 2019
Donald Trump rejected expensive foreign wars during the US presidential campaign, yet a target seems to be on Iran. The US walked away from the international deal to limit Iran’s nuclear weapons program, ended waivers for nations that import Iranian oil, designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organizaiton and strives to push Iran’s exports to zero. The United States has made no...