In The News

Confronting Islamic State Group: Coalition of Rivals?

Shashank Joshi September 2, 2014
The self-proclaimed Islamic State terrorist group moved swiftly through Syria and Iraq, committing war crimes in two countries ravaged by civil war and sectarian divide. The group’s evolving name and online maps make no secret of the group’s ambitions for restoring a caliphate. ISIS closes in on and threatens borders with Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iran. A broad coalition of...

ASEAN Paralysis Gives China Free Hand in South China Sea

Bertil Lintner August 12, 2014
The United States would prefer that ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, unite in demanding an end to China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea. But two principles, consensus decision-making and non-interference in the internal affairs of member states, guide ASEAN. “In effect, ASEAN finds it impossible to take any unified stand in regional conflicts – or address bilateral issues...

Obama Authorizes Air Strikes on ISIS to Help Iraqis Besieged on Mountain

August 8, 2014
After invading Iraq in 2003, the United States struggled to repair the bitter Shia-Sunni divide and install a system of governance more stable than that of brutal dictator Saddam Hussein. After US troops withdrew in 2011, a relatively small group of militants fighting in Syria took advantage of a power vacuum to impose what they call an Islamic State, also known as IS, ISIS or ISIL, rapidly...

Global Casualty of an Escalating Local War

David R. Cameron July 24, 2014
Malaysian Flight 17 was presumably mistaken for a military plane and shot down by a surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border. The blatant disrespect for the dead – images of pro-Russian separatists picking through the wreckage and passenger belongings, drunkenly and belligerently barring international investigators from the scene – have shocked the world. Tragically, “...

Malaysian Plane Downing: Will It Change Course of Ukraine Conflict?

Howard LaFranchi July 18, 2014
Ukraine and other nations are calling for an international investigation after a Malaysian Airlines passenger plane was downed in Ukraine, near the Russian border where insurgents have been fighting with support from Russia. The rebels have shot down several Ukrainian military planes in recent weeks. A separatist leader claimed responsibility early on, but backtracked after learning the target...

UN Chief Ban Ki-moon: Gaza Situation “on Knife-Edge”

July 10, 2014
Israel and Gaza continue an unending cycle of rage and retaliation, and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warns the region "cannot afford another full-blown war," reports BBC News. “He demanded that Hamas militants stop firing rockets and also urged the Israeli government to exercise restraint and respect international obligations to protect civilians.” The most recent exchange of...

Last of Syria's Chemical Weapons Shipped Out

July 7, 2014
In the port of Latakia, Syria, a group of ships have departed carrying the last of Syria’s stockpile of chemical weapons, transferred to the MV Cape Ray for disarmament. The most toxic elements will be destroyed on board in the Mediterranean Sea while the rest of the agents will be eliminated in Finland, the UK and the US. The operation to dismantle these weapons was approved by the Syrian...