In The News

The New York Times: “It’s a Slow Death”: The World’s Worst Humanitarian Crisis

Shuaib Almosawa, Ben Hubbard and Troy Griggs September 20, 2017
Directors of UNICEF, WFP, and WHO visited Yemen in July and described the “world’s worst cholera outbreak in the midst of the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.” Since the start of the conflict when the Houthis overthrew the government and gained control of Sana’a in 2014, Yemen has slowly collapsed. Frequent bombings have contributed to the deaths of more than 10,000 civilians and crippled the...

Foreign Affairs: Is War in Gaza Unavoidable?

Ghaith al-Omari and Grant Rumley September 5, 2017
War in Gaza seemed possible this summer after Israel went along with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s request to cut electricity for 2 million Gazans living under Hamas rule. As Ghaith al-Omari and Grant Rumley observe in a recent article for Foreign Affairs: “Abbas hoped to pressure Hamas into relinquishing control over the strip, which was plunged into darkness as the cornered...

The Times of India: Trump on Afghanistan

Nayan Chanda August 29, 2017
US President Donald Trump committed the United States to indefinite continuation of the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan, emphasizing “winning” and killing terrorists rather than nation building. Trump offered few specifics, but troop numbers of troops discussed are much smaller than the 100,000 deployed in 2010. In line with his transactional approach to foreign policy, Trump outlined expectations...

New Statesman: How the Saudis Make It Almost Impossible to Report on War in Yemen

Ahmed Baider and Lizzie Porter August 23, 2017
Saudi Arabia is intent on limiting media coverage of its role in the war on neighboring Yemen. Since 2015, the civil war in the poor country of 25 million, between Saudi-backed forces of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and Houthi rebels has left 10,000 dead, more than 530,000 suspected cases of cholera and millions starving, and “Yet the lack of press attention on Yemen’s conflict has led it to...

International Business Times: Trump Reveals Afghanistan Plan

Ishani Roy August 22, 2017
The United States has been at war with extremists in Afghanistan since 2001, and President Donald Trump will send more troops to the country. In a speech, he expressed recognition that the long-running war is a divisive issue for Americans, many impatient with costs and progress, that rapid exit would leave a power vacuum. He declined to offer specifics, but said goals include “winning,” putting...

Bloomberg: Moon Asserts Right to Veto US War

Hooyeon Kim, David Tweed, and Narae Kim August 16, 2017
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in is adamant: His country would be most impacted by any military action against North Korea and he has a right to veto any such action. Moon “vowed to prevent war at any cost – a statement that drew a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump, who has warned of ‘fire and fury’ if North Korea continues to threaten the US,” report a team of reporters for Bloomberg...

Asia Times: US, China Vie for Influence in the Philippines

Noel Tarrazona August 11, 2017
Philippine troops continue to battle militants affiliated with the Islamic State in Marawi, a city in the southern part of the country. With a goal of establishing an Islamic caliphate in Southeast Asia, the militants rely on urban warfare tactics including taking civilian hostages, land mines, snipers and ambushes with more than 400,000 people displaced. China and the United States compete in...