In The News

The New York Times: A Cycle of Killing on a Border in Kashmir

Hari Kumar and Ellen Barry May 24, 2017
Indian soldiers based along the de facto border with Pakistan, in Kashmir, report grisly murders of their fellow soldiers, including beheadings and mutilations. Tensions run high along the border area known as the Line of control. Some accuse the government of an inadequate response, including resistance to returning victims’ remains – possibly an effort not to publicize the brutalities. Families...

The Washington Post: Erdogan’s Meeting With Trump Gets Obscured by White House Chaos

Ishaan Tharoor May 21, 2017
When Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with US President Donald Trump at the White House, tensions were high, with daily news about Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey who had been leading an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. It was Erdogan’s first visit to the United States since a failed coup against him in July 2016, and it was the...

Financial Times: Iran’s Divided Electorate Unites Behind Foreign Policy Stance

Andrew England, Najmeh Bozorgmehr and Monavar Khalaj May 18, 2017
Foreign policy unites an otherwise divided Iranian electorate. Voters expect security and maintain that requires close ties and even interventions in neighboring states. “Iran’s Quds Force, the wing of the elite Revolutionary Guards responsible for operations abroad, is providing crucial support to Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in his country’s six-year war and is active in Iraq, Afghanistan...

Reuters: Turkey Warns US of Blowback From Decision to Arm Kurds in Syria

Tulay Karadeniz and Tuvan Gumrukcu May 11, 2017
The US will supply arms to Kurdish forces to retake Raqqa from the Islamic State in Syria. “Turkey warned the United States on Wednesday that a decision to arm Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State in Syria could end up hurting Washington, and accused its NATO ally of siding with terrorists,” report Tulay Karadeniz and Tuvan Gumrukcu for Reuters. Both Turkey and the US are members of the North...

Saudi Coalition Attack on Yemen Port Imminent?

Max Bearak May 2, 2017
The civil war in Yemen has draws proxy fighting between Saudi Arabia and Iran – with the former backing the government and the latter backing Houthi rebels. A bipartisan group of US lawmakers are warning the US secretary of defense against support for a Saudi assault on the port city of Hodeida, with members of Congress pointing to a need for congressional authorization. “Saudi fighter jets...

The Washington Times: Resolving the Afghanistan Crisis

Seyed Hossein Mousavian April 26, 2017
Peace has evaded Afghanistan for decades. The Russians fought in Afghanistan from 1979 until 1989. The brutal Taliban regime, a minority group, took control in the 1990s until the US-led invasion in 2001. Since 2001, the United States and its allies tried to rebuild communities with schools, agriculture projects, road construction, clinics and more. “By early 2017, the situation had deteriorated...

Deutsche Welle: G7 Foreign Ministers Push for Peace in Syria, Reject Russia Sanctions

April 14, 2017
Top diplomats from the G7 member nations met in Italy April 10 and 11 for their annual meeting, discussing global security issues but ultimately not pledging new concrete action with regards to Syria. Due to the recent chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, much of the attention was on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The G7 “unanimously...