In The News

Amid Mideast Turmoil, What Does Russia Want?

Thomas Graham August 20, 2013
Russia has reasons to resist military intervention in Syria. “Moscow has been resolute in the defense of the principle of state sovereignty in the traditional Westphalian sense, of non-interference by outside powers in the internal affairs of another state, a principle it considers to be the foundation of world order and international law,” explains Thomas Graham, senior fellow with Yale...

This Is Not Time to Slap Iran

Trudy Rubin August 12, 2013
A vote in the US House of Representatives in favor of harsher economic sanctions for Iran, days before the president’s inauguration, could be counterproductive, explains Trudy Rubin of the Philadelphia Inquirer. She urges the US should try negotiations before the Senate votes, considering that sanctions have only hurt the Iranian economy and not deterred the nuclear program. Critics suggest that...

Refugees in the MENA Region: What Geopolitical Consequences?

Barah Mikail August 7, 2013
Economic chaos, corruption and outright conflict in North Africa and the Middle East have triggered a new wave of refugees – some of whom travel and seek shelter as far away as Australia. More than 1.5 million may have fled just Syria, with another 2.5 million Syrians thought to be displaced inside the country. Failure to address the latest refugee crisis could present serious long-term security...

Rise in Violence “Linked to Climate Change”

Rebecca Morelle August 5, 2013
Shifts in temperature or rainfall are correlated with a rise in assaults, rapes, murders and events of conflict or war, suggests researcher Marshall Burke of the University of California, Berkeley, in a study published in Science. Rebecca Morelle, BBC News, reports that the researchers reviewed 60 studies with data spanning hundreds of years: “Their examples include an increase in domestic...

Containing the Fire in Syria

Ryan Crocker July 23, 2013
The urge to do something, anything, to stem the bloodshed in Syria is intense. Ryan Crocker served as US ambassador to six countries including Syria, 1998 to 2001. Now a Kissinger senior fellow at Yale University, he reviews the history and explains how the civil war in Syria began well before the Arab Spring protests. In 1982, the Assad regime decimated the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in Hama and...

Algeria’s Shadow Hangs Over Egypt’s Revolution

Roula Khalaf July 11, 2013
Algerian Islamists advise supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi to resist militarization in avenging a military coup, or that could lead to civil war and foreign jihadists hijacking Islamist agendas, advise Algerian Islamists. “This was sound counsel from a North African state that suffered more than 10 years of civil war after a 1991 Islamist electoral victory was abruptly cancelled by...

G8 Leaders Side Step Fate of Syria’s Assad

Arthur Beesley June 18, 2013
Members of the G8 – the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, Japan and Russia – released a statement that reiterated their hopes for a political solution to end Syria’s civil war as well as a demand that both sides destroy Al Qaeda affiliates operating in the country. An isolated Russia objected to specific mention of Bashar al-Assad. The communique also endorsed proposed peace talks that have...