In The News

New York Times: US Africa Strategy Counters China

Mark Landler and Edward Wong December 14, 2018
The United States plans to devote more funding and attention on Africa, according to National Security Adviser John Bolton. He suggests the threat for Africa is not poverty or extremism but expanding Chinese influence. “Bolton conceded that the United States had limited resources to compete with the tens of billions of dollars China is pouring into Africa,” report Mark Landler and Edward Wong for...

Telegraph: Yemen Death Toll Higher Than Estimated

Josie Ensor December 13, 2018
The civil war in Yemen has raged since 2015, and the death toll is difficult to assess due to rough conditions on the ground. “The figure of 10,000 used by the United Nations is outdated and nowhere near the likely true fatality figure of 60,223, according to UK-based independent research group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project,” reports Josie Ensor for the Telegraph. “The Saudi-...

Economist: Rohingya Refuse to Return to Myanmar

December 10, 2018
The vast majority of Rohingya refugees fleeing the surge of anti-Muslim violence in Myanmar into Bangladesh, some 700,000 since August 2017, resist returning to Myanmar. Hundreds of Rohingyas have staged protests against the prospect of return and “demanded guarantees of citizenship and security” before returning. As a result, the government of Bangladesh has delayed repatriation, and as a recent...

The Guardian: Syria Resumes Airstrikes

December 7, 2018
The Syrian government resumed airstrikes in the wake of alleged poison gas attacks by rebels in Aleppo. The bombings in north Syria are in violation of the truce brokered by Russia and Turkey that enabled “relative calm to the country’s north for the past two months,” reports the Guardian. Meanwhile, the rebels have denied carrying out the attacks and accuse that the Syrian government of...

Korea Herald: N. Korea’s “Unreported” Missile Base

Yeo Jun-suk December 6, 2018
For decades, governments raised alarms about the global security crisis of a belligerent North Korea, and subduing public worries is not easy without obvious progress. Satellite images continue to show that an unreported missile base in North Korea, near the border with China, remains active with new construction since the June summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. South Korean and US...

Washington Post: US Senate Rebukes Trump on Yemen

Karoun Demirjian, Carol Morello and John Hudson November 29, 2018
Yemen is the Arab world’s poorest country. Its three-year civil war with intervention by Saudi Arabia and Iran has displaced millions, and a 63-37 US Senate vote signals that the United States may back off from its involvement. “The resolution… seeks to invoke the War Powers Act to end U.S. military support for the ¬Saudi-led coalition, which human rights groups accuse of fomenting in Yemen the...

PBS NewsHour: Tear Gas at the US Border

Joshua Barajas and Amber Partida November 28, 2018
US border patrol officers fired tear gas to deter asylum seekers crossing the border from Mexico. The asylum seekers, many starting in Honduras, formed a caravan hoping for strength in numbers and media attention on their flight from poverty and drug-cartel violence. US officials regard the caravan as a security threat although photographs and videos show a crowd consisting of many women and...