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...

People Will Pay if Army Fails Challenge of Political Islam

Amin Saikal August 15, 2013
Political Islam in Egypt – with the democratic election of Mohamed Morsi and one chaotic year in office – took an ideological approach to government, failing to compromise with other forces in society that led the revolution against Mubarak’s dictatorship. After deposing Morsi, the Egyptian military has cracked down on his party, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other supporters. Conservative...

Obama’s Putin Snub Puts New Focus on Moscow’s China Ties

Geoff Dyer, Courtney Weaver August 9, 2013
The leaders of the world’s largest economies meet in September, but the US president has cancelled a meeting with the Russian president, suggesting that little progress is developing from the relationship. The two leaders have a testy relationship, and the US decision came soon after Russia approved temporary asylum for Edward Snowden, a contract worker for the US National Security Agency who...

Urgent Need to Protect the Internet

John Negroponte August 8, 2013
The internet has contributed to unprecedented global connections, but its openness distresses some governments. Censorship takes many forms, and some nations even consider creating an exclusive system for their citizens, cutting off contact with the rest of the globe, notes John Negroponte, a Brady-Johnson Distinguished Fellow in Grand Strategy and senior lecturer in International Affairs at Yale...

Iran’s Mounting Malaise

Jamsheed K. Choksy August 6, 2013
Iranians – frustrated by a flailing economy, compounded by rigid policies of a theocratic government and sanctions from the West that target the country’s nuclear program – expect reforms from President Hassan Rouhani. Iran confronts challenges that, if left unaddressed, will bring severe consequences at home and abroad, warns Jamsheed K. Choksy, professor of Iranian Studies at Indiana University...

On the Selling of the Egyptian Coup

Ken Silverstein August 1, 2013
More than 250 people have been killed since the Egyptian military deposed President Mohamed Morsi, democratically elected and in power for just a year. “In Egypt, only two forces genuinely possess the ability to rule at the moment: the army, by virtue of the bayonet; or the Muslim Brotherhood, by virtue of the ballot,” argues Ken Silverstein for Harper’s. Both Morsi’s opponents and supporters...

For Stability, Japan Needs Political Reform

Frances McCall Rosenbluth July 30, 2013
The political certainty that comes with a landslide victory in July and the Liberal Democratic Party’s control of both houses of the Japanese parliament may be short-lived. And while the conservative LDP has held steady power in Japan since 1955, except for two brief periods, a win does not mean the country is headed for one-party rule. The parliament remains fractured, showing fundamental...