In The News

Turkey Seeks to Lock in Long-Term Security

Soner Cagaptay November 18, 2013
Turkey briefly tried isolation until the Arab Spring when it pivoted toward the United States: “The two nations worked with other countries to oust Moammar Gaddafi in Libya that year and, early on, coordinated policies against the Assad regime,” writes Soner Cagaptay. But the United States could not win UN Security Council approval for sanctions or intervention in Syria, due to vetoes from...

Saudis Bemoan Soaring Labor Costs After Migrant Exodus

November 11, 2013
The old adage applies: Be careful what you wish for. Saudis complained about the high percentage of foreigners in their country, and demanded more jobs for the hundreds of thousands of young Saudis entering the labor market each year. So the government started cracking down on migrants without documentation, diligently enforcing labor laws. Construction, landscape, retail and other willing...

Polio Outbreak in Northeast Syria Risks Spreading, WHO Says

Stephanie Nebehay October 30, 2013
The World Health Organization reports a polio outbreak among young children in northeast Syria. The disease “is endemic in just three countries – Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan – raising the possibility that foreign fighters have imported the virus into Syria, where Islamist militant groups are part of the splintered array battling Assad's forces,” reports Stephanie Nebehay for Reuters....

Human Rights Groups: Drone Strikes Kill More Civilians Than US Admits

Craig Whitlock October 22, 2013
Human Rights Watch investigated six US drone strikes in Yemen and reports that 69 percent of 82 killed were civilians – undercutting claims that drone technology targets specific threats. “[T]he human rights groups said they were able to shed further light on the incidents by interviewing survivors, other witnesses and government officials in both countries,” reports Craig Whitlock for the...

Saudi Arabia Rejects UN Security Council Seat

Nate Rawlings October 21, 2013
Saudi Arabia – along with Chad, Chile, Lithuania and Nigeria – won a secret vote in the UN General Assembly for rotating seats on the UN Security Council and became the first country to reject the honor. “Its diplomats cited the council’s inability to take firm action on the current crisis in Syria (ostensibly the fault of vetoes from Russia and China) and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (...

Strike on Syria for Chemical Weapons – Not Illegal

Harold Hongju Koh October 3, 2013
The world wrestles over what to do when nations and the UN Security Council fail in their responsibility to protect civilians from atrocities. A strike, as threatened by US President Barack Obama for a chemical weapons attack on Syrians, would have been legal, argues Harold Hongju Koh, former dean of Yale Law School. “I would argue that under certain highly constrained circumstances, a nation...

The US and Iran in a Tantalizing Dance

Abbas Amanat September 26, 2013
There was no handshake between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and US President Barack Obama during the United Nations General Assembly, but the tone of their rhetoric promises a sea change in relations after more than three decades. The Iranian public supports Rouhani's moderate proposals as a means to securing respect, stability and an end to debilitating sanctions imposed by the West....