Week in Review: MENA – February 28, 2014
United States Policy:
- On Thursday, February 20, President Obama renewed an executive order which states that the situation in Libya "continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."
- Though the United States has pledged more than $25 billion in finalized and pending arms deals with Iraq ...
This week, the world's most wanted drug trafficker was captured in a joint U.S.-Mexico military operation, U.S. Southern Command said it didn't have enough money to interdict the majority of drugs at sea, robots started patrolling drug tunnels at the border and Venezuela announced a new ambassador to the United States. Below is a roundup of these stories and other highlights from around the region over the past week.
This week, the United States Congress held three hearings, which touched on security policy in Africa; while Nigeria and Somalia wrestled anew with terrorism. Below is our roundup of security news in Africa this week.
The same week the State Department released its annual report on global human rights, four Central Eurasia countries were included in Politico Magazine’s list of the United States’ most discreditable allies. Below is a roundup of these stories and some of the other top articles and news highlights from around Central Eurasia over the last week:
Top stories from Central Asia and the South Caucasus:
Politico Magazine ran a feature, America’s 25 Most Awkward Allies, in which it highlights how the Obama Administration works with repressive regimes across the world in order to advance United States’ national interests, often because of U.S. counterterrorism priorities. Several African governments made the list:
The former Soviet Union has more often been the recipient of United Nations peacekeeping missions than contributors to them. But several of the countries in the region have been working, often with assistance from the United States, to get their militaries ready to participate in international peacekeeping.
Georgia recently announced that it will be taking part in two European Union-led peacekeeping missions in Africa...