Foreign Policy
Friday, May 8, 2015 - 06:54
Venezuela’s economic woes started long before the current downturn in oil prices and the start of Maduro’s administration. The blame for recession, inflation, dwindling foreign reserves, debt, and shortages must be laid on the nature of the country’s regime, which disincentivized its leaders from competently managing the oil boom, and is now crippling the government’s ability to respond to the downturn.
Thursday, May 7, 2015 - 06:33
Secretary of State John Kerry met on Wednesday with Djiboutian President Ismail Omar Guelleh, a man who stands accused of committing a broad array of human rights violations but whose nation houses hundreds of American drones and other aircraft. David Francis reflects on the complicated relationship between the two states.
Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - 21:44
The president of Kurdistan’s regional government on Wednesday backed off a long-held demand that the United States directly supply arms to the northern Iraqi region he heads in the war against Islamic State extremists, otherwise known as ISIS.
Tuesday, May 5, 2015 - 05:00
The State Department said it is “looking into” allegations that Saudi Arabia is dropping cluster bombs on targets inside Yemen but said the notoriously imprecise weapon — banned by much of the world — could still have an appropriate role to play in Riyadh’s U.S.-backed offensive.
Monday, May 4, 2015 - 07:08
Abuse against women in Afghan homes is horrifyingly pervasive; around 87 percent of Afghan women are believed to have experienced domestic abuse at least once. What is Afghanistan doing to end the abuse?
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - 06:56
oordination between American officials in Afghanistan is so rare that in one instance, according to a U.S. watchdog, a senior official from the embassy in Kabul didn’t know about a $39.6 million business project until Afghan officials thanked the ambassador for supporting it.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 - 06:55
The Obama administration and other western observers said Nigeria’s peaceful political transition would pave the way for free and fair elections elsewhere on the continent. Less than a month later, Guinea and Burundi are already proving them wrong.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015 - 07:12
The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy are arriving just as two Iranian warships have taken up position in the Gulf of Aden, heightening tensions between the two rivals just as fighting between Iranian-backed Houthi rebels and Yemeni forces supported by Saudi Arabia and other American allies intensifies.
Thursday, April 16, 2015 - 07:10
The Obama administration is banking on Abadi to cut through the sectarian-tinged political miasma that for years has surrounded Baghdad, as the only way to defeat the Islamic State. But in his candid remarks Wednesday — perhaps underscoring the urgency of the threat — Abadi sounded far more focused on the battlegrounds in the hinterlands.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015 - 07:06
Somali community, living in the neighborhood called Eastleigh, is caught between an al-Shabab that is now targeting Muslims and Christians alike, and an emboldened Kenyan security apparatus willing to go to extreme measures in an attempt to root out radical elements in Somali communities like this.