When the Arab world was tolerant and accepting of others, it led the world: From Baghdad to Damascus to Andalusia and farther afield, we provided beacons of science, knowledge, and civilization, because humane values were the basis of our relationships with all civilizations, cultures, and religions. Even when our ancestors left Andalusia, people of other […]
Jeb Bush is a nice guy. So is his brother, George W. Bush. Their father, George Herbert Walker Bush, is a particularly nice guy. It’s a nice family. But at the presidential level, they all have been failures. Much of what’s wrong with the country today—and some of what’s wrong with the world—can be placed […]
Sanctions imposed by the U.S. and the European Union to punish President Vladimir Putin for meddling in Ukraine remain a drag on growth. And oil’s decline to a 13-year low has been catastrophic for Russia, where almost 50 percent of government revenue comes from crude and natural gas. Read Here – Bloomberg
The upheavals that began in the Middle East five years ago have reshuffled longstanding alliances and hostilities, created a staggering array of new actors, and left vast stretches of the region in either intermediate or total collapse—outcomes that have collectively shattered the prevailing order there. Read Here – The National Interest
President Barack Obama’s trip to Cuba on March 21 is not, as its critics contend, a vote of confidence in President Raul Castro’s government. It is simply an opportunity for Obama to acknowledge both the successes of his policy and its limits. Read Here – Bloomberg
China’s airstrip construction at Fiery Cross, Mischief, and Subi reefs, and more recently developments in the Paracel Islands, have dominated the South China Sea discussion. But capabilities being developed at its smaller Spratly Island outposts—Gaven, Hughes, Johnson South, and especially Cuarteron reefs—will prove equally important to Beijing’s long-term strategy. Read Here – CSIS
In his visit to the United States, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is expected to discuss with U.S. officials the hot-button issues of the South China Sea and the Korean Peninsula, both with direct relevance to China’s core interests. Read Here – Xinhua
In fact, Saudi Arabia is no state at all. There are two ways to describe it: as a political enterprise with a clever but ultimately unsustainable business model, or as an entity so corrupt as to resemble a vertically and horizontally integrated criminal organization. Either way, it can’t last. It’s past time U.S. decision-makers began […]
PRIME MINISTER Nawaz Sharif has declared developing Pakistan’s external economy a national priority. He should be applauded for focusing on tackling a major weakness. However, Pakistan’s interest in trade is not new, and is a case study in lost opportunities. Read Here – Dawn
As vast as China’s investment in Africa certainly is, speculation has steered the conversation onto a misleading, and perhaps antagonistic tangent. Recent findings suggest that Chinese investment in Africa is more nuanced than commonly believed. Read Here – The Diplomat
