President Barack Obama urged the world to consider the climate talks that kicked off Monday as potentially the last chance to make a meaningful impact on combating climate change. What the world needs to agree on, Obama told the 150-odd other world leaders gathered in Paris for the two-week conference, is “not a stopgap solution, but […]
François Hollande’s declaration of war against Isis (also known as Islamic State) was, perhaps, a natural reaction to the carnage in Paris but the situation is now so grave that we cannot merely react; we also need sustained, informed and objective reflection. Read Here – New Statesman
In the struggle against ISIS, however, far from preparing for the postwar world, U.S. politicians haven’t shown much interest in long-term thinking. Instead, the debate is fixated on immediate tactical questions, or which hill to capture. Who is planning for a better peace? Read Here – The Atlantic
President Barack Obama has more he could say in response to the questions about ISIL he’s getting pummeled with since the Paris attacks. They’re just not, according to people familiar with his thinking, things that he wants to say out loud. Read Here – Politico
Besides the shiny world of social media, hard information technology work has been part of the U.S. governments for decades, but critics believe that the way the government deals with cyber issues is outdated or doesn’t even exist appropriately. Recently, the White House published the long-awaited Cybersecurity Strategy and Implementation Plan (CSIP), which aims to […]
Having mastered the art of pretending to be an ally of the U.S. while working to undercut its interests, including aiding its battlefield foes, Pakistan has merrily been playing a double game. Yet, the U.S. continues to arm it with sophisticated weapons and provide multibillion-dollar aid to prop it up. Read Here – Nikkei Asian […]
As Russian President Vladimir Putin once said, “A bear doesn’t ask permission from anybody.” Indeed, over the past two years, he has shown the world that he is a political bear—from land grabbing and perpetuating conflict in Ukraine to the recent military intervention in Syria. And yet, even as Western leaders have been angered and […]
When Defense Secretary Ash Carter took the reins of the Pentagon in February, he inherited a Pentagon coming out of two prolonged land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, navigating a budgetary drawdown threatened by sequestration, and wrestling with how to remain the dominant military in a fast-changing world. As one of his predecessors Robert Gates […]
A rare occasion on which Xi Jinping, Barack Obama and Ma Ying-Jeou agree is about to take place in Singapore, as the meeting between Xi and Ma is intended to balance the growing “independence” sentiment in Taiwan, something that is bothering all three political leaders; for different reasons. Read Here – China Daily
The leaders of China and Taiwan plan to meet Saturday for the first time since their civil war seven decades ago, shaking up the island’s politics two months before an election that could lift the opposition to power. The coming encounter between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Taiwanese counterpart, Ma Ying-jeou, in Singapore would cap […]
looking beyond borders 