It’s too bad that Mitt Romney didn’t win. If the Republicans had won, we could finally have known for sure that our suspicion of America‘s imminent demise is correct. “Four more years,” translated into the German viewpoint means little more than a “four-year reprieve.” For the über-watchful among us, the signs of the downfall are […]
ISRAEL‘S prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, suffered not one but two vicarious electoral defeats on Tuesday. Twice this week he has had to swallow hard and congratulate candidates he hoped would lose. The winners were equally cordial to him on the phone. If they enjoyed his discomfiture, they concealed it well. Politics is about interests, not […]
Now that the U.S. election finally is over, it’s time to focus on the other most important leadership transition in the world: China’s. Like the United States, China is also at a turning point, and though the specifics differ, the crux of the problem is the same: major structural change is critical to sustained future […]
The race was tough, but US President Barack Obama has won re-election. The question now, for the United States and the world, is what will he do with a fresh four-year term? To win re-election with a still-weak economy and unemployment close to 8% was not easy. Many leaders – Nicolas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, and […]
In light of America‘s Presidential election, The Diplomat presents three diverse views of the election from writers in three different countries in Asia: China, Australia and South Korea. Each presents their own perspective on the election as well as viewpoints that are unique to the Asia-Pacific. Read Here – The Diplomat
With the latest public opinion polls showing the race between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney a dead heat, the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election in the United States is anyone’s guess. What is certain, however, is that main foreign policy challenges facing the next US administration are located within a brief flying time from Abu Dhabi and are of […]
When I was in Seoul a few weeks ago, the English-language news program Korea Today broadcast a strangely fascinating story about an “I Love Dokdo” contest at Taegu University. The idea was to see who could come up with the most inspiring tribute to the patch of microislands that has been the focus of a recurring and bitter […]
Officials in Tokyo have known for some time that Japan’s regional foreign policy needs to be revamped. The economic crisis has brought Japan’s export giants to their knees and forced the country’s economy to look at different ways of conducting business. Moreover, the nuclear crisis in Fukushima last spring further intensified Japan’s already acute energy […]
In the post-bipolar era, the security architecture of Europe had to be adapted and the main European security actors undertook internal and external changes. The principal challenge has been the re-approximation of former enemies, namely the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Russia. The main remaining institution available to assume security and defense responsibilities was […]
Salman Khurshid was India‘s new external affairs minister as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday effected a major revamp of his council of ministers, inducting 22 faces, including seven of cabinet rank, in what is said to be the last major ministerial shuffle before the 2014 general elections. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi did not join […]
looking beyond borders 