There is much to be said for what is commonly called a “zero-based review”—a fresh look at a problem or project unencumbered by existing assumptions and practices. Just about any organization or mission could benefit periodically from such an assessment, to make possible the removal of accumulated historical impedimenta. This is true of U.S. foreign […]
That President Hassan Rouhani has staked his political fortunes on the nuclear talks is well-known in Iran. His optimism for a nuclear deal with the six world powers and the subsequent removal of international sanctions and end to Iran’s isolation is so high that he has even, somewhat controversially, linked the nuclear deal to solving Iran’s water crisis. […]
The conclusion of a nuclear agreement with Iran, should it happen, will mark only the start of negotiations at home for the White House as it has begun the offensive to sell the deal to a cynical Congress. Read Here – The Irish Times
The last time we saw such an extensive shift in the global situation was probably between 1989 and 1992, when the Narasimha Rao government came to power and India adjusted her policies considerably. Today the global economic balance has already shifted, and local balances of power are shifting rapidly, even if the overall global military balance is […]
There are few concepts as important yet as misunderstood and unaccounted for in explaining international affairs as dignity. Explaining what is happening in Vienna right now in the nuclear talks between Iran and the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany is virtually impossible unless this critical variable is taken into account. Read […]
With Burma, Cuba, and now Iran, the Obama administration has sought to put old fights behind it, freeing the U.S. government to focus on emerging challenges in Asia and the rise of China. Read Here – The Atlantic
Since its announcement in early April 2015, the interim agreement on the Iranian nuclear program has yielded some $7 billion in sanctions relief for Iran, even though core U.S. and EU sanctions blocking Iranian imports remain in place. Although U.S. President Barack Obama faces tough opposition on the deal from Congress, his EU partners are […]
Every player of the popular video game Civilization knows to hit the save button before engaging in the risky, stupid invasion of foreign country. In the case of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, it became apparent after the first few months that the war was not working out as its framers had envisioned. The failure […]
The fall of Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq, was both the culmination of a blitzkrieg campaign IS had started in winter 2013 in Iraq and in Syria, seizing the city of Raqqa in May of that year, and the prelude to a wider strategic phase to deepen and expand the group’s dominance. Over the […]
In spite of the internal stability in Salman’s reign, and despite the absence of an internal rival or opposition to the rule of Al Saud so far, the fourth Saudi state does not seem good for the grandchildren. The security and military crises on the northern and southern borders and the fiscal deficit in the general budget […]
looking beyond borders 